That's Life
Hemingway once again takes a plot that most writers would fail dismally at and manages to keep you intrigued to the end. The last 7 pages you think all is going well but he still has a surprise ending waiting for you. It's an anti-war novel to be sure, but that doesnt necessarily mean Hemingway is a pacifist. I was able to get through this book quickly and that says something for the smooth writing style of one of the greatest...Ernest Hemingway. For Whom The Bell Tolls is the best I've read of Hemingway, and I've read four altogether, the other two being Sun Also Rises and Old Man & The Sea.
No wonder he shot himself.
I get Hemingway, I really do. Sometimes, as a reader, you want to leave behind all that is not essential. You want to drop-kick the semi-colons, paragraph-long sentences, and overly descriptive lists right in the neck meat and get to the story.
So my problem, unlike others, is not with the style of A Farewell to Arms, but more the plot. Climax is important--I don't care what anyone says. If you don't think a book should be leading up to something greater than anything seen previously in that same book, then you need to be reading the obit page in your local paper.
I'm not going to add anything to the canon of criticism of A Farewell to Arms, but I will say this: if you're interested in digesting some Hemingway, go for The Old Man and the Sea, a novella that packs some punch and takes you somewhere.
The death of joy does not end a book well, in my warped opinion.
A touching tale of love during WWII
"A Farewell to Arms" is a classic piece of literature from one of the most well known authors, Ernest Hemingway. Set in Italy during World War I, Frederic Henry - an American volunteer ambulance driver for the Italian army - falls in love with nurse Catherine Barkley and their love affair grows.
Hemingway is famed for his short, terse prose that somehow evokes emotions through declarative sentence after declarative sentence and "Farewell" is one of the most shining examples of his style. Initially the dialogue may leave some readers wanting, as each line of dialogue is only a sentence or two at the most. The character of Catherine Barkley is interesting in that she seems to have no feelings or goal in life other than to make Frederic Henry happy - and she will do anything to make him happy.
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