A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Genre: Adult Fiction; Classic Literature; Historical Fiction

Reviewed by Sophia K., 12th Grade

Rating: 4/10

 

A Farewell to Arms is set during World War I in Italy. Frederic Henry is an American serving under the Italian army. During his service, he injures himself and remains isolated in a hospital. While recovering, he falls in love with his beautiful nurse, Catherine Barkley. Throughout the novel, Lieutenant Henry has to cope with the horror of World War I and find a way to be with the love of his life.

A Farewell to Arms perfectly represents Hemingway as an author. He can write deep and emotional scenes, but fills the rest of his piece with an insane amount of description. I found myself skimming through descriptive sections because it became redundant and felt as if the plot wasn't progressing. While it is understandable to describe the deterioration and sadness encompassing the war, Hemingway uses it far too much. I wanted to read A Farewell to Arms as an attempt to change my perspective of his as an author. I was interested to see if reading another novel by him could solve the problem. I quickly realized that this overly descriptive nature was his style. However, there were a few scenes that felt appropriate for him to write pages of setting descriptors. For example, when the main character had to traverse through the war zone to find injured soldiers, the setting adds to the darkness of what Henry had to complete.

Something shocking to me, while I read, was how different Hemingway's writing was when it came to dialogue. His dialogues were very authentic and he was able to capture emotion when writing them. When reading you would feel the characters yelling, crying, or pleading for help. It was almost uncomfortable to read because of how real and intense it felt.

Strong conversations were a big tool Hemingway used to get across the themes of A Farewell to Arms. War is a huge motif in the novel. Hemingway heavily spreads the brutality of war and the ways it destroys people's lives. He uses different locations in the book to showcase different levels of support of hate for World War I, and the general destruction caused by the Great War. To me, Frederic Henry as a whole was a dry character, and at times I questioned supporting him as the leading role. However, his character was meant to be blunt to serve as an example of the stereotypes at the time where it wasn't acceptable for men to show emotion.

 

If you are interested in a character trying to keep a whirlwind romance during the Great War's wrath, then A Farewell to Arms is the right book to you.

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