A Farewell to Arms (Vintage Classics)

I went into this one being a little concerned - I'm generally not interested in romances. They tend to be quite repetitive and predictable. And to be fair, there were a few chapters in this book where I was rolling my eyes. However, it's a classic for a reason. The romance isn't really undercut, but it doesn't come out of it as idealized as you might expect - it is a place in which the characters find respite from the war and from the world's relentless suffering. But it is only a respite, and there is no safe place that lasts forever.

It's quite interesting to have read this so close to For Whom The Bell Tolls, because the main characters actually have a fairly distinct attitude toward what they fight for. They both have men being masculine and stoic and feeling the pull of duty. But FWTBT is about someone fighting for a cause he really believes in and AFTA is mostly the opposite. He fights for his friends, but that's about it. And especially when things fall apart on his side, just as they eventually did in Spain, Frederic Henry is willing to make 'a separate peace'.

Any way, very good. And I just breezed through it, too, which is always a plus. Strongly recommend. As I was reading, I was actually thinking 'man, they need to make this into a movie because it is so cinematic and so much better than the drivel in theatres at the moment' and thankfully they appear to be doing just that. The earlier versions were made in times where they had to sanitize and shave off raw edges. Of course now they usually just dumb things down, but it's being made by brits, so it has a little potential of not being garbage.

Hemingway captures men's suffering in a way that aches in the heart for the rest of your life. His subtlety is often overlooked, showing you the pain, expecting you to read between the lines of the inner turmoil men are expected to hide. Suffering. Hope. Betrayal. This book is one of the few to make me cry.

Recommended to me by my Writing Comp professor. Highly influenced my writing. Very emotionally potent book.

I always wanted to read this - so glad I did! What a great love story - don't read this if love & war isn't your thing, but it was so romantic. The only thing I didn't like, was that I was still sad when I finished it - I didn't fully feel like there was something good among all the tragedy.

Brilliant and Poignant, One of the most gripping books I have ever read. It is impossible to keep away from praying for the characters as we go along. Of men and their arms and the world of war. Such beautifully depicted is the book that its impossible to put down.