Review
"'A most beautiful, moving and human book' Vita Sackville-West"
Book Description
Ernest's Hemingway's powerful autobiographical war classic - considered by many to be the greatest war novel ever written.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel touches on many issues; war, romantic love(without resorting to nauseating sentiment), culture and mortality. Each one is subtley explored with the incisive touch of Hemingway's pen.
Wherever Henry is, whether he is in an Italian ambulance at the front line, canoodling in a hospital bed, or standing in the rain in a deserted street, the reader always feels that they are right there with him, feeling what he feels, living what he lives.
This is quite simply one of the best books that I have ever read.
Wherever Henry is, whether he is in an Italian ambulance at the front line, canoodling in a hospital bed, or standing in the rain in a deserted street, the reader always feels that they are right there with him, feeling what he feels, living what he lives.
This is quite simply one of the best books that I have ever read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the second time I've tried Hemingway. My first attempt was The Old Man and The Sea, which really didn't do it for me, but as it is exactly what it says in the title, i.e. a book about an old man catching a fish at sea, I thought maybe it was just the subject matter I was struggling with. A Farewell to Arms is Hemingway writing about war, which is much more to my taste. Sadly it seems that Hemingway is not to my taste at all though.
This book deals with the protagonist's role in assisting the Italians during WWI. It focuses on him sustaining an injury which means he is hospitalised for several months. While in hospital he forms a relationship with a British nurse and the rest of the book focuses on his return to the front and how his relationship weathers that traumatic time.
Hemingway is a sparse writer. Some people think this is powerful. I just found it frustrating. There was little description, everything is rendered in terse prose which means it is hard to build up any kind of empathy with the characters or indeed fathom any sort of motivation. The war seems like a convenient kind of back drop but never really impinges on anything. Even in the height of battle the protagonist seems curiously disconnected from events, and the most enthusiastic he gets is when he is hunting down his next drink, or worrying that he won't be able to drink.
His attitude to his girlfriend was positively medieval and really I disliked him more and more as the book progressed.
I struggled to connect to the work and realised it is because to me it reads a lot like a twelve year old boy's essay on what I did in the war.
This book deals with the protagonist's role in assisting the Italians during WWI. It focuses on him sustaining an injury which means he is hospitalised for several months. While in hospital he forms a relationship with a British nurse and the rest of the book focuses on his return to the front and how his relationship weathers that traumatic time.
Hemingway is a sparse writer. Some people think this is powerful. I just found it frustrating. There was little description, everything is rendered in terse prose which means it is hard to build up any kind of empathy with the characters or indeed fathom any sort of motivation. The war seems like a convenient kind of back drop but never really impinges on anything. Even in the height of battle the protagonist seems curiously disconnected from events, and the most enthusiastic he gets is when he is hunting down his next drink, or worrying that he won't be able to drink.
His attitude to his girlfriend was positively medieval and really I disliked him more and more as the book progressed.
I struggled to connect to the work and realised it is because to me it reads a lot like a twelve year old boy's essay on what I did in the war.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I like Hemingway because his stories are realistic. Life doesn't have many happy endings, but it has moments of great passion, romance and happiness along the way. This book is kind of like that. His short sentences and terse writing style cut right to the core of your emotions and help you feel all this book has to offer. A brilliant place to start your appreciation of one of histories greatest writers.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
a farewell to hemingway
I dont know who decided Hemingway was a great writer but it couldnt have been a decision reached on the basis of this book because its bloody awful. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Fnoonar
Gritty realism
I was very moved by the gritty realism in this book.
I don't know how similar the experiences were to Hemmingway's own but the character in the book appeared to be... Read more
I don't know how similar the experiences were to Hemmingway's own but the character in the book appeared to be... Read more
Published 3 months ago by emf
Pedestrian
It ever comes as a disappointment when a book long mooted with the usual epithets of 'wonderful', 'ground-breaking', etc. proves to be dull and poorly written. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dr John N Sutherland
Men with Women (unfortunately)
A wonderful first chapter, but subsequently, this novel becomes increasingly tedious, due to a ludicrously scripted love affair between the hero and a nurse. Read more
Published 5 months ago by C. Beattie
An exciting read, but not for the romance
I read this book for a piece of coursework based around how feelings of love are elevated in the conditions of war and I really feel this book shows that perfectly. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Rowe
Classic Hemingway
I was interested to read the one-star reviews. I figured they missed the point. Against the backdrop of literature at the time this book was read, the writing was fresh and new,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by F. Nath
Powerful Prose
The basis of the novel `A Farewell to Arms' is author Ernest Hemingway's own experience as an ambulance driver on the Italian front during Wold War I when he was badly wounded and... Read more
Published 7 months ago by D. Elliott
A tale of war and love
I have just finished reading this marvellous piece of literature. What can I say about a book that outstandingly withstood the test of time and still enjoys a great readership? Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. MOHAMADI
Not what it's cracked up to be
I've just tried to re-read this book after an interval of forty years, thinking I would get more out of it this time, and I didn't. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lethiavan
Didn't enjoy this book
This book was an effort to get through. However, there were some bits of it that I did find somewhat interesting. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Review
Popular Highlights
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Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.
Highlighted by 9 Kindle users
If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.
Highlighted by 8 Kindle users
I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. Like bridge you had to pretend you were playing for money or playing for some stakes. Nobody had mentioned what the stakes were. It was all right with me.
Highlighted by 7 Kindle users
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