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. Hemingway's frank portrayal of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, caught in the inexorable sweep of war, glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature, while his description of the German attack on Caporetto -- of lines of fired men marching in the rain, hungry, weary, and demoralized -- is one of the greatest moments in literary history. A story of love and pain, of loyalty and desertion, A Farewell to Arms, written when he was 30 years old, represents a new romanticism for Hemingway.
This was the first Hemingway book I ever read, and fell in love with his writing. It will always be my favourite, followed very closely by For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Picked up a copy for 75cents this weekend at a thrift store. Was one of my favorites in high school. Time to see if I still like it so well more than ten years later.