Hemingway's <i>A Farewell to Arms</i> is an interesting depiction of love and war at the WWI Italian Front in Austria in spite of or maybe because of his sparse, objective sentences and heavy reliance on conversation that is annoyingly patrician in tone. A picture is drawn of an American ambulance diver interacting with his comrades and an English nurse. There is high drama as the front collapses and his retreat turns into a desertion, as his girlfriend becomes pregnant and the couple face a disastrous pregnancy. But depiction and drama are elements of a story, not a story in and of itself. If the story was: soldier manages to wise up to the futility or horror of armed conflict and extricate himself, then the subsequent deaths of mother and child do not just confuse the successful escape, they undercut any sense that a problem has been solved or a true hero has prevailed. If the story was: in the midst of war a love affair ends tragically, then why are the deaths so random, why do they have nothing to do with the war or anything else in the story? Why are the impediments to the love story so huge and yet overcome with such ease? Basically the affair is a "nodoubter" from the start--until the very strange end. Whether or not <i>A Farewell</i> is a "classic," it doesn't have a plot that makes much sense to me.

I read this as a teenager, then again as an adult. Definitely worth a second time around.

A look inot the life of one man and his love during the War. Absolutely loved it and would reccomend it to any one!

I read this book because it is a well-known classic, but I got half way through it and could not finish it (and I enjoy reading all sorts of novels). I thought it was boring and the dialogue between the main characters just didn't interest me.

My first Hemingway novel and it was excellent. Hemingway's knowledge of the english language and his simplicity is what makes this book a classic. The book was an excellent read, and it certaintly won't be my last Hemingway novel.