This is the story of an American serving as a non-combatant ambulance driver in the Italian army during the Great War, the injury he suffered, his lengthy convalescence, relationships and experiences of that war. A story which is inspired by (at least in part) if not exactly portraying Hemingways own experiences fulfilling the same role. Apparently this was a period which Hemingway viewed as one of the most formative experiences of his life.This is the only Hemingway that I have read thus far and chose this one as Id understood that Farewell to Arms was generally viewed as Hemingway at the height of his literary powers. That being the case, I had cautiously high expectations unfortunately most of which were not fulfilled.The book I found to be generally and unfortunately disappointing on most fronts. I struggled to engage with the narrative or (for the most part) the characters. The prose I found to be generally verging on the disinteresting. Maybe it is a lazy comparison, but Farewell to Arms came across to me almost like an earlier, weaker Steinbeck but without his literary strengths, mastery and skill for storytelling. The most effective and compelling parts of Farewell to Arms I found to be the relationships and scenes between Henry, Catherine, Rinaldi and the Priest these at least had a certain air of authenticity about them (in spite of Catherines occasionally bizarre depiction as half-crazy) as well as the closing passages which in themselves existed as the result of the war, but in themselves are depicted as entirely separate from the war.If there was any semblance of portraying the heroism, futility and savagery etc of war then this was for the most part lost or absent at least for me. Published in the same year as Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front (sometimes cited as the best war novel of all time understandably) Farewell to Arms does not bear comparison and maybe shouldnt be compared. Although both books were published in the same year and the broader subject matter of the Great War is the same they dont attempt to tell anything like the same story. However whilst Remarque produced a staggering work of literary near/genius, Hemingway came up with a novel which is considered altogether more modern in style and construction. The problem for me is that A Farewell to Arms is ultimately neither moving, nor beautiful, nor harrowing, nor engaging, nor for the most part thought provoking.Perhaps Hemingway readers out there can recommend some of his other works which might restore my hopes in Hemingway; based on Farewell to Arms however, I do not feel inclined at this stage to explore the rest of his output.Apparently the title; Farewell to Arms is in itself a pun although I think neither funny, nor clever nor ironic perhaps I missed something?Overall then despite some engaging and effective passages, some memorable quotes and possibly ahead of its time terms of being modern (?) Farewell to Arms is ultimately however, underwhelming, fails to engage and for the most part lacks a sense and feeling of any real authenticity. I've generously given a three star rating...only just.

I first read this book in high school. Maybe because I was young, maybe because it was summer reading, or maybe because I read it immediately following The Invisible Man (intense!), I more or less just slid through the book, enjoying the love story and not dwelling long enough in the war episodes to feel much of anything.The second time I read it, I didn't make it past the time in Milan. I couldn't settle into the prose and, more importantly, I couldn't handle Catherine: "I'll say just what you wish and I'll do what you wish and then you will never want any other girls, will you?" Gah. I couldn't accept either Catherine or her relationship with Frederick as at all real, and because I assumed they were supposed to be not only real but also good (or pure or ideal or something like that), it completely turned me off the book.This time I read Catherine and Frederick (especially Catherine) as damaged and completely desperate, which made her and the love story believable, acceptable, and very sad. A friend called their repetitive dialogue (I have a fine life, I have a fine time Dont we have a fine life?) an incantation, like theyre trying to will their life into being. I find that moving. The love story still wasnt my favorite part of the book, however. This time I found myself dwelling more on the war episodes, especially the armys retreat. Something about the terse style and the mundane details (what theyre eating, etc.) makes it more brutal.

