Publisher : Metacom
Publication Date : 1985 04
>> 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
