joyofreading

I love literature but I have read very few classics. I'm more drawn to contemporary books. 

So even though I understand the massive importance of Hemingway I had not read a novel by him before. 

This year marks 100 years since the beginning of the 1st world war. Therefor I decided to read Hemingway's novel, which is lauded as the best American novel to emerge from WWI. 

I had a hard time getting into it. As a pacifist I'm both repulsed and uninterested in the dirty acts of war. 

However; the further I got the more I appreciated the book. By the end I didn't want it to end. 

What stand out is the hopelessness if the situation, the randomness of cruelty and how impossible it is to get valid information and how the worth if a human life goes away in a war situation. 

However. There's not many gory battle scenes at all in this book. Hospitals, hotels and running away through the country side is more prevalent. 

And the real important story is the love story between American ambulans driver on the Itslian front and the English nurse who cares for him in the hospital. 

The book was written in 1929, when Hemingway was 30 years old, and at first I had a hard time w/the hopelessly outdated view of women. But Hemingway is a master of dialogue and it's a joy to take part in it. 

He was famously quoted to have rewritten the end 39 times to get it right, and this edition has all the handwritten versions enclosed - fascinating! 

When I closed the book I felt so happy to be born the century and place I was, and my respect goes out to every woman who has given birth under harsh conditions. 

A Farewell to Arms is in no way a celebration to war and I'm very happy I took the time to read it!