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A Farewell To Arms Paperback – June 1, 1995
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Written when Ernest Hemingway was thirty years old and lauded as the best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield, this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep.
Hemingway famously rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right. A classic novel of love during wartime, “A Farewell to Arms stands, more than eighty years after its first appearance, as a towering ornament of American literature” (The Washington Times).
- Print length332 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateJune 1, 1995
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
- ISBN-109780684801469
- ISBN-13978-0684801469
- Lexile measure730L
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Hemingway was not known for either unbridled optimism or happy endings, and A Farewell to Arms, like his other novels (For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, and To Have and Have Not), offers neither. What it does provide is an unblinking portrayal of men and women behaving with grace under pressure, both physical and psychological, and somehow finding the courage to go on in the face of certain loss. --Alix Wilber
From Library Journal
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
—Edna O’Brien
“We can’t seem to stop using a certain kind of elevated, heroic language about war and it is our duty always to puncture it. No one has ever done that as eloquently as Hemingway, through the accumulating weight of his sentences, and the emotional clarity, the disgust and also the reverence for what has been done.”
—Tobias Wolff
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels. Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust they raised powdered the leaves of the trees. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves.
The plain was rich with crops; there were many orchards of fruit trees and beyond the plain the mountains were brown and bare. There was fighting in the mountains and at night we could see the flashes from the artillery. In the dark it was like summer lightning, but the nights were cool and there was not the feeling of a storm coming.
Sometimes in the dark we heard the troops marching under the window and guns going past pulled by motor-tractors. There was much traffic at night and many mules on the roads with boxes of ammunition on each side of their pack-saddles and gray motor trucks that carried men, and other trucks with loads covered with canvas that moved slower in the traffic. There were big guns too that passed in the day drawn by tractors, the long barrels of the guns covered with green branches and green leafy branches and vines laid over the tractors. To the north we could look across a valley and see a forest of chestnut trees and behind it another mountain on this side of the river. There was fighting for that mountain too, but it was not successful, and in the fall when the rains came the leaves all fell from the chestnut trees and the branches were bare and the trunks black with rain. The vineyards were thin and bare-branched too and all the country wet and brown and dead with the autumn. There were mists over the river and clouds on the mountain and the trucks splashed mud on the road and the troops were muddy and wet in their capes; their rifles were wet and under their capes the two leather cartridge-boxes on the front of the belts, gray leather boxes heavy with the packs of clips of thin, long 6.5 mm. cartridges, bulged forward under the capes so that the men, passing on the road, marched as though they were six months gone with child.
There were small gray motor cars that passed going very fast; usually there was an officer on the seat with the driver and more officers in the back seat. They splashed more mud than the camions even and if one of the officers in the back was very small and sitting between two generals, he himself so small that you could not see his face but only the top of his cap and his narrow back, and if the car went especially fast it was probably the King. He lived in Udine and came out in this way nearly every day to see how things were going, and things went very badly.
At the start of the winter came the permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end only seven thousand died of it in the army.
Copyright © 1929 by Charles Scribner's Sons
Copyright renewed 1957 © by Ernest Hemmingway
Product details
- ASIN : 0684801469
- Publisher : Scribner (June 1, 1995)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 332 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780684801469
- ISBN-13 : 978-0684801469
- Lexile measure : 730L
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #28,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #444 in War Fiction (Books)
- #1,133 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #2,732 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899. His father was a doctor and he was the second of six children. Their home was at Oak Park, a Chicago suburb.
In 1917, Hemingway joined the Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. The following year, he volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, where he was badly wounded but decorated for his services. He returned to America in 1919, and married in 1921. In 1922, he reported on the Greco-Turkish war before resigning from journalism to devote himself to fiction. He settled in Paris where he renewed his earlier friendships with such fellow-American expatriates as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Their encouragement and criticism were to play a valuable part in the formation of his style.
Hemingway's first two published works were Three Stories and Ten Poems and In Our Time but it was the satirical novel, The Torrents of Spring, that established his name more widely. His international reputation was firmly secured by his next three books; Fiesta, Men Without Women and A Farewell to Arms.
He was passionately involved with bullfighting, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing and his writing reflected this. He visited Spain during the Civil War and described his experiences in the bestseller, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
His direct and deceptively simple style of writing spawned generations of imitators but no equals. Recognition of his position in contemporary literature came in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the author's insightful writing style and graphic descriptions of the war. The book provides a haunting portrayal of actual battlefield conditions and human relationships during this most difficult time. Readers describe the story as moving along at a nice pace. However, some feel the characters lack depth and don't connect with the story.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and worth reading. They appreciate the narrative and chapter summaries. The beginning is praised as memorable and worthy of attention. Readers mention that the forewords are useful additions.
"..."A Farewell to Arms," which I read in its Kindle edition, is a masterful narrative that resonates deeply, especially in our current times rife with..." Read more
"...The bullfighting description is very insightful and a classic in of itself. Only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I like "Bell" much better." Read more
"...This volume is worth reading, or reading again if you are a Hemingway fan." Read more
"He loves the book!" Read more
Customers appreciate the book's insights. They find it thought-provoking and say the descriptions from beginning to end are magnificent. The writing is described as a true classic and inspiration.
