The story "A Farewell to Arms" begins on an ordinary day during World War I on the Italian front and more or less relates the experiences of an American officer who is serving in the medical and ambulance section. After this officer is wounded, the story moves from the war front to a hospital where he is hospitalized.

The American officer's love for an English nurse is the romantic part of the story that adds to its charm. Although the characters and plot of the story are not real, they are all reflections of the author's personal experience of being on the war front. The detailed and vivid descriptions that the author provides of the war front, hospitals, and the situation of the soldiers have added to the value of this book.

The brutality of war and of course its futility compared to the sacrifices it brings are among the other beliefs that the author expresses in the margins of his story. If you are interested in reading stories that are influenced by a particular historical event, reading the book "A Farewell to Arms" will not be without pleasure.

Once upon a time, there was a situation where I would have endured this one with great difficulty. I was firmly convinced that since it was a "classic," there had to be some redeeming quality within it. I would have persisted until the bitter end, despising it more and more with each passing moment. And even if there was something worthwhile waiting at the conclusion, I would still have been disappointed. This was because the journey to get there was excruciatingly tedious, mind-numbingly boring, physically painful, and incredibly annoying.

This book has received a plethora of highly diverse reviews and opinions. A significant number of people adored it, while just as many loathed it. I can understand the reasons behind both perspectives. It is a book that will undoubtedly appeal to certain individuals. Themes such as masculinity and heavy drinking will naturally hold more allure for some than for others. The aspect of the love story may attract those who are not overly interested in the other elements, and perhaps the war-related content will do the same for yet another group. Typically, the war and masculinity aspects would be right up my alley - but this particular book simply failed to do anything for me.

I believe that this was primarily due to the writing style and the manner of reading. I did not like the reader at all. He had a rather staccato reading style, and since the writing was充斥着 short sentences, it made it extremely challenging for me to become immersed in the reading and listen attentively. A good reader should possess a quality that draws the listener in - but this one did precisely the opposite. I managed to struggle through approximately three discs, but I simply could not tolerate the reader enough to truly engage with the story. And the story itself was not doing much to assist matters. The staccato sentences, going back and forth, and the abundance of pointless dialogue - which, I suppose, would ultimately have painted a complete picture and come together - but I simply found myself not caring in the slightest.

Moreover, this book featured my absolute least favorite writing trick of all time: using dialogue to replace the explanation of action. For example:

"Here drink this. No all of it. It will do you good!"

"I don't want it. Put it on the table."

"Here - you drink it all up! There's a good boy. You'll see. It'll do you good like I say. No, sit down. Listen to me now."

"Answer the door, I think it's unimportant person number 4 coming to tell us something unimportant. What's he saying?"

"Go sit back down, I'll tell you everything in a minute. Here, drink more of this. Good."

The romance aspects, as little as I saw of them, were just as irritating and bothersome.

"Oh, I love you! Do you love me? Say you love me."

"Yes I love you."

"Oh, you're just saying that! It's the war. You don't mean it."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, really."

"Ok, sure. Because I love you, but you don't have to lie to me."

Ugh! Just shut up. Who cares?! I simply struggled along, engaged in this three-against-one uphill battle... And they emerged victorious. I raised my white flag and surrendered. No more, please.

Another work by him (The Sun Also Rises). You can consider this work as a long legacy or a delayed gift, and in both cases it is truly so. How is this? Based on the iceberg theory which is considered one of Hemingway's most prominent contributions to literature, the text should be simple on the surface and profound in its essence, just like an iceberg. You only see its tip while most of its mass is hidden beneath the surface.

The novel reflects many of Hemingway's interests and personal experiences: World War I, work in the field of relief, Europe, friendship, love, art, and wine. The events of the novel take place in Italy during World War I, so you will find a lot of descriptions of the war situation and a portrayal of Italy as a beautiful country. The events revolve around an American ambulance driver who volunteers to work in Italy and his romantic relationship with a charming British nurse within a series of adventures and misfortunes. The novel progresses slowly at first and then the pace gets better in the middle until it turns into an exciting adventure near the end. As for the ending, it is another matter. I found it so impressive that it raised my rating of the novel from 3 to 4 stars.