I feel like awarding the great Hemingway only two stars has officially consigned me to the seventh circle of literary hell. But I must be honest. By this website's criteria two stars indicates that a book is "okay" - and to me that describes this work perfectly.Hemingway himself is undeniably gifted. I love his succinct style (though at times it degenerates to downright caveman-speak), his honest diction and his wonderful sense of humor. That being said, he gets away with utterly ignoring most rules of writing - which I admire at times, but let's face it, some of those rules are there for a REASON. This book is overflowing with extreme run-on sentences, constant use of qualifiers (I think "very" might actually be his VERY favorite word), adjectives (even NOUNS!) used four or five times in the same paragraph, and long stretches of dialogue involving more than two speakers with absolutely no indication of who is saying what (if I hadn't been reading a library book, I would have color-coded the darn thing!) And besides style, the story itself just didn't grab me. I didn't give two farts about the self-absorbed, unthinking, unfeeling protagonist or his codependent, psychologically damaged doormat of a girlfriend. This is NOT a love story. In fact, I feel sorry for anyone who thinks it is. Men who hate women are incapable of writing love stories. And for the life of me, I can't derive a theme - or even a general POINT - to this book... unless mayhap it is "stupid, senseless tragedy happens sometimes to people you don't care about." I did feel like crying several times while reading, though... but only because of the mention of alcohol on almost every page of text... I could literally HEAR Hemingway drinking himself to death. It broke my heart.CRAP WE LET HIM GET AWAY WITH BECAUSE HE'S HEMINGWAY:"We walked to the door and I saw her go in and down the hall. I liked to watch her move. She went on down the hall. I went on home. It was a hot night and there was a good deal going on up in the mountains. I watched the flashes on San Gabriele. I stopped in front of the Villa Rossa. The shutters were up but it was still going on inside. Somebody was singing. I went on home." (FOR THE LOVE WILL SOMEBODY HELP THIS GUY GET HOME????)"I came up onto a road. Ahead I saw some troops coming down the road. I limped along the side of the road and they passed me and paid no attention to me. They were a machine-gun detachment going up toward the river. I went on down the road." (FOR THE LOVE WILL SOMEBODY HELP THIS GUY GO ON DOWN THE ROAD???)And now that I've slammed him so hard, here is a glimpse at the genius that allows him to get away with it all.FAVORITE QUOTES:"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.""They were beaten to start with. They were beaten when they took them from their farms and put them in the army. That is why the peasant has wisdom, because he is defeated from the start. Put him in power and see how wise he is.""The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one... Who said it?... He was probably a coward. He knew a great deal about cowards but nothing about the brave. The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he's intelligent. He simply doesn't mention them.""Life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.""I was blown up while we were eating cheese."AND MY FAVORITE SCENE: (His friend Rinaldi begins the dialogue)"Loan me fifty lire."I dried my hands and took out my pocket-book from the inside of my tunic hanging on the wall. Rinaldi took the note, folded it without rising from the bed and slid it in his breeches pocket. He smiled, "I must make on Miss Barkley the impression of a man of sufficient wealth. You are my great and good friend and financial protector.""Go to hell," I said.

"Adio, arme!" este povestea autorului însui care, trimis ca "voluntar" pe frontul din Italia (Primul Razboi Mondial), se îndrgostete de o asistent a Crucii Roii. Patosul cu care este descris iubirea în cea de-a dou parte a romanului i tragicul final al acestuia (care l-a fcut pe Hemingway s se retrag în singurtate) reprezint o experien profund, o experien a crei urmare a fost încolirea nimbului artistic. Stilul lui Hemingway este succint i arareori are fragmente în care s descrie stri, lsând, deci, la latitudinea cititorului s interpreteze incertitudinea tririlor atât de evideniat în scrierile sale.S-a fcut i un film, "In love and war", doar c e mult modificat subiectul, îns finalul filmului mi se pare mult mai copleitor decât finalul romanului...

Once, there was a time when I would have struggled through this one, convinced that since it was a "classic", there must be some redeeming quality to it. I'd have struggled to the bitter end, hating it more and more, and I'd have been disappointed by it even if there was something worthwhile at the end. Because getting there was tedious, boring, painful, and annoying. This book has a lot of very varied reviews and opinions. Lots of people loved it, lots of people hated it. I can see why. It's a book that some people will definitely like. Masculinity, heavy drinking, etc will naturally appeal to some more than others. The love story aspect will appeal to some that aren't so much into the other stuff, and the war stuff will do for still more, maybe. Usually, the war and the masculinity and stuff would be my thing - but this just didn't do anything for me. I think that this was due to the writing, and the reading. I didn't like the reader at all. He had a kind of clipped reading style, and since the writing was full of short sentences, it made it hard for me to settle into the reading and listen. A good reader needs a quality that draws a listener in - but this one did just the opposite. I struggled on through about 3 discs and I just could not stand the reader enough to get into the story. And the story wasn't doing much to help. Staccato sentences, back and forth. Lots of pointless dialogue that, I suppose, in the end would have painted a full picture and come together, but I just found myself not caring at all. And this featured my very least favorite writing trick ever: using dialogue to replace explaining action... "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, what little I saw, were just as abrasive and annoying. "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." BLAH! Shut up. Who cares?! I just struggled along, in this three-against-one uphill battle... And they won. I raised my white flag and gave up. No mas, por favor.