"...Highly recommended for anyone seeking a book that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant." Read more
"...does write as an American Everyman – He’s objective, pragmatic, non-dogmatic; he describes accurately what he sees with typical American practicality..." Read more
"...by soldiers on the battlefield, and get a good introduction to the wartime practice of medicine in the early 20th Century...." Read more
"...all of the alternate endings, giving insight to his craft and creative process. His book is a masterpiece of literary craftsmanship...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's style. They find the writing bold and graphic, describing the war realistically. The cover has a nice touch, and the writing is concise and non-flowery. Readers appreciate the author's earthy perspective and vivid word pictures.
"...justification for WWI, if there is one, is that it serves as a great backdrop for this marvelous novel, the story of wounded ambulance driver..." Read more
"...Special note: this Library Edition is a beautiful book that contains all kinds of goodies (see product description) -- a must for writers and..." Read more
"...Hemingway's sentences are among the most pristine and beautiful creations of mankind. This volume has some you've never read before...." Read more
"...Beautiful and jagged. The faint of heart need not apply." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing good. They describe the story as moving along at a nice pace, with quick and to-the-point prose that makes it easy to read. The book is described as exciting, dramatic, romantic, and devastating. Readers say it draws their interest in and disappoints when the book ends.
"...which I read in its Kindle edition, is a masterful narrative that resonates deeply, especially in our current times rife with concerns about war...." Read more
"...A profound and deeply realistic narrative...." Read more
"...It'll grab you by the gut and squeeze until tears stream out of your eyeballs...." Read more
"...This book was timely and life-changing for the generation it was written for...." Read more
Customers find the book's depth engaging. They describe it as a haunting portrayal of actual battlefield conditions, a personal look at war and human relationships during this most challenging period. The book goes into philosophical detail on both war and love, and the interesting juxtaposition between love and war. It is an emotional, relevant read that urges readers to contemplate the impact of war on individual lives and dreams.
"...perspective makes the novel incredibly relevant, urging readers to contemplate the impact of war on individual lives and dreams...." Read more
"...The bullfighting description is very insightful and a classic in of itself. Only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I like "Bell" much better." Read more
"...Still, the dialogue did not feel genuine or perhaps it was too realistic. There was so much detail without purpose...." Read more
"...quite a lot from reading this one, for example, the exquisite balance between detail and action...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality. Some find it simple but profound, with a conversational style and world-class skills as a writer. Others mention bad dialogue and shallow character development. The dialogue is tedious and stilted, with limited writing or markings on cover pages.
"...Hemingway's portrayal of dialogues is unique; they are seemingly dissociated, reflecting the fragmented nature of thoughts and conversations during..." Read more
"A Farewell to Arms (1929) showcases young Hemingway’s skills as a world-class writer: He’s able to capture the nuances of his characters’ emotions..." Read more
"...I also found the dialogue stiff and, on occasion, down-right bizarre...." Read more
"The simple but profound writing in A Farewell to Arms is what makes Hemingway such a master...." Read more
Customers have different views on the love story. Some find it compelling and emotional, exploring love, war, and the human condition. They appreciate the ending and find the author full of life. Others feel the plot is confusing and unclear, with an unexpected tragic ending.
"...driver in World War I Italy, Hemingway's work is a powerful exploration of love, war, and the human condition...." Read more
"...Saddest ending by far. I couldn’t stop myself from crying. Don’t recommend if you don’t like sad ending cause this one hit hard.😭 😭😭..." Read more
"...There are included his many, many alternative endings...." Read more
"...always, easy to read and very skilled, technically, but the story never "grabbed" me...." Read more
Customers find the characters uninteresting and narcissistic. They find it difficult to connect with them, as the writer fails to get inside their heads. The dialogue is trite and the book treats women as one-dimensional.
"...too little direction, no ambition, insecure, self-absorbed, and lacking in character...." Read more
"...Although the main character seems pretty heartless the way he descibes things, even personal tragedies...." Read more
"...to me another possible scenario for such bad dialogue and shallow character build...." Read more
"...’s skills as a world-class writer: He’s able to capture the nuances of his characters’ emotions and place them in detail among the circumstances of..." Read more
Reviews with images
Really good book, [SPOILERS]: incredibly sad ending
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2024Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms," which I read in its Kindle edition, is a masterful narrative that resonates deeply, especially in our current times rife with concerns about war. Told through the singular perspective of an ambulance driver in World War I Italy, Hemingway's work is a powerful exploration of love, war, and the human condition.
The language of the novel is quintessentially Hemingway—sparse, economical, and impactful. Every word is meticulously chosen, ensuring not a single one is superfluous. This brevity in language contributes to the dreamlike, almost shell-shocked reality of the narrator, encapsulating the disorienting experience of war.
Hemingway's portrayal of dialogues is unique; they are seemingly dissociated, reflecting the fragmented nature of thoughts and conversations during tumultuous times. The protagonist's journey is not just one of war, but also of profound personal growth, highlighted by his friendships with other men and his evolving relationship with a nurse, whom he grows to love.