Regarding the characters in the novel, which is a crucial matter for me in any work, I didn't find anyone worthy of mention except the gentle Italian Renaldi. As for the others, they are typical characters that fade from memory without a trace. In my opinion, the author failed in depicting the character of the nurse Brett Ashley in a dull and immature way, unlike the character of Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. The latter is more enjoyable, less typical, and more similar to real people in the real world.

\\n  War is Boring\\n

Hemingway's narrator in "A Farewell to Arms" writes not just as a soldier but as a journalist-soldier, embodying Hemingway himself. He records with precision and an air of objectivity the events around and to him, being practical, prosaic, and pragmatic about everything. People die and bombs explode in the same paragraph as the consideration of breakfast, and he takes it all in stride.

The action of the novel seems to occur from 1916 until before the end of the war. References to place and politics come and go without overly bothering the narrator. His context is not just this war but all wars, and the concepts of honor, heroism, and patriotism, which he views with a kind of pristine incomprehension.

War has always generated a backlash, from ancient epics like the Mahabharata and the Iliad to the many anti-war epics over the ages. The supposed honor and glory of war are questioned in its aftermath. The bloodlust and feverish cries of honor before war give way to searching questions or scathing parodies.

It's not entirely clear whether "A Farewell to Arms" is a sober questioning of these virtues or a chaotic parody. Hemingway combines love and war, and both seem to receive the same treatment, making it difficult to determine if he is ridiculing war and its virtues or life and its delusions in general, including love. The famous ending leaves little to pick up the pieces.

The narrator tells the often ugly truth about war without刻意 being anti-war. By depicting daily life, he achieves this effortlessly. The prosaic nature of the action, the lack of drama, becomes the most significant force in the narration. Even his injury occurs not in heroic combat but while eating spaghetti.

All this combines to show war as a hideous and not worth bothering with game. There are many subtle ways in which he trivializes war, always giving the impression that it's not a conscious effort, as if he's not even telling us about the war but leaving it in the background as a boring hum.

The novel is full of the ordinary, with the exceptional strikingly absent. The readers are left disoriented, constantly having to remind themselves that they are in the midst of the greatest and most destructive war humanity has known.

In the end, war is exposed as not only meaningless but also boring. While most war writers exploit the pathos of war, Hemingway walks right in, shows us around, and escorts us out after revealing the utter blandness of the "heroic" exercise.

Even the "Love Story" is constructed from boring bits and repeated bland conversations that seem never-ending and droll. Hemingway may be playing with us here, instead of the usual technique of showing pleasant daily life scenes and contrasting them with gory war scenes to make the reader long for the war to end, he places the personal and public spheres side by side, exposes both, and somehow derides war through this.

Hemingway's notorious fault of the monotony of repetition is present, but he also uses it to his advantage, converting the act of boring the reader into an art form and an exercise in supreme irony.

While it's hard to interpret the novel as hopeful, it was for me in a subtle way. It leaves the hope that if more soldiers could be like the Tenente and just walk away from the boredom, things could be better, even though only boredom awaits in normal life.

The most striking impression for me, in a work full of unforgettable impressions, was the narrator's sheer acceptance. The hustle of the war, his own life, and the entire world seem to pass by the stoic Tenente, who is left a mere spectator but never questions the unfolding events. This captures the spirit of the war and the times.

What a strange and sometimes hollow novel.

It's my first Hemingway, and perhaps someone is right in suggesting that could have been my mistake.

I notice it's often well received and reviewed by other Goodreads users, and I've come across some reviews that are well-written and interesting. However, I can't count myself as a big fan.

After reading, I did some research to see what I might have missed. It seems there's quite a bit written about the meanings behind Hemingway's use of rain, snow, and his convincing, realistic, clipped dialogue. But I'm still not convinced.

I understand his unadorned writing style was somewhat pioneering, and it's been said that this was a reaction to the descriptive-laden style of Hardy, the Brontës, and Jane Austen. Hemingway worked hard to self-edit and delete 'unnecessary' words. My impression is that he might have gone too far.

