Rating: 
Summary: A Farewell to Arms
Review: An easy read for Hemingway fans, a great story of love and war taking place in Italy. If you have not read this book you should.
Rating: 
Summary: A Short Story Masquerading as a Novel
Review: The world is convinced Hemingway is the master of the English Language. He is, I will agree, in the SHORT STORY. Hemingway's minimalist structure and technique is perfect for a ten-twenty page story, but just becomes repetitive and obtrusive in a novel. Farwell to Arms feels like Hemingway took a short story idea, S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D it, and wrote the book. Of course, it's very easy to read and understand. But, it is DULL and extremely tiresome to read. Hemingway's characters probably are the worst thing about this book (and 99.9 percent of all Hemingway). Some praise his examples of the 'lost generation', I laugh. All his female characters are cardboard pieces, continually demure, and in need of men. (Note most of Hemingway's dialouge for women can be transferred into this sentence(s): 'I need you, I love you, and I will do whatever you want.) His male characters ('the lost generation') are all the same in every single thing he writes, for Hemingway mastered the formula character. If you want a good example of Hemingway, don;t bother reading this long short story, read 'The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber'<an actual short story>. The rest is just formula.
Rating: 
Summary: Poignant but True, Lacontic but Touching
Review: Despite criticism of its "harshly realistic" dialogue and the rather simple outer layer to the plot, A Farewell to Arms has emerged as one of the greatest war story ever written. Known for his wealth of experience gained in the brutality of battlefields, Hemingway gained instant fame with his highly autobiographical tale of a tenuous love caught in the sweeping wave of WWI. Set in Italy, the story unfolds when a young American ambulance driver, Henry, meets a gorgeous English nurse, Catherine Berkley, for the first time. Perhaps it was due to the powerful binding hands of the war that Berkley confides in Henry of her tragic love and places instant faith in him. At first, Henry regards Catherine only as an unwonted addition to his foreign "episodes" after he convinces himself that this feeling of strong attraction is only the ramification of war, of loneliness, and of the desire to share one's misery with someone else. Yet as their affair progresses, especially after Henry was wounded and put on covalence leave, he begins to see the sparkle of his passion for Catherine expands into this glowing fire of love. War is a vital component in Henry and Catherine's relationship as they plot their future together with war as their perpetual constraint; they only lean on one another more when Henry was forced to return to the front after learning Catherine is pregnant. The irony of their love is the shared conviction that their affair is in some way a representation of matrimony; refusing to marry Henry after he has learnt of her pregnancy, Catherine urges Henry to go back to where he belongs. During the retreat, Henry deserts the army in order to escape the persecution that awaits all officers. Fleeing back to the side of his love ready to sacrifice his life in order to be with her, Henry prepares Catherine for the journey of their lives. The ending, set in a Swedish hospital, is by no means a reconciling "period" to the long sentence with few commas even. Hemingway's own tragic romance is beautifully depicted by the movie made from Agnes Wiensky's novel, In Love and War. In some way, despite occasional righteousness and victors' justice, war is an opening to the broader side of nature's hideousness. Wars are not meant to be sweet and gentle, even if they are enshrouded with the divine touch of patriotism and of love. Henry and Catherine had grace under the soaring siege of WWI because they didn't just observe the on-going war as a superfluous event, but as a contagion of fear from which they must flee. And in fact they do flee to freedom. Through Hemingway's laconic and rough narration, few insights emerges above the surface; yet, what his pen doesn't convey on the surface is an even deeper well that awaits discovery and understanding, and that is the reality apart from the polish plane of prose. Some asks if the setting has been different, could A farewell to arms have been culminated by a more jovial ending that may in some way capture the triumphant nature of love. After all, we as a species do rise above history, more often triumphant than not. But Hemingway is not only a survivor of two wars, he is also the keeper of poignant memories of his own love loss. It doesn't necessarily mean that Henry and Catherine's love was killed by war-it was finished by fate. Their love never died, it is immortal in the sense that their tale is an on-going story without end. Their love is as great as love can be even without ornamental phrases fictional lovers whisper in each other's ears; one gesture, one glance, one word is enough to convince each other as well as the readers how strong the war has made them to be, as one. Men make war, true enough for most of Hemingway's works, but also, more significantly, wars make men. Hemingway is one of those who were certainly made stronger by not only triumph, but also losses in the hands of fate and of Self.
Rating: 
Summary: Good or slow,you pick.
Review: I am a high school student and I had to pick a book to do a report on.I decieded to read "A Farewell to Arms."My report is due tomorrow and so far I am only on page 171.The book moves so slow and it is very dry.The plot is interesting,but Hemingway needed to add more to it,in order to keep the readers attention.I personally would not have picked this book to read if I knew that it was going to be this dry and boring.
Rating:
Summary: A Farewell to Arms.
Review: I comforted myself by saying that this novel was not based on real life...just a novel. How can a life be this sad? Finally,nothing's left to Frederick and I'd cry for him all day. I'll always think about him when it rains......
Rating:
Summary: Touching Story of Love
Review: This book is absolutly wonderful! I loved soo much, its definatly one of the best books i have ever read. It has a love story but it also is suspenseful. I was so moved at the end I cried and hoped for a love as strong as theirs. I definatly reccomend this bokk, there is wonderful writing that allows you to picture everything Hemingway talks about. Definatly read this!
Rating:
Summary: Is plot not trendy?
Review: Let's see: Minimalist sentence structure, narrative, character development, and plot (especially plot). This novel reminds me of those rooms with one chair (wooden) and one window (no curtains) which we're supposed to appreciate. Less is more and all that. Is it, really? I had wanted to rent the movie, but am afraid it will be one of those long dark-scened things where characters talk ("meaningfully") on and on and on.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels of the century
Review: Fans of darkly intense war novels like The Triumph and the Glory or The Thin Red Line will like this book. People who liked The Devil's Teardrop will like this book. People who liked The Last Day or The Naked and the Dead will like this book. A Farewell to Arms has everything one could ask of a book. A vast range and scope of human emotion and experience is encapsulated into Hemingway's fiction, in a very eloquent manner. Don't miss A Farewell to Arms, it is unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Can we say 'Tripe?'
Review: Horrible! I'm prejudiced against Hemingway anyway (for which the US may hate me for) but this book was filled with ridiculous characters and sexist themes. Hemingway just doesn't impress me--his short, superficial sentences seem to impress people in a world of silly television sitcoms, and that says a lot in itself. But I have read books of his that I liked better than this one. The romance is simply mush disguised by Hemingway's manly style and by including at least one different alcoholic beverage on each page.
Rating:
Summary: Please read this book!
Review: "A Farewell to Arms" was my first 'Hemingway Experience,' and I hope that I have many others. His beautiful writing and the emotions evoked are so unbelievably real--one feels like he has known Frederic and Catherine his entire life. Though the novel was written long ago about an event that was even longer ago, you really feel like you were there, in spite of the fact that probably none of us today who are reading this book were in the Great War. And, make sure you have some kleenex with you, for you will cry. I will definitely be reading this one again!
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