Farewell to Arms

6/10

This was my second occasion of reading this novel and I think I got a lot more from it. Each evening I knew exactly the point in the story where I was picking up from and didn’t have that re-orientation that one often has when returning to a book. The parts about the war itself are the least enjoyable, but the interactions and conversations between the characters can be profound, funny or silly, touching, and reveal a great deal about them and humanity. Stylistically, it is written in that terse prose for which Hemmingway is known and is an effective technique for telling this story. The ending is, of course, devastating, even on a repeat reading. Comedic elements of the story are, Frederic having Catherine as his secret girlfriend/unofficial wife in the hospital and the many instances of hitting the sauce, including an orderly who brought out some glasses and a doctor advocating having a few scoops while pregnant to “keep her [the baby] small“.