Rating: 4/5
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. Hemingway seems to be hit or miss with me. There are definitely elements of the writing that are familiar to anyone who has read his works before.
From what I know, the plot pulls pretty heavily from Hemingway's own life. The main character is an American named Frederic Henry who enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. The relationships he has with the Italians seems to be pretty cordial. This may partly be due to his rank. Everything seems to be going well until he is injured in a bombing raid. Prior to this injury he meets an English nurse, Catherine, and a romance begins. This grows during his recuperation and becomes a major part of the story.
As the title suggests, there is a an anti-military theme throughout the book. Hemingway does a fantastic job of not overdoing it, which I feel would have ruined the impact of the story. One other aspect that jumped out at me was the amount of drinking the characters do. This isn't atypical for a Hemingway story, but it is quite present throughout the story. With the other themes, it isn't meant to be subversive, but to capture humanity how it is, whether good or bad. The way the book reflects on our nature is part of what makes it great and continue to be read for years.
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