I read it, but I really didn't enjoy it. An American officer in the Italian Army ambulance corps in WWI. He meets a British nurse, falls in love (maybe?), gets wounded, the Italians get their butts kicked in the war and bad things happen. His relationship with the nurse is the very worst of early 20th century male-female dynamics. Really not a good book. ( )

"You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering"

I loved the dialogue style! It's almost ironic, in the true literary sense.
I also appreciated the divisions into five books, one for each stage of the story, which also matched geographical changes in setting. They also seem to match Shakespearean Act divisions and a typical plot line (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). Of course, it's more [book:Hamlet] than [book:Midsummer Night's Dream]. No surprise that Hemingway died by suicide. This is not a Little Miss Sunshine conclusion.

Also a good book to read with adult ESL students -- the diction and syntax is clear, and the story is not YA (as many classic lit novels studied in school are). Just have to watch out for the implied dialogue and movement, which could be missed by students newer to the language.

Much better than I expected, that's for sure! ( )

The simple but profound writing in A Farewell to Arms is what makes Hemingway such a master. The main character, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, is an American serving as an ambulance driver for the Italian Red Cross in World War I. Hemingway demonstrates both the horrors of war and the ordinariness of life during the war. There is also a love story running parallel to the war story.

Although Hemingway wants each reader to take something different, and he doesn’t expound upon emotions and messages, the story has many themes. In addition to love, there’s a study of loyalty, patriotism, and desertion. The characters exemplify courage and fear, and pain. Loneliness, heavy drinking, and escapism, both literally and figuratively, are elements in the narrative.

The reader learns more about a man when the main character gives up on war and says farewell to arms. Hope, confusion, and agony play into the end of the story, and realizing that we must die is paramount to understanding the novel. ( )

This e-book edition of the Hemmingway novel should be avoided. All words contain double Ls, are printed with only one L. Although the book is readable this way, this is an annoying distraction.

The novel itself proved disappointing with no character that was particularly interesting and with dialog between Catherine and Henry often being cloying. Furthermore, the descriptions of WW I on the Italian-Slovenian front were not impressive. ( )