The unfolding love story amidst the chaos of war is poignant and touching. The characters' desire to marry, their near fulfillment of this dream, is a testament to the enduring nature of love in the face of adversity. Hemingway captures the essence of human longing and the relentless pursuit of happiness in the darkest hours.
Reading "A Farewell to Arms" in the current global climate, where the dread of war looms large, one cannot help but reflect on the complexities of such conflicts. Hemingway reminds us that, often, the decision to go to war is not in the hands of those who fight it. This perspective makes the novel incredibly relevant, urging readers to contemplate the impact of war on individual lives and dreams.
In conclusion, "A Farewell to Arms" is a timeless classic, a compelling read that is as relevant today as it was when it was first published. Its exploration of the human spirit, set against the backdrop of war, is both heart-wrenching and deeply moving. This novel is not just a literary masterpiece but also a profound commentary on the nature of war, love, and the human experience. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a book that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2024To me, this is not Hemingway's best work - that honor is reserved "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - but a good one nonetheless. The bullfighting description is very insightful and a classic in of itself. Only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I like "Bell" much better.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2021A Farewell to Arms (1929) showcases young Hemingway’s skills as a world-class writer: He’s able to capture the nuances of his characters’ emotions and place them in detail among the circumstances of his other characters amidst the carnage and disarray of war. Quite an accomplishment for a writer not even 30 years old. Relying upon his experience as an American ambulance driver in the Italian Army during the last year of WWI, he displays the elation of the combatants in the early phase of war, when things were going well; then suffers the hell of being seriously wounded by an artillery shell; and, later, returned to the front when the Italian Army is retreating in total disarray after the successes of the new German divisions that are supporting the Austrian Army, experiences the anarchy and corruption of the defeated Italian conscript army. In defeat, it’s every man for himself, as Hem vividly shows.
His writing isn’t as staid and prosaic as some critics have made it out. An example: ”[T]here was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on in a rushing wind. . . I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. . . Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back.” (p. 47)
Hemingway does write as an American Everyman – He’s objective, pragmatic, non-dogmatic; he describes accurately what he sees with typical American practicality, and in war what he sees is horrible and cruel. It’s an American perspective: No fantasy, no exaggeration, no flights into the unrealistic, no sugar-coated slogans. War is a massive waste of human capital. Even so, Hem’s story is one of finding love and comradeship in an active war zone, and it makes this instance of his early work profoundly relatable.
This is the premier edition of A Farewell to Arms. It contains early drafts of key passages. There are included his many, many alternative endings. This is a writer’s writer at a key juncture in the writer’s career, completely exposed, showing all his guts, spleen and innards for all the world to see. This volume is worth reading, or reading again if you are a Hemingway fan.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2024He loves the book!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023The simple but profound writing in A Farewell to Arms is what makes Hemingway such a master. The main character, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, is an American serving as an ambulance driver for the Italian Red Cross in World War I. Hemingway demonstrates both the horrors of war and the ordinariness of life during the war. There is also a love story running parallel to the war story.
Although Hemingway wants each reader to take something different, and he doesn’t expound upon emotions and messages, the story has many themes. In addition to love, there’s a study of loyalty, patriotism, and desertion. The characters exemplify courage and fear, and pain. Loneliness, heavy drinking, and escapism, both literally and figuratively, are elements in the narrative.
The reader learns more about a man when the main character gives up on war and says farewell to arms. Hope, confusion, and agony play into the end of the story, and realizing that we must die is paramount to understanding the novel.
Top reviews from other countries
- Angel G.Reviewed in Mexico on August 8, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy.
One of Hemingway's finest books.
- AnnHReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars good read
good read, i enjoyed, arrived quickly, good price. great condition. 5*
- J. WijsmanReviewed in the Netherlands on October 17, 2024
1.0 out of 5 stars A Farewell To Arms - The Macmillan Collector's Library Edition
The 1-star review is not for the story (which is one of Hemingway's best) but for the Macmillan Collector's Library edition. I purchased this hardcover edition for my library, but had failed to notice the dimensions. It measures only 15 x 10cm (6 x 4 inches) and as such is smaller than almost all paperback books. It looks more like a pocket bible. As a result the letter type is tiny, almost impossible to read.
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Andreas LReviewed in Sweden on October 11, 2024
1.0 out of 5 stars En rätt så tråkig bok, helt enkelt
Detta ska enligt kritiker vara en av Hemmingways bästa böcker. Om så är fallet kan jag verkligen inte förstå hans storhet. Riktigt tråkig bok som varken känns spännande eller för den skull, bildande. Bara torr... Har läst typ 120 sidor och undrar om det ska släppa men jag börjar ge upp hoppet.
Så om du är en hardcore Hemmingway fan kanske den kan rekommenderas men för oss övriga finns bättre böcker att spendera vår tid på!
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LUDOVIC CHANUReviewed in France on September 23, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Agacé
Je laisse à chacun le loisir d'apprécier ce roman, ou pas. Il faut cependant signaler de nombreuses erreurs de frappe qui rendent la lecture parfois pénible