A Farewell to Arms

Summary (from the publisher): In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.

Review: "'Hell,' I said, 'I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?' 'Yes. I want to ruin you.' 'Good,' I said, 'that's what I want too.'"

Hemingway, you make me angry. I knew this book was depressing, but, wow, way to punch me in the gut with the ending. I'm generally not a huge fan of Hemingway's work anyway (only based on prior experiences with The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea) but I thought I would give him another chance with this novel, inspired by his time in service during World War I.

Hemingway's writing has always seemed very masculine to me. It lacks expansion on introspective thinking and is devoid of most emotions (or the mention of them at least). The reader must rely purely on the actions and dialogue to try ot discern what the narrator may be thinking and feeling. While I appreciate that part of the lack of feelings in this stems from the numb, post traumatic stress disorder that is an effect of the trauma of war, I'm still not satisfied with the stilted characters.

Am I the only one that feels sorry for poor Nurse Ferguson? Not only is she clearly insanely jealous of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, but then, to add insult to injury, they flee the country and leave her behind without a word. I know its wartime, but that's tough luck, man.

Furthermore, I can't help feeling that, if Hemingway wasn't Hemingway, this book would come across as abrupt in its introduction and devoid of necessary details. We all know Hemingway's story and so as readers, everyone goes in knowing this book is about WWI. We're provided the context ahead of time. Yet Hemingway never clearly introduces that context through his writing but starts simply with "In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains." Certainly an observant reader could eventually figure it out, but I find it odd that setting including location and time period are gleaned from the book jacket rather than the author. Just a thought.

In sum, I can say that I enjoyed this novel much more than The Sun Also Rises, yet its gloomy tone (and insanely depressing plot) and stilted emotional content prevented me from loving it. And poor Catherine! What a sad, sad life story.

Stars: 3