Rating: 
Summary: venus de milo
Review: I enjoy the writing in this book by Mr Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). It was a gift from my sister's family, and I am glad I had the oppotunity to read it. The liner notes write that he did more to change the English-language novel than any other twentieth-century writer. His "sparse and unemotional style is probably the most imitated." In 1953, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his novella "The Old Man & the Sea"; then, in 1954, he received a Nobel Prize for Literture. "A Farewell to Arms" (1927) was his greatest success up to that time. Mr Hemingway writes an almost auto-biographical account of a love story during war time. Like the protagonist, Henry Frederick, he drove an ambulance for the Red Cross on the Austro-Italian Border during the European Great War (1914-1918). Mr Hemingway was wounded, hospitalised and fell in love with one of the Red Cross nurses who cared for him, Ms Agnes von Kurowsky. The book he has written draws on these experiences and the result is a stirring description of people's reactions and behaviours during the stresses of war. Henry Frederick drives an ambulance on the Austro-Italian Border during the Great War. He meets Ms Catherine Barkley, who is from Scotland and is working as a nurse in an English Hospital unit. The three great adventures in this book are Frederick's recovery from his battle wound, his involvement in the Italian retreat, and finally, when he and Catherine escape. The narrative of the Italian retreat is quite impressive to me because Mr Hemingway captures a feeling a hopelessness. It reaches an horrifying level as he decribes the Italian soldiers shooting their own officers. Throughout, I am impressed with the description of the coping methods different characters use. Many times humour is a source of relief. My favourite anecdote is when the Italian barber mistakes Henry for an Austrian officer. The porter cannot contain his laughter at the thought of our hero under the sharp razor. If you are interested in the writings of Mr Ernest Hemingway, or in romance against a wartime setting, this book will be interesting to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Love and war
Review: Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" is about a love affair between a man and a woman, and a love affair between a man and a war. Only someone like Hemingway would be able to find the right notes to combine these two contrasting themes in a sort of literary harmony, where each complements and augments the emotional force of the other, without resorting to contrived romantic overkill. The novel takes place in the last years of World War I, in which an American named Frederick Henry is serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He meets and falls in love with an English nurse named Catherine Barkley; after he is badly injured in a mortar shell attack, he and Catherine consummate their love while he convalesces in a hospital in Milan. Using his trademark sharp dialogue, Hemingway shows how the presence of war in Henry's and Catherine's lives intensifies the rapid development of their relationship. When a crabby hospital superintendent suspects Henry is idly prolonging his convalescence, she gets him sent back to his ambulance post at the front. On his way to a battle ground to pick up wounded, he is arrested by Italian battle police who hear his foreign accent and think he is a German soldier disguised in an Italian uniform. He manages a daring escape and goes to a town where he finds Catherine again. When he is alerted that the Italian army is looking to arrest him for desertion, he realizes his only option is to escape to Switzerland under cover of night. The notion I get about Hemingway's writing of war is that, to him, it's a sport, a big game, that accepts physical suffering as a fair price to pay for the camaraderie and adventure; a game in which victories are celebrated with a lot of drinking, and losses are mourned with...a lot of drinking. This is not a criticism, just an observation; he writes with so much spirit and conviction on the subject of war that it's difficult to find fault with his style. This is exemplified most in Henry's decision at the end of the novel: At just a time when his life seems to be falling apart, he realizes he must "get back" to the war, not because he likes war, but because it gives him a will to live; it's in his blood as much as it sheds his blood.
Rating:
Summary: A Farewell To Arms
Review: This book was a great example of the writing exhibited by Ernest Hemmingway. The story was one of great tragedy that followed a young man through his tour of duty in Italy during WW1. There was a slight hill in the book where one was lost in details of him in the hospital. However, for the most part the book was exciting and kept me interested. It is a great book and truly an interesting view on war on the European front. Hemmingway used this man's view to depict his views about war from when he served during WW1. For as the main character goes through pain and suffering in the war Hemmingway seems to be showing some of his own experiences in his tour of duty. Overall this book is a good read and can shed light on an interesting topic while keeping you attached to a strong story as well.
Rating:
Summary: Bring a tissue
Review: I really enjoyed reading this novel. Once you get through the slow beginning and really get into the plot, it becomes easy to read. Hemmingway has a unique way of telling the story of a young soldier in the war who falls in love. Hemmingway uses a variety of thought and snap shots that paints the picture of this soldier, Tenente, who falls in love with one of the nurses. The two faced many trials and still managed to keep their love alive. During the war it was typical of soldiers to be with many women. Although Tenente has previously been with many women he is completely taken by the nurse. The tale is like that of any other love story although Hemmingway gives it unique twists and turns that separate it from any other. I really liked the book because I feel it was extremely well written. The way Hemmingway leads you through this typical romance of the time and then gives you an unexpected and yet realistic ending is intriguing and keeps the reader interested. You easily get involved in the soldier's life, experiencing his ups and downs, highs and lows, with him. You travel with him as he escapes the army with his true love. And, yes, by the end, you cry with him, too. Anyone desiring a trip to the world in warfare and the struggles that a young couple in love face would greatly enjoy this book. I recommend it to all hopeless romantics.
