Literary fiction · Book club
The Sun Also Rises book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Sun Also Rises is Hemingway's first novel, published in 1926, and it remains the sharpest portrait of the "Lost Generation" — the young Americans and British expatriates who drifted through Paris and Spain in the years after World War I, drinking heavily and searching for something they couldn't name.
Ernest Hemingway · 1926 · 5h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
Jake never fully articulates what the war did to him beyond the physical wound. Does the novel suggest that he himself understands it, or is the silence a form of unknowing?
- 2.
Brett is described through male gazes throughout — Jake's, Cohn's, Mike's. Do you think Hemingway gives her an interior life, or is she primarily a symbol of unattainability?
- 3.
Robert Cohn is the novel's designated outsider and takes considerable punishment for it. Is the treatment of Cohn antisemitic, or is Hemingway critiquing the group's antisemitism, or both?
- 4.
The bullfighting sections are extended and detailed. What function does the corrida serve in the novel beyond scene-setting? What does Romero represent that the other characters lack?
- 5.
Jake's 'code' — competence, stoicism, not complaining — is presented as admirable. Is it? Or is it another form of emotional evasion?
- 6.
The novel ends with Brett and Jake in a taxi, and Brett says 'Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together.' Jake replies, 'Yes. Isn't it pretty to think so?' Is that line tragic, resigned, wise, or cruel?
- 7.
Compare this novel to A Moveable Feast, Hemingway's memoir of the same period. What does the fiction let Hemingway do that the memoir can't?
- 8.
All-Quiet on the Western Front covers the same historical moment from the German side. What's shared between the two visions of the war's aftermath, and what's different?
- 9.
The sun also rises, the wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north. Does the Ecclesiastes epigraph make the novel feel more resigned, or does it provide a kind of comfort?
- 10.
Which character in your group do you think comes closest to understanding what they actually want? Does anyone?
- 11.
Hemingway was 26 when this was published. Does that change how you read the novel's authority on loss and disillusionment?
- 12.
The novel was scandalous in 1926. What specifically scandalized contemporary readers — and does any of it still land?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Sun Also Rises?
Here are 12 book club questions for The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on disillusionment, lost generation, masculinity.
How long should a book club discussion of The Sun Also Rises last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Sun Also Rises?
Disillusionment, Lost generation, Masculinity, Desire and frustration, Expatriate life. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Sun Also Rises or questions for other book club picks.
