A Farewell To Arms

So this isn't a review on Selected Short Stories, by Henry James. To tell you the truth, I haven't finished it yet. But, fear not, I've still been reading plenty, and here's a post about A Farewell To Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, which I read at the start of the summer...

I didn't expect this to enjoy it as much as everyone else who's read it seems to have done, mainly due to the fact that I thought it was just a book about the First World War. I wasn't immediately taken in by Hemingway's writing style, which I'll get back to in a minute, but I discovered that it was so so much more than a book about WW1. There was even a love story woven in, which was beautifully sad, and yet so passionate.

The book is semi-autobiographical, and is based on Hemingway's own experiences of enlisting in the Italian army during WW1 and fighting in the mountains against the Austrians. The main character falls in love with a nurse, and although I can't say any of the details because they'll utterly spoil the book, it is a fantastically gorgeous love story. In terms of Hemingway's writing style, it is very simple and states only the fact. He doesn't indulge in long metaphors or poetic techniques to try and describe his feelings; he only expresses them in the words that fit them best. If anyone's seen the film Midnight In Paris, directed by Woody Allen, Hemingway's writing style is pretty much exactly the way Hemingway acts in that film. He can be very dryly funny, but incredibly honest, which is difficult to get your head around if you're used to reading (like me) Dickens's long, flowery, descriptive passages. That isn't to say that it isn't as good as Dickens, because it is, but it's just different.

I adored this book, and am planning on reading many many Agatha Christies on holiday, so look out for the next post!