Interestingly, my former German lecturer said it was the first English text she got to read. I commented that for me, the writing was simplistic and sometimes juvenile. 'Exactly,' she replied. 'That's why it was such a good choice for my first English novel.' I'll leave it at that.

2.5 stars rounded up.

My second encounter with Ernest Hemingway's work left a profound impact on me.

I was so deeply moved by this book that I found myself in tears upon finally closing its pages.

Hemingway's magic lies in his vivid descriptions of the locale. The war-torn Italian picturesque villa comes alive, and the use of rain as a metaphor for hardship adds depth and poignancy.

The story is like a ying-yang, with the "man's man" virile American Tenente and the whimsical English-woman Catherine. Their contrast is as extreme as the sun and moon, sometimes existing together in a dreamy late afternoon sky before darkness descends.

However, the ending is heart-wrenching. The moon ceases to shine, and the sun struggles to light up the sky, but it is raining. The novel concludes sadly, with the sun left alone and still lonely. This powerful image is what brought me to tears.

Despite the beautiful aspects of the story, I did have a few reservations. I didn't enjoy Catherine's delivery of dialogues, especially when she talked to her lover. Their conversations often felt childlike and immature.

Moreover, my edition of the book had numerous typographical errors. I would like to address this to the publisher, Arrow Books. Please hire a good proofreader. You are doing a great disservice to an otherwise exceptional literary work.

Overall, Hemingway's writing is masterful, but these flaws did slightly detract from my enjoyment of the book.

The story "A Farewell to Arms" begins on an ordinary day during World War I on the Italian front and more or less tells the life of an American officer named "Frederick Henry" who is engaged in service in the medical and ambulance section.

After Henry is wounded and hospitalized, he falls in love with an English nurse named "Catherine Barkley" and after fleeing from the war, they go to Switzerland together until their first child is born.

Weaknesses of the story:

1. The title of the book and the descriptions I had heard created in me the perception that I was facing an anti-war novel, but the war is very weak and has nothing to say in this regard.

2. The love relationship in the story is very clichéd and the states and emotions of the individuals are not described very well and in many cases it seems dry, soulless and artificial.

3. The descriptions and scene-setting are weak.

4. The story progresses slowly.

Some parts of the book:

▪️There is a class that rules these countries that is a child, doesn't understand anything, and will never be able to understand. Because we are prisoners of this war.

▪️When a person has nothing to lose, running a life is not very difficult.

▪️If you have become a believer and I am dead, pray for my soul. I have asked some of my friends to do this. I was waiting to become a believer myself, but there is still no news.

▪️The world crushes everyone together, but after that, many people become stronger in their broken places.

01/2/15

This one is truly a classic in nature.

The novel is predominantly set in Wharton Itlay during 1917 - 18. The narrative centers around Frederic Henry, an American who serves as an ambulance driver for the Italian army.

He encounters a young English nurse, Catherine Barkley, at a military hospital. Their initial meeting leads to the development of a relationship that gradually evolves into a passionate one.

The story of this romance is masterfully intertwined with a vivid and powerful portrayal of the horrors of war. It showcases the brutal reality of war and its ever-present threat of the total destruction of civilization.

The contrast between the beauty of their love and the ugliness of war adds a layer of depth and poignancy to the overall narrative, making it a truly engaging and thought-provoking read.

Just before delving into "A Farewell to Arms", I had the opportunity to read "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which was written eleven years later. Immediately, comparisons began to flood my mind.

Both novels are war stories that are replete with elements of horror, death, love, and romance. However, I found "For Whom the Bell Tolls" to be an incredibly gripping read, while "A Farewell to Arms" struck me as a bit too cutesy to truly evoke passion.

In "A Farewell to Arms", the cavalier Federico Henry's offhanded manner and his girlfriend Catherine's affectations seem rather lacking in credibility, especially considering the extremely serious circumstances they find themselves in. Moreover, the ease with which everyone loans money, supplies food and drink, and provides transportation, etc., precisely when needed, so that Lieutenant Henry never really has to break a sweat to make his next move, similarly diminishes the plausibility of the story. I wish I had a life like that! After jumping into a raging river while facing execution, I am saved from drowning by a floating piece of timber that then hits the shore near the train going to Milan, which lets me off in front of a café where the proprietor offers me breakfast, a glass of grappa, and new ID papers if I need them (which I don't because everything always works out for me anyway).

