The story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse during WWI.

No. 663 on the 1001 books you must read list.

---

Edit 4/13/2021: Read a different copy of this from my permanent collection. Here are my thoughts:

I have been watching the Ken Burns documentary on Hemingway on PBS for the past few days. Since I had never read A Farewell to Arms, I thought this would be a good time to do so. I've had an unread copy on my shelves for years. I have read a few other books by Hemingway and were kind of mixed about them. I read The Sun Also Rises for a college course and at the time didn't really like it. I probably need to do a reread.

As for A Farewell to Arms, I didn't really enjoy it too much either. Hemingway's prose was very understated with a lot of dialog. The novel is set in Italy and Switzerland during WWI. The narrator is Frederic Henry, an American who goes to Italy as an ambulance operator during the war. He has an affair with Catherine, an English nurse he meets while recovering from wounds suffered during a mortar shelling. This all leads to a rather tragic ending. The novel is based on Hemingway's real experiences when he worked as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in 1918.

I know this novel is often considered a realistic depiction of war and it established Hemingway as a successful writer, but I found it to be somewhat tedious and could not relate very well to the story of Henry's experiences on the Italian front nor his love affair with Catherine. I think there are better novels out there that depict the horrors of war but then again they are not Hemingway. Based on the PBS documentary, I will probably read more of him especially his short stories and For Whom the Bell Tolls but not sure when I will get to them.

Bookray

Starting a bookray for this book. This is one of several books donated to the 1001-library. Rather than have them sit on my shelf, I am sending them out as bookrays. The last person on the ray should return the book back to the library or if he/she prefers, the book can be returned to me.

Please PM me if interested in joining. Bookray will remain open until last person has the book.

Participants so far:

. voveryte from UK (International)
. katacs from Hungary (Europe only)
. tootshelling from Germany (International)
. bearyfriend from Singapore (will ship international)
. cat207 from Australia (Australia preferred - will ship international)
. dastephan6 from Massachusetts, USA (international)


Note: Order is subject to change based on shipping preferences and others joining the bookray.

How the bookray works:
* Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
* When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
* Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
* Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it but try to get it out to next reader within a couple of months)
* When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
* Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
* Send the book to the next person on the list (please use the cheapest shipping method available), make release notes (Controlled Release) or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail
* Last person on the ray: This book has been removed from the 1001-library so you can either redonate the book to the 1001-library or pass it on to someone else as a RABCK, etc.

Please feel free to PM me at any time with questions


Bookray is now completed. Thanks everyone for participating!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to voveryte to start this bookray. Enjoy

Received today! Thanks perryfran for sending this over the ocean - really appreciated! :) Looking forward to this one very much. I hope it will not take too long to finish this one, though I have 2 books ahead of it.

A very very good book! I don't even know what I liked about this book, probably everything. I know there are people who say there is nothing special abut Hemingway's books, but I just like his style, his descriptions. His characters do not seem to be very deep and complicated people, but probably this is what I liked the most. Once Hemingway said: "When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature."

The other quotation of his that I liked, this time taken from this book - "...The wine was bad but not dull. It took the enamel off your teeth and left it on the roof of your mouth." I have never heard such an expression before! :)

Waiting for katacs to reply with the address and will send the book then.

Thanks perryfran once again for the opportunity to read this great book.

27 Jan 2008: mailed to katacs today

It arrived yesterday. The package was pretty damaged but the book looks fine. I'm looking forward to read this one.

03.10. This was the first book I've read from Hemingway. It took me a while to get used to his style, but after that I enjoyed it very much.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Germany.

Almost done! Just PMed the next in line for addy. Thanks again PerryFran

I really, REALLY liked this book. I can't remember if I read it in school or not but it didn't seem familiar as I read it. I'm putting it on my "top books" list. And, I picked up a nice used copy to give to my husband for his 40th birthday. he's a big history/war buff as well as being completely in love with Italy - I'm sure he'll like it.

Thanks again PerryFran for sharing. Sorry I kept it so long.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

FINALLY getting this off to Singapore...sorry to have kept it so long, my summer holidays got the best of me.

It's ok I don't mind waiting, though thanks for sending all the way. One chunk of the pages has come off, but book is still in readable condition. I just received a ray book from Cat207, after this will be her turn to receive from me if she still wants it. Happens that both rays are hosted by Perryfran, thanks for sharing.

Sending book off to Cat207 on mon, just few more chapters to go. Had I known earlier this was actually based on Hemingway's own personal experiences as an ambulance driver in WWI I would have read it in a different light and enjoyed it better. The writing is a bit flat but I'm still glad I read it, and also there are some simple french words which I could understand and it makes me feel excited knowing what I'm reading =) Now I learnt some Italian too eg. Tenente meaning Lieutenant and Signor is Mr, though not knowing how their pronunciation is like. Thanks Perryfran for sharing. I'm not good in mending books, so will leave it as it is.

Arrived in today's mail. Thank you bearyfriend, and perryfran, as always. X

Short and sharp and rather naively written, but a very easy to read style. Not at all what I was expecting.

Sending to dastephan6 in tomorrow's mail.

recieved today...will get it soon. a couple in front of it.

Returned to me by dastephan6. Thanks

Thanks so much for your donation perryfran!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

Adding to dicentragirl's 1001 bookbox.

This was in the 1001 BTRBYD box that I circulated recently. I've read this one, so back into the box it goes!