Rating: 
Summary: a beautiful story of love and war among the inarticulate:
Review: I liked this book much more than I'd expected to. The prose was quite familiar, knowing and being somewhat indifferent to some of Hemingway's other work. The difference is with the story itself, one of the historical documentation of World War I and the possible varities of emotional crippling such a wide and vast conflict might inspire.Our main characters, a battle-scarred ambulence corps leiutenant falls in love with a damaged nurse who cares for him both before and after his injury. The romantic scenes are rather sweet, if also ominous in the childish simplicity these two express their innermost feelings to each other. Here is a story less of blissful true love (in itself far too fantastical to occur within the gritty realism of this narrative) and more of co-dependancy, that of two people who genuinely need one another and then seperated by the chance of death of one versus the opportunities for astrangment of the other. Each of these two characters are involved in both of these dialectics, each taking one side versus the other at random times. I was surprised by the force and the power of a story chronicling mostly the 'down times' of men-at-war. The scenes of battle themselves are almost a blur, no doubt rather reprsentitive of the actual confusion among participants in any sort of battle, whether organized offensive or defensive or coming under fire without actual warning. It is a brutal, raw, at times desolating book that dares you to care about these characters and then forces you to endure the ultimate failure of even their most noble of causes. Here is a book that must have made a forceful impact when it was first published, for alongside the man other famous works of fiction dealing with WWI, this one tells a story all the more straight-forward, ignoring much of the political complexities and social disorder of the era and focusing on the effects of this on one man's broken and hopeless heart. It is a thing of beauty, a fine example of a passionate opposition to war from one who has run out of justifications for fighting for human and individual freedom and who is barely able to function outside of another person's order. Hemingway, never one of my favorite authors, has gone up unquestionably in my estimation and this particular experience will, if not get me to re-read previous books and stories I have read, will certainly inspire me to pick up something else sometime in the relatively nearby future.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing story of Love and war!
Review: Farewell to arms stands and delivers, an engrossing story of love and loss in backdrop of WWI. Henry, the narrator, falls in love with Catherine, an English nurse. The prose is taut, and straightforward. Without preaching, without fancy wordplay, Hemmingway presents a picturesque description of war and retreat, places in Italy and Switzerland, of wartime hospital and military mess. The undercurrent is anti-war, and the novel does its bit to expound the myths that war is glorious and patriotic. Conversations between Henry and Catherine are delightfully simple, and endearing. This book is also a tale of heroism, where courage of a man and woman are highlighted in the bravado shown in their daily life.
Rating:
Summary: one of our greatest 'anti war' novels
Review: Hemingway has proved himself as a short story writer--his are some of the best ever written. He won the Nobel for The Old Man and the Sea. And he showed us his skill at creative nonfiction with A Moveable Feast. But I hadn't yet read a full-length novel written by what is one of the quintissential American authors. I chose to start with A Farewell to Arms. And this is a wonderful book. It's a beautiful, though tragic, love story set during WWI--on the front lines. We get to watch this love unfold. And Hemingway gives us what has been called the definitive antiwar novel without ever preaching. I did find a little fault with only one thing. Hemingway's language is just a little simplistic at times. But even still, it is a beautiful story.
Rating:
Summary: Hemingway, a national treasure
Review: This is an easy, fast paced book to read which follows the bitterweet romance of an ambulance driver and a brave, young nurse. The book focuses in on the brutal truth of war, separating it apart from hundreds of other glorified war-romance books. Written in Hemingway's easily identified tight prose, and it is easy to get the feel that he was writing about himself. (Hemingway was an ambulance driver in Italy during WWI) That touch of possibly revealing himself to the reader makes this book even more touching.
Rating: 
Summary: Please do yourself a favor and not read this book
Review: I literally forced myself to read this book... and what a waste of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The way Henry and Catherine express love you would think they were 15 years old. If you really want to read a GREAT book about love, friendship basically all the things that really mean something in life please try "Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque" and if you want to see what it was like during WW1 please read "All Quiet on the Western Front -- by Erich Maria Remarque"
Bottom line: stay away from this book!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The first Ernest Hemingway book I've ever read
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. It seemed to be flawed though, only a couple of flaws however. I really thought that I would get used to the Catherine Barkly character as I would read on but I never did, she always seemed to be saying things along the lines of "Oh darling I'm so terrible!" And the charcters never really had a regular conversation. I thought it was getting a little phony, but when I read the end, the book was redeemed, it's not that I really wanted the characters to die but the final moments were awsome!