Rating: 
Summary: Gritty and Realistic, Suffers from Excessive Exposition
Review: Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms is often hailed among his best works and is often called the best World War I novel. The latter I disagree with, as All Quiet was a more complex story about dehumanization and death, and the horrors of war; the former I would not know, as this is all I have read by Hemingway. As far as the novel goes, however, it is a fine account of life and death, love, glory, and loss. Its protagonist, Lt. Frederick Henry, is an Italian Army ambulance driver. He meets a British nurse, they share an affair, and Henry even decides to desert for Catherine. Despite its longevity, this book is a poignant look at a doomed affair, an examination of the futility of war, that are still timely today. I guess the only objection I have is the typical Hemingway deal: Hemingway and Fitzgerald were once friends, but the relationship suffered from mutual envy: Fitzgerald envied Hemingway his success, Hemingway envied Fitzgerald's style. It is plain to see, when reading both of them, that Fitzgerald is clearly in his element in writing beautiful and moving pieces of literature, just like a bird singing. Hemingway's style is a bit more forced, and he likes to use a lot of exposition so as to make his imagery more vivid. None of this detracts from the substance of the story, yet the style is a substance all its own. In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, in a literary analysis, decided that The Great Gatsby is a far superior book than A Farewell To Arms for the sole reason that Henry is a phony. If you have read that book, you might be tempted to take this with a grain of salt, but when you consider Hemingway's background and the fact that he and Henry share initials, it is easy to assume Holden is talking about Hemingway himself, and that he is forcing his writing for success. The quote is Salinger accusing Hemingway of selling out. In any case, the book is not truly one of the best ever because of its failure to address any universal human truths. Nevertheless, it is an enduring and interesting book and, although I did not think it among the best ever, I have talked with some that loved it. I would suggest reading it for yourself, as you might think differently
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful story, tightrope ending
Review: For a long time I didn't appreciate Hemingway because I had been reading mostly post-modern authors who are heavy on adjectives and irony and hyper-stylistic phrasing, and because of this Hemingway's narrative seemed rather oversimplistic and stylistically flat. But eventually what you come to realize with Hemingway is that his pared-to-the-bone style has it's purpose, and that purpose is for the reader to discover the subtext between the lines which envelopes the story's conciousness. Hemingway doesn't control our imagination with vast flurries of adjective phrasing, rather he lays out the essentials of a situation and allows, as in poetry, our imagination to do the rest. For example in this book Hemingway doesn't describe his main characters in great detail. The narrator's tone and the way characters react to his authority suggest he is about thirty, yet the nurses all call him a "boy" suggesting he is the same age as most of the soldiers, 18-22. Catherine often seems the same age as the narrator, but we learn that she has had an 8-year relationship with an Italian, suggesting she's somewhat older than the narrator. Eventually you figure it all out but the thing is Hemingway seldom hands these details over, he leaves it to the reader to glean such things through dialogue and character interaction. For example, there is a particular point in the story where Catherine has some "news" for the narrator, but a reader who has figured Catherine out, the way she talks and the way she beats around the bush, will realize this news before the narrator's character figures it out. Anyway, I do think simplification is an underappreciated skill in Hemingway's hands, at least among his critics. This is much more of a love story than a a war story. Yes, it is set in WWI, but the war is essentially a backdrop for the devil-may-care romance. (I've heard this described as an anti-war story, which is silly. Hemingway served in WWI and WWII and seemed to feel quite strongly that there was a genuine purpose for war...) As a love story, though, there is plenty of tension. We are pretty sure of the narrator's sentiments toward Catherine but Catherine seems somehow too perfect for the narrator, so that we're always expecting something to go wrong... and the ending keeps us on a real tightrope.
