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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
This was my first Hemingway book, and I didn't actually hate it as much as I thought I would! This book is about an American soldier who is fighting in the Italian army in WW1. He is an ambulance driver. He meets a pretty nurse, Catherine, pretty early in the book, and they begin a love affair. This romance during war was what I thought would appeal to me the most, but I actually didn't like Catherine very much. What I did like were the scenes from the battlefield and when he deserted from the army. Hemingway used this story to tell about the bleakness of war, no matter who you were and where you were fighting.
2.5 stars.
It was ok. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it either. The relationship between the protagonist, ambulance driver Fred, and his lover, Nurse Barkley, seemed incredibly superficial and fake to me. Something about their dialogue struct me as particularly disingenuous, and I couldn't tell if their relationship was meant to seem superficial or if Hemingway was trying to make their connection feel real, in which case he failed.
I was also thoroughly unimpressed with Hemingway’s macho masculinity and his depiction of women in general. Clearly he wrote this before feminism was invented, or at least before feminism became mainstream enough for him to be unable to ignore it. Besides Nurse Barkley having air-headed dialogue, she also displayed an extreme level of self-sacrifice in her relationship (“there’s no me, there’s only you”) and self-blame for getting pregnant (it takes two), repeatedly apologized to her lover for not looking, or being, good enough for him, and was always deferent to his whims. The other female characters weren't much better, and the men had some pretty unsavory moments as well. For example, some soldiers called two girls “difficult” for not wanting to get raped, and the protagonist seemed to agree with this assessment rather than attempting to see it from the girls' viewpoint for a moment.
In light of his opinion of women, I was somewhat surprised by what I assume was a conscious juxtaposition of childbirth for women against war for men, because that would've given women more acknowledgement than he deemed them worth. I'm no literature major though, and there's every chance that I missed or misinterpreted the Point. If I had to summarize, the overall message I got was "war sucks, and even when you escape war, life sucks." But that might not have been the intended takeaway.
Sidenote, don’t read Chapter 9 while eating. War is awful.
It was ok. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it either. The relationship between the protagonist, ambulance driver Fred, and his lover, Nurse Barkley, seemed incredibly superficial and fake to me. Something about their dialogue struct me as particularly disingenuous, and I couldn't tell if their relationship was meant to seem superficial or if Hemingway was trying to make their connection feel real, in which case he failed.
I was also thoroughly unimpressed with Hemingway’s macho masculinity and his depiction of women in general. Clearly he wrote this before feminism was invented, or at least before feminism became mainstream enough for him to be unable to ignore it. Besides Nurse Barkley having air-headed dialogue, she also displayed an extreme level of self-sacrifice in her relationship (“there’s no me, there’s only you”) and self-blame for getting pregnant (it takes two), repeatedly apologized to her lover for not looking, or being, good enough for him, and was always deferent to his whims. The other female characters weren't much better, and the men had some pretty unsavory moments as well. For example, some soldiers called two girls “difficult” for not wanting to get raped, and the protagonist seemed to agree with this assessment rather than attempting to see it from the girls' viewpoint for a moment.
In light of his opinion of women, I was somewhat surprised by what I assume was a conscious juxtaposition of childbirth for women against war for men, because that would've given women more acknowledgement than he deemed them worth. I'm no literature major though, and there's every chance that I missed or misinterpreted the Point. If I had to summarize, the overall message I got was "war sucks, and even when you escape war, life sucks." But that might not have been the intended takeaway.
Sidenote, don’t read Chapter 9 while eating. War is awful.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My first Hemingway, and probably my last. I didn't not enjoy it, but I certainly didn't really like it. My thinking is that I should read at least one book of this famous twentieth century author, possibly more famous for the life he led than the books he wrote, even though he did win the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in 1954. And this was a random pick off the library shelf rather than one I specifically chose.
A good story, based on Hemingway's own ambulance driving experiences during WWI in Italy. The lead character is an American, Fredric Henry, serving as a lieutenant in the medical corps of the Italian army. Amongst all the horror of war he meets an English nurse, Catherine, with whom he falls madly in love. Their love affair amidst the chaos going on around them is the backbone to the story.
The problem is that it is just not terribly well told or very well written. The plot meanders quite a bit, the dialogues between all the characters are dreadful, often amounting to no more than two or three word exchanges - for a couple in love they can't really seem to find anything to talk about, but having said that, probably not a lot of talking was going on! With his fellow soldiers, all Italian, the conversations are just as boring, naturally there is a lot drinking and ribbing and sitting around being bored going on, which is probably what happened anyway. The best writing is the descriptions of what is going on around them all - the fear, the tension, the horror, the dirt, the day to day life. And quite a bit on the futility of war, the pointlessness of it all, and of course the inevitable deaths.
This was probably very much a book of its time - published in 1929 the war had ended only ten years earlier, and it was very well received when first published. So, I can now say I have read a Hemingway, yay, moving on.
A good story, based on Hemingway's own ambulance driving experiences during WWI in Italy. The lead character is an American, Fredric Henry, serving as a lieutenant in the medical corps of the Italian army. Amongst all the horror of war he meets an English nurse, Catherine, with whom he falls madly in love. Their love affair amidst the chaos going on around them is the backbone to the story.
The problem is that it is just not terribly well told or very well written. The plot meanders quite a bit, the dialogues between all the characters are dreadful, often amounting to no more than two or three word exchanges - for a couple in love they can't really seem to find anything to talk about, but having said that, probably not a lot of talking was going on! With his fellow soldiers, all Italian, the conversations are just as boring, naturally there is a lot drinking and ribbing and sitting around being bored going on, which is probably what happened anyway. The best writing is the descriptions of what is going on around them all - the fear, the tension, the horror, the dirt, the day to day life. And quite a bit on the futility of war, the pointlessness of it all, and of course the inevitable deaths.
This was probably very much a book of its time - published in 1929 the war had ended only ten years earlier, and it was very well received when first published. So, I can now say I have read a Hemingway, yay, moving on.
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.
The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.
If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Terrible writing style that is choppy and difficult to follow. Additionally the story lacked a plot and the ending sucked. This must be a book full of metaphors because I'm not sure why anyone would recommend it.