The Sun Also Rises (1926), by Ernest Hemingway.

Imagine the show “Friends”. Now imagine the show with real characters, introduce alcohol, unrequited and unobtainable love, bull-fighting, and seething silent anger with the world. Hotels as abodes. American arrogance and European condescension. And a refreshing, pared down writing style that reads as cleanly and crisply today as it did almost 85 years ago. OK. Don’t imagine the show friends. The great “Lost Generation” novel.

Is this a hopeful novel?