In stark contrast, we have the cold and calculating Robert Jordan in "For Whom the Bell Tolls". In him, we have a man whom I can truly believe is facing death, who falls in love and takes to heart the slim chances of that love coming to fruition given his situation. Robert's Maria has just survived an emotional ordeal, much like Catherine, and has been deeply impacted. However, just like the men, Maria's manner comes across as genuine and not contrived, as is the case with Catherine. In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", just as in real life, nothing comes easy. Things always seem to go wrong, not right. Perhaps the eleven-year-older Hemingway had a slightly different outlook. Regardless, he significantly elevated his craft in this later work.

Ernest Hemingway was indeed a brilliant stylist, with his unique and简洁的 writing style. However, I truly wish he had been a better storyteller.

I read "A Farewell To Arms" as part of my long-term project of delving into the literature of The Great War written by its participants. Although some critics highly praise it as the best novel inspired by that war, I must admit that I was rather underwhelmed.

Set in the war, "A Farewell To Arms" is not primarily a war novel, and I was aware of that going in. But even its passages dealing directly with the war were inconsistent. Some wartime scenes rang true and were excellent, such as the teasing of the priest chaplain, the banter between the protagonist Henry and his friend Rinaldi, and the mixture of mundanity and chaos during the bunker shelling while eating pasta and cheese. However, Hemingway's famous iceberg theory undermined much of the impact that the war scenes should have had. Whether responding to being wounded, seeing a comrade die, or killing for the first time, the protagonist Henry remained frustratingly distant and unemotional. A line describing his state of mind after leaving the war could easily have described the characters' reactions while in it: "The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone else's college."

Regarding the central story of the love affair, Hemingway simply failed to convince me. Catherine never felt fully developed or truly alive as a character. As a result, the affair lacked excitement, and when misfortune struck, it didn't have the impact it should have had.

I gave the novel three stars because the writing is brilliant and there are occasional scenes that are truly memorable. But as a whole, Hemingway failed to touch me with either the theme of love or war.

"Farewell to Arms" written by Ernest Hemingway, a famous American writer, is a love story and of course an anti-war one. However, its anti-war aspect is so lackluster and dull that the reader may not know its goal or the main subject of the book.

The story of the book takes place in northern Italy, where the Italian army is only fighting against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany. The hero of the book, Frederic Henry, is an American officer who is probably voluntarily attached to the Italian army. He falls in love with an English nurse in the midst of the war.

Hemingway's descriptions are mostly related to northern Italy or southern Switzerland, areas that, although in a state of war, still retain the beautiful and breathtaking Italian beauty and charm. The writer has a tourist's gaze at war-torn Italy. Everywhere there is a forest and a flowing river, a blue sky, and if there is a cloud, it brings beautiful and romantic rain, and there is no news of the common poisonous gases in World War I or the bombed-out land.

The heroes of "Farewell to Arms" are like American and English tourists who, with a pocket full of lire (the Italian currency), seem to be spending their vacation or honeymoon in Italy. They spend most of their time in luxury hotels and expensive restaurants, drink the best Italian wines, and of course, Mr. Henry eventually goes to the front line.

Hemingway, of course, with a complete retreat of the Italians in the battle of Caporetto, portrays not only the soldiers or civilians or domestic animals, but also a country and a land with all its related things being retreated. In the midst of this great turmoil, Henry realizes that the war is enough for him, and he no longer wants to fight.

Compared with other anti-war books such as "All Quiet on the Western Front" written by Erich Maria Remarque or the landmark and trend-setting book by Norman Mailer "The Naked and the Dead", which expose the hateful facts of war without hesitation, "Farewell to Arms" undoubtedly has a lower position. It seems that the writer has preferred love to war for some reason, and as a result, the devil of war is almost absent in the book.

The end of the book can also be almost predicted, but perhaps the blow that comes to the heroes of the book cannot be directly attributed to the war. It seems that the war has only been present for a short time and has helped to set the stage for the story. Some of the characters have been left in the middle of the story, and basically the reason for their existence in the story is not clear.

