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A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
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A Farewell to Arms (original 1929; edition 1994)

by Ernest Hemingway (Author)

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22,287243173 (3.74)519
Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. HTML:

Written when Ernest Hemingway was thirty years old and lauded as the best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield--weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion--this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep.

Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right. This edition collects all of the alternative endings together for the first time, along with early drafts of other essential passages, offering new insight into Hemingway's craft and creative process and the evolution of one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Featuring Hemingway's own 1948 introduction to an illustrated reissue of the novel, a personal foreword by the author's son Patrick Hemingway, and a new introduction by the author's grandson Seán Hemingway, this edition of A Farewell to Arms is truly a celebration.… (more)

Member:MHanover10
Title:A Farewell to Arms
Authors:Ernest Hemingway (Author)
Info:Arrow Books Ltd (1994), 304 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (1929)

  1. 20
    Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (arthurfrayn)
  2. 20
    Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (PilgrimJess)
    PilgrimJess: This account comes from a character whom actually fought and so the events first hand.
  3. 11
    Fifth Column: And Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War by Ernest Hemingway (kxlly)
  4. 00
    A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin (AmourFou)
    AmourFou: WWI Italian Front. Also great literature.
1920s (28)
AP Lit (158)
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» See also 519 mentions

English (216)  Spanish (6)  Dutch (4)  Portuguese (Brazil) (2)  German (2)  Swedish (2)  Italian (2)  Greek (1)  Catalan (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Finnish (1)  Norwegian (1)  Hebrew (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (241)
Showing 1-5 of 216 (next | show all)
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. ( )
  Karlstar | Jan 25, 2024 |
"You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering"
  Moshepit20 | Jan 13, 2024 |
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! ( )
  LDVoorberg | Dec 24, 2023 |
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. ( )
  LindaLoretz | Aug 12, 2023 |
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. ( )
  M_Clark | Aug 11, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 216 (next | show all)
Classic war novel still speaks to today's readers.
added by vibesandall | editCommon Sense Media, Barbara Schultz (Jun 5, 2022)
 
Essential Hemingway...a gripping account of the life of an American volunteer in the Italian army and a poignant love story.

added by vibesandall | editDAILY EXPRESS
 
It seems such simple and straightforward language, but it isn't. The first chapter of A Farewell to Arms is only two and a bit pages but there is almost every variety of sentence structure. It is incredibly artful writing, and part of the art is disguising that it is artful.

added by vibesandall | editGUARDIAN, JOHN HARVEY
 
Flawless... such mastery of narrative, imagery and feeling, the prerequisites for great prose

added by vibesandall | editGUARDIAN, EDNA O'BRIEN
 
A novel of great power

added by vibesandall | editTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
 

» Add other authors (85 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Hemingway, Ernestprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bleck, CathieCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bradbury, MalcolmIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ford, Ford MadoxIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hemingway, PatrickForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hemingway, SeánIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Horschitz-Horst, AnnemarieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Renner, LouisTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schuck, MaryCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vranken, KatjaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Warren, Robert PennIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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To G. A. Pfeiffer
First words
In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.
Quotations
There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have this war.
Also they make money out of it.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. HTML:

Written when Ernest Hemingway was thirty years old and lauded as the best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield--weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion--this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep.

Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right. This edition collects all of the alternative endings together for the first time, along with early drafts of other essential passages, offering new insight into Hemingway's craft and creative process and the evolution of one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Featuring Hemingway's own 1948 introduction to an illustrated reissue of the novel, a personal foreword by the author's son Patrick Hemingway, and a new introduction by the author's grandson Seán Hemingway, this edition of A Farewell to Arms is truly a celebration.

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