Rating:
Summary: One of Hemingway's best
Review: A Farewell to Arms is Hemingway's masterpiece about WWII where an Italian soldier finds love overseas in Europe. Henry, the main character, is an American serving in the Italian Army. One of his good friends, who also is a soldier, introduces him to a girl named Catherine Berkley. Catherine is one of the most beautiful women that Henry has ever laid eyes on, and they fall in love. Henry gets wounded in action and has to stay at a hospital for a few months. Catherine is a nurse, so she transfered to a new hospital so she could be with Henry. I really enjoyed reading about their experiences in the hospital. Henry wasn't able to do a whole lot, but since Catherine was a nurse, she could put him in a wheel chair and take him out on a walk so he could get some fresh air. Other parts of this novel that I enjoyed were when Henry and the other soldiers waste time in their bunkhouse. The time they spent over in Europe was spent either drinking or fighting. Usually they were doing more drinking than fighting, however, and that made the novel interesting. If you're looking for a hardcore war novel that goes in depth with blood and gore, this probably isn't what you're looking for. If you're interested in reading a story of romance with a war in the middle, then I suggest you read this. I love how Hemingway writes and have read a few other of his works. If you enjoy any of his other famous novels, then you should definitely try this one. It wasn't too tough a read, and it's not that long either. The novel caught my attention right away, and I couldn't put it down. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: As much depth as paper dolls
Review: This was one of the most boring books I've read recently. I'd only read a few of Hemingway's short stories before this, and I liked them, so I wasn't prepared for his novels to be such a step down. I'm not denying he was brilliant, but at short stories, not the longer form. I'm even willing to read more of his books to see if it's true that not all of his books are as flat and boring as this one and certain others. I think the most advanced word in this book is "silhouette"; the rest reads like a story a third grader could have come up with, though even a third grader could write a more complex story, with more complex words and emotions. The only exciting and involving part of the book for me was after page 200, when Henry is escaping from being shot together with the other soldiers, holding on to the piece of driftwood and floating through the river. After he reached the hotel it got boring again, and there were still a bit over a hundred pages left to go. I felt absolutely nothing for these people. They had about as much depth as paper dolls, and it doesn't help matters any that they rarely say more than ten words at a time to one another. Catherine talks like a two year old, "Ooh, I love you, do you love me? I love you, darling. Why don't we get married?" Even a Barbie doll would have more depth of emotion if it came to life! At best I felt bad for the baby for maybe five seconds at most. A thirteen year old couple in love could do a better and more mature job of expressing their feelings for one another. And the prose just drags; nearly every passage reads something like "It was cold. It was dark. It was raining again. The train began to move. I was cold. I poured myself a tenth glass of cognac." Not exactly prose that leaps off of the page and makes you feel emotionally involved with the characters. The love story was also a far stretch. Wasn't Catherine going with Henry's pal Rinaldi when they first met? And already on their first excuse of a date they're declaring they love one another, even though Henry admits to himself he doesn't really love her. I rolled my eyes; not another love story lacking discernable motivation, like the ones in 'Anna Karenina' or 'Doctor Zhivago'! (Although at least I felt emotionally involved with those characters, even though their love stories weren't given much explanation in the way of motivation.) God forbid there might have been any sexual or romantic tension instead of having characters fall into one another's arms after barely saying five words to one another. There are some nice descriptive pieces in here, and I really liked the part where Henry is escaping, but other than that it just falls flat. After this disappointment, it will be awhile before I choke down another Hemingway novel. I hope it's true that not all of his books are as boring and lifeless as this one was.
Rating:
Summary: what a depressing end to a beautiful novel
Review: Ernest Hemingway's novel, A Farewell to Arms is one of the best books I have ever read. It is also one of the worst. Hemingway's style of writing is so beautiful and almost poetic. The book is simple to understand, but it's message of hopelessness lingered after I had finished the book. Hemingway paints the beautiful and horrific picture of WWI in Italy. I loved the romance between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine. They had so many obstacles to overcome and in the process, Henry deserts the army and Catherine becomes pregnant. I hate that their final obstacle, the pregnancy, proves fatal for both the baby and for Catherine. The book had seemed so uplifting, surrounding the love story of course, and then Henry's world is dashed away. The war setting even puts a grimmer atmosphere on the book. I feel for Hemingway after reading this book. He seemed like a desperate man who had lost all his hope in the war. I know in true life he had an affair with a nurse during the war and Henry's loss in the book is symbolic of Hemingway's own loss. All in all, the book is an excellent masterpiece, more than I hoped for and yet sadder than I thought.
Rating:
Summary: Read Slowly
Review: A Farewell to Arms is Hemingway's famous novel of a WWI love affair. Drawing on his life experience Hemingway introduces us to Frederic and Catherine. Frederic is an American ambulance driver in the Italian army (as was Hemingway himself), and Catherine is a nurse behind the battlelines. The two fall in love, are separated by war, reunite through a mutual act of desertion, and eventually go through a pregnancy and it's consequences together. Hemingway's prose is spare and to the point. There are absolutely no unneeded adjectives. Some would argue that there are a few adjectives left out. His dialogue at times seems wooden and strange, not following a way that "normal" people would talk. Yet, this is the brilliance of Hemingway's style, for these two people are not "normal" people talking. They are two people in a strange country, in the middle of trench warfare, grappling with insanity and chaos all around them, steeped in the strangeness of finding love in such surroundings. There is nothing normal about anything in this situation, and Hemingway shows that with subtle ease. A Farewell to Arms is a slim novel without any difficult language that slows down other classic works of literature. The temptation to the modern reader is to go through it quickly, looking for the plot, suspense, and resolution. If the reader does this, they will be left wondering what all the hype is about. Instead, read each chapter individually, one at a time. If the reader does that, they will be transported into WWI Italy, and experience what Hemingway intended, the horrors and heroism of people attempting to live with grace and dignity in a disgraceful and undignified situation.
|
