Farewell To Arms

Rating:
Summary: Has its flaws, but ok
Review: It was good except for the dialogue. Hemmingway was disgruntled!!

Rating:
Summary: A Farewell to Arms: The perfect book for high school student
Review: Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms is a classic well suited to use as the subject for a high school report. His use of language is powerful and shows his skill as a writer. The integration of theme, subject, and setting make a novel that is an example of Hemingway's ability as a writer. It is not difficult to read or understand. The settings and characters are well done. I would highly recommend reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Hemingway's romantic masterpiece stands test of time.
Review: Does A Farewell to Arms stand the test of time? Hemingway's autobiographical, dark vision of war is perhaps more in step with Post-Vietnam sensibilities than other World War One literature; the banter between protagonist Lt. Frederick Henry (a tribute to The Red Badge of Courage, whose hero is Henry Frederick) and his roommate, Rinaldi could easily have come from Hawkeye and Trapper. Yet it is the tender love story between Henry and Catherine Barkley which is the soul of the novel, and what keeps readers returning to it for 60 years now. The lustful scenes of nurse Catherine climbing under the covers with her recuperating patient (the details discreetly omitted) seem quaint by today's standards. And Catherine as "fallen woman" no longer plays to today's reader. Yet what could be more romantic than Henry and Catherine fleeing across the lake under cover of darkness to the sanctuary of Switzerland, or more gut-wrenching than Catherine's battle for life on the delivery table? Its often said that you either love Hemingway or hate him. A Farewell to Arms is Hemingway at the top of his game--if you don't love it you clearly fall into the latter category.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful but stilted
Review: This book is worth the read, especially if you're they kind of person who has trouble with words more than two syllables long. I liked Hemingway's method of character analysis, finding it particularly refreshing after slogging though jigsaw-puzzle-esque writing by Faulkner. But the diolague sometimes left a little to be desired. Reread the conversation when Catherine tells Frederick she's pregnant and you'll see what I mean. But overall the book's ok.

Rating:
Summary: Not the worst, certainly not the best.
Review: The story itself wasn't too bad, not exactly origional, but I've read worse. I found the characters to be rather flat, there was little development throughout the book. The dialogue, however, is the worst I have ever read. In fairly long conversations, the same thing is said ten times and the conversation as a whole never says anything new, or interesting. Not a terrible read, but I wouldn't recomend it, or ever read it again.

Rating:
Summary: This book is great, it shows how hard life really can be.
Review: This book is the best book I've ever read. Hemingway is an incredible author. This book is about a young soldier who falls in love with a beautiful young nurse. His attachment to her grows so great that he realizes he can't live without her. So they leave Italy on a boat to Switzerland to get away from the war. The book does not end here, I'll let you find out for yourself what happens next.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of literature
Review: "A Farewell to Arms" is truly a masterpiece. It leaves you asking questions. An answer to questions is sometimes thrown casually into the narration here and there. The narrator truly shares his experiences with you and does not simply tell a story but takes you into his thought and leaves you to draw some of your own conclusions of human nature and emotion. The first half of the book is about a man in war and the meaningless things that he practises as escape or to duty. He and the book make a transformation to a much more conscious state of emotion and drags you along for the ride. Hemingway's expert descriptiveness puts you into the stage of the story so that you can visualize all of it and he does it with an amazingly minimal amount of words or useless information that so often takes away from many authors effectiveness to convey the feeling of the story. It is beautifully composed so that you want to experience it yourself because you become so entangled in the character's emotions. One of the best pieces I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Heart-rending finish but For Whom the Bell Tolls is better
Review: Farewell has such a tragic ending I sobbed, not cried with tears but just sobbed as if I had lost something irrevocably. The last third of the book is quite powerful, but I certainly thought For Whom the Bell Tolls was a better book. The comments here about thinly developed characters certainly strike me as valid, and I wonder if Hemingway meant to do it deliberately (why?). Sometimes Hemingway juxtaposes images of love and innocence with images of the cold and hard cruelty of life all in one paragraph. This can be enlightening and depressing at the same time. Again, though, the delivery in For Whom the Bell Tolls was smoother and less heavy-handed.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading, but better alternatives out there....
Review: I read this book for school, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was extremely sad and touching at the end. However, I would not rate A Farewell to Arms as one of the best books of the century. Hemingway has his talents, but I feel Catch-22 is a much deeper and more powerful read than A Farewell to Arms. Read Catch-22 first, then read A Farewell to Arms. The two have some interesting parallels (escape from the insanities of war, refuge in a neutral country, heroes in similar situations etc). But Catch-22 will keep you thinking for longer. It is by far the greater book.

Rating:
Summary: Two stars is being nice
Review: I read this book in eighth grade. It's been a couple years since then, but every time I'm looking for an example of a book with terrible dialogue, I pull out "A Farewell To Arms". I was actually beginning to become interested in Ernest Hemingway, but reading this book totally put me in direct opposition to him. First of all, the story is weak. Some books with weak story lines have outstanding character developement and a profound moral truth hidden in them - suffice it to say that this book has neither. All I can say is please stay away from this book... you'll glean nothing of value from it.