A Farewell to Arms in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 31, 2014 Sera rated it it was ok

Shelves: literary-fiction, audio, own, library, classics, 1001-books

For those of you who are my GR friends, or may simply read my reviews from time to time, you know about the difficult author-reader relationship that I have with Papa Hemingway. Last year, after a 20 year hiatus, I had a decent go with some short stories and a novella by Hemingway. I figured that I would keep going this year and try one of his longer books again.

Ugh, everything that I didn't like about Hemingway's storytelling came up again while reading this book. I listened to it on audio, wh ...more

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Jan 11, 2014 Judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: byt-reading-theme-challenge-wwi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'd read 'A Farewell to Arms' once before, many years ago, and the thing that had stuck in my mind was the love story - helped by a more recent viewing of the 1930s film starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.

Going back to the novel now, though, what really struck me more than the romance was the portrayal of the First World War on the front line in Italy. Hemingway's drawing of the weary ambulance drivers is very convincing, not surprisingly, since he served in this role himself as a teenager. O I'd read 'A Farewell to Arms' once before, many years ago, and the thing that had stuck in my mind was the love story - helped by a more recent viewing of the 1930s film starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.

Going back to the novel now, though, what really struck me more than the romance was the portrayal of the First World War on the front line in Italy. Hemingway's drawing of the weary ambulance drivers is very convincing, not surprisingly, since he served in this role himself as a teenager. One thing that really comes across is the constant hunger, as each snatched meal is sharply described. There are also telling incidents like the meeting with a scared young soldier who has deliberately removed the truss from his hernia, in the hope that it will get worse and he will have to go to hospital.

I've been reading a couple of writers whose style seems rather more highly-wrought lately, and it was refreshing to come to Hemingway's famously spare prose, with not a word wasted. At times he uses expressions which would seem like clichés in the hands of a lesser writer - such as "he was a fine boy", of one of the soldiers. However, phrases like this seem all the more poignant because they are so restrained, with such a distance between what is being said here and the novel's whole mood and setting.

The greatest section is Hemingway's account of the retreat from Caporetto, with the confusion, fear and escalating panic, culminating in the shock when our hero shoots a man for disobeying orders. I immediately realised that shooting was probably fictional, but was surprised to discover that Hemingway did not take part in the retreat himself at all, as the whole account rings so true. The introduction to the special edition says that he interviewed people who had been there, as Stephen Crane did for his battlefield scenes in 'The Red Badge of Courage'. The result is the same kind of painful/cinematic vividness.

The romance between ambulance driver Frederic Henry and nurse Catherine Barkley is not quite as compelling as the war scenes, but still powerful in itself, and the famous ending has a haunting quality. It's hard to believe that Hemingway wrote and rewrote the passage so many times, because the last sentence he settled on in the end has such a feeling of inevitability. ...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: great-war, italy, 2015-read, audiobooks-2015

I've recently reread what I think of as Hemingway's "big" novels. The Sun Also Rises was as good as I remembered; For Whom the Bell Tolls better, but Farewell doesn't live up to my memory of it. John Slattery's narration didn't help; but in any case, I thought it read like a parody of Hemingway (in the rain) and Catherine Barkley was flatly impossible. A wooden projection of the ideal woman by a misogynist, was my reaction. The truest bit about her was when Frederic Henry met Catherine and thoug ...more

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Nov 14, 2018 Mansir rated it really liked it

Well, in many ways this book supports my occasional bafflement at how certain books are perceived as some of the best ever written. Hands down this book is interesting - very minimalist- the style is oh so Hemingway. I read the Sun Also Rises years ago and remember it hard to get through but enjoyed many parts. And many of the scenes from that book have stayed with me.

It's almost laughable how much he mentions wine and vermouth in both books and of course there's at least one obligatory fishing ...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Laura (booksnob) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, literature, 1001-books, the-novel-100

A Farewell to Arms begins in 1915 when Henry, an American, volunteers to be an ambulance driver for the Italians in World War I. Henry is indifferent and detached from the war and survives by drinking a lot of alcohol and frequenting the local whorehouse. He eventually meets a vulnerable English nurse named Catherine and begins a primitive relationship with her.

Henry is wounded by a mortar shell and spends months in the hospital where he consummates his relationship with Catherine. They build a ...more

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Dec 21, 2009 Paula Hiatt rated it really liked it

I enjoyed the book, but I don't think Hemingway captured the female. She seemed more of a type or facilitator than a real person. ...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: italy, world-war-i, classic, 1001

It's often difficult as a reader to separate Hemingway the author from Hemingway the man, and harder all the time as his myth continues to grow. But even if you tend to think of him as "an abusive alcoholic misogynist who squandered half his life trying to nail Picasso's leftovers" like Julia Stiles's character in 10 Things I Hate About You, his work is still worth reading. For all his faults, he was an incredibly gifted writer who deftly integrated deep themes with a very narrow landscape and a ...more

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