A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway, 1929 Date Read: 3/13/22

One of the major issues with the Lengthy Literary List is that I am judging novels that literature professors and award-winning writers have deemed "classics". I mean, that's also the point of the list. But it seems almost...an act of hubris for me to judge Ernest Hemingway, whom so many people think was an amazing, world-changing novelist.

But I'm going to do it anyway.

The first thing I want to point out about this novel is there is a 153-word sentence on page 32 and that sentence includes 21 "and"s.

If I were to write like that I would be mocked and judged incompetent. But when Hemingway does it, it somehow becomes avant-garde.

If I am honest, I found the writing to be childish and the grammar atrocious. I understand that, at least in parts, he was trying to show Henry's state of mind through the stylistic writing. I get that. It just didn't work very well. For the most part, this novel read like it was written by a 3rd grader.

The story, on the other hand, was very interesting, especially in the second half of the novel after Henry absconds from the military. There were several deus ex machina moments, and it was a bit unrealistic, but novels are allowed to be unrealistic.

I don't like war, especially right now with Russia invading Ukraine. It scares and depresses me, and I do not generally choose to read about it. That said, I was impressed by how vividly Hemingway depicted life in WWI. I can imagine how terrifying it would be to experience a retreat, but my imagination cannot provide the gut-wrenching fear and detailed toil like this novel did. It is obvious from reading this novel that he served in WWI. I do hope his experiences weren't as awful as the ones depicted, but as he killed himself, they probably were. Haunting is a good word for it.

So I didn't dislike it, to be clear. Perhaps at the time the writing style was new and cool but in 2022 it just comes off as childish. He really loved him some run-on sentences.

In case you were wondering how self-important this novel was, the copy I borrowed from my local library not only had pictures of the original handwritten manuscript inserted in the middle of the story but also had about 40 pages of "corrections and deletions", meaning, pages of edited text. Not to mention, two separate Hemingways wrote introductions to this edition. Tell me you think you have the greatest thing since sliced bread without telling me...

I have two more of Hemingway's novels on the list (The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea) so I will be interested to see what I think of those when I come to them.

I want to respond to a criticism of the reviews I have received. The statement was essentially, "You can't write like Hemingway/Forster/James/etc, so you can't criticize their writing".

The issue here is that I'm not trying to be a writer like Hemingway/Forster/James/etc, and novels aren't written for writers. Novels are written for readers. As a reader, I am the target audience. I don't have to be an incredible musician to determine if I like a piece of music or not. And I don't have to be an incredible writer to say if I like a novel.

Writers write for readers. I am reviewing these novels not as a novelist, not as a literature professor, not as a professional critic. I am reviewing these novels as an average person who likes to read. I am not impressed by the name Hemingway, Forster, James. I am impressed by a good story. I feel that a novel is, in its most basic form, a format for sharing stories. No matter how amazingly avant-garde your writing style or how uniquely stylistic your writing, if the story isn't good, it simply isn't a good novel.

Time to read: two days

Rereadability: It's about war, which is unpleasant to read, so probably not. Also, all the suspense is gone now that you know what happens.

Classic: If only for the very precise and clear depiction of life in WWI, yes. After reading this I definitely feel I have a new view on what WWI was like for not only servicemen but everyone else as well.