"Farewell to Arms" has no philosophy of life and war. Hemingway has only told the story of people who want to survive and be in love in the midst of war.

"Classics" aren't always great, folks. And since I'm required to do academic writing on this and can't shout elsewhere...let's do a roasting review because that's just who I am. When in doubt...roast.

Meet I, our protagonist, also known as "Tenente". Hemingway assumes that the average American reader knows that this means "Lieutenant" in Italian. But guess what? The average American reader doesn't know this, and I spent the first 100 pages thinking "Tenente" was I's actual name. This might work in flash fiction, but not in a full-fledged novel. Cue the screaming. (By the way, this guy's name is "Federic Henry", an American name from which one can also get the nickname "Fred".)

Now, meet Miss Barkley (Catherine), our Love Interest. She was the angsty, insecure, clingy, codependent girlfriend before it was trendy. The only issue is that there's no backstory to explain why she's like this, and we never get an explanation. I lies to her once, and as a result, she'll never trust him again or something like that, but it's never actually stated. It's just implied, like everything in this book.

What about the other characters? Who needs them? We've got Rinaldi, the most entertaining character in the book - except that we don't really know anything about him. All we know is that he's the original sassy gay best friend (or at least, I assume he's gay. He spends the whole book calling "I" "baby" and asking for kisses, and not just cheek kisses, y'all). But he's also really into women. So, is he bi? Is he just really troubled? Is this a bad impression of Italians? Hemingway either doesn't know or doesn't care.

Speaking of Italians, Hemingway tells us that "I" doesn't know how to spell in Italian. This is a clever trick to hide the fact that Hemingway himself doesn't know how to spell in Italian. As someone who knows a bit of the language and definitely how to spell some common words, I winced every time they spoke in Italian. Because he misspelled "hi" in Italian. How does one even do that?

I know Hemingway has been praised as a brilliant writer, and I know it's a different time period. I'll try not to bring Fitzgerald into this review, even though I could go on for a year about how much I love Fitzgerald's writing style. But the writing style in this book sucks, okay? It really does. It's flat, uninspired, and this guy has no idea how to use commas or dialogue tags. So half the time, I had no clue who was talking and just skimmed conversations (which is fine because they're all extraneous) because I couldn't keep up. How does one get away with writing like that? How?!!!

Also, can I just mention that I had no idea Americans in the Italian army were so rich or that they had to do so little fighting in World War One as this guy did? He'd never been in combat before getting his leg badly injured, and I swear he had so much money he never needed to work another day in his life. I think his girlfriend really just stayed with him for the money. He literally bought a cabin in the mountains in Switzerland, drank too much at Swiss bars every day, and never worked or got paid. Like...how?

I could write an entire review about Hemingway's characters' view of women, but for now, let's just say he writes women like they're the worst (probably because he only knew flappers and they were kind of troubled), and his male characters are so obsessed with women that I was embarrassed to the point of actual tears at one point. That's right, y'all. This book actually made me cry from anger. Because these men...my goodness. The women are objects. We're at war so we can sleep with all the girls who come along. These two innocent, small, helpless girls who need help escaping the German advance in Italy? Man, I wish we weren't so busy retreating...if we weren't, heaven knows we'd be celebrating our luck at finding a couple of virgins on the side of the road. (Please note: these two girls were fourteen and fifteen.)

Also, the romantic relationship was completely based on codependency and cruelty, and this is not love, people. It really isn't. "Am I a good girl?" "Please tell me I'm doing well. I just want to please you." "The rain doesn't change how much you love me, does it?" "I'm so fat because I'm pregnant and I think you probably don't love me anymore because I'm not thin and exciting anymore" <---- actual lines from the main girl in this book. Please. Please. Someone bleach my eyes because blargh.

I'll write about this in English class because I have to. But I'm saying this right now: I never want to have to read Hemingway again. And I can't find anything good about this story. You heard that. Nothing.

I could rant for a long time, but oh well. We're doing great. 1 star and please, spare yourself from ever having to read this book. If you have read it: I pity you, poor soul. Better luck next time.

Faith out. Have a great day :D