It's kind of funny in a way because Ernest Hemingway met J.D. Salinger in World War II and they became friends, yet in "A Farewell to armes" Ernest Hemgway writes "I love the word 'grand' coming out of your mouth," yet in Salingers masterpiece: "The Catcher in the Rye" he writes: "I hate the word grand, it's the phoniest word ever!"
Rating: 
Summary: I was surprised at how modern it was
Review: I read this because I had not read any Hemingway to date. I was quite surprised at how modern it was, despite being written eighty years ago. It is a story of a man fighting for a country not his own, alternatively torn by idealism and selfishness. He becomes involved with a woman, eventually they escape to neutral territory and there's a melodramatic ending.
In general I thought his descriptions of place - the first scenes are of the countryside disturbed by armies marching through - were compelling. His descriptions of people are not quite so vivid, although it is possible to imagine the rough and raw nature of army life - boredom, gore and terror- from his dialogue. I thought his description of the relationship, while initially promising, degenerated into conventional pretty quickly. The initial courtship seemed to have the right mix of pretence and ambivalence, but later on it seemed to be one dimensional. Overall quite a surprising book, however I suspect not his best.
Rating:
Summary: It's hard to love when you're at war
Review: Of all of Hemingway's works, I had only previously read "The Old Man and the Sea" (a masterpiece) when I started this novel. It is a crude, dispassionate and cold testimony of the life of an American soldier on the Italian front in WWI. Henry, an ambulance driver just like Hemingway himself was in the same theater of war, gets wounded and is taken to a hospital where he spends several months. He eventually falls in love -thinly at first- with the British nurse who takes care of him. But falling in love in the middle of a war is not an easy thing. Henry's psyche is, understandably, shattered by the devastating experience and he tries hard not to fall too deep for the nurse. But love is also a strong passion and at some point he decides to desert the Army in order to pursue his love. The ending is moving and at the same time disturbing, showing how war kills even those who survive. In spite of being well written, I take a star away from the book for one single reason: even though I can understand the stressing circumstances under which this love develops, thorughout the novel I felt that Henry was still a shallow man, without the resolve to take a firm course of action. Neither he nor the nurse are very likable, and the novel is permanently permeated by that sense of nothingness, by the nefarious existentialism that influenced much of last century's literature and which, I understand, is a characteristic of much of Hemingway's work. The novel is good but character-development fails and in the end, it is just a sad, crude story. Compare this with the manly, deeply moving attitude of "The Old Man and the Sea"'s main and only human character towards life and you'll appreciate that Hemingway was capable of a better tale.
Rating: 
Summary: A Farewell to Arms
Review: I have read several of Hemingway's books because they are so highly recommended; I have not enjoyed any of them, but I know how he is considered a great writer so I inevitably try again. I think this was my last attempt to enjoy his writing. To me, his characters are all so shallow and unlikable. The book is written in Hemingway's tight prose that is so easy to identify, but it seemed to take away from the story, which I think could have been very powerful and moving if written better. Instead I was left not liking the characters, not understanding the story, and not wanting to read any more. Perhaps I am not intelligent enough to appreciate Hemingway's work, but I have attempted to and have lost desire to continue this study.
Rating:
Summary: A Sentimental Hemingway??
Review: Frederick Henry is an American enlisted with the Italians as an ambulance driver on the front lines when he meets Scottish born Catherine Barkley working in the hospital where he is stationed. Their love story juxtaposed against the deprecations of war and the injustices of life goes a long way towards explaining Hemingway himself. How could a man hold up under these kinds of circumstances?
I could never get into The Old man and the Sea ... both times I got to page 15 and was distracted away from it. Imagine my surprise when, after only about half an hour I had read 78 pages of A Farewell to Arms. This is an easy, fast paced book to read and I have really come to appreciate his writing style. More than that, I have come to appreciate the dark cloud that I have always seemed to associate with him. Classic Hemingway: "That is what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off base they killed you. Or killed you gratuitously..."
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