Having that said, "A Farewell to Arms" was overall a good read. Despite the fact that I was unable to sympathize with the characters, I found myself to be entranced with Mr. Henry's tale. It was quite exciting, and I always waited for his return to Catherine, and for their playful,(although somewhat silly) dialouge. Up until the end of the tale, I was satisfied. Only after the "tragedy" did all the minor problems come shame-facedly to the surface. I would recommend this book to any lover of classics, but if you're looking for a war story, this clearly isn't the book for you.

Set in Italy, the story unfolds when a young American ambulance driver, Henry, meets a gorgeous English nurse, Catherine Berkley, for the first time. Perhaps it was due to the powerful binding hands of the war that Berkley confides in Henry of her tragic love and places instant faith in him. At first, Henry regards Catherine only as an unwonted addition to his foreign "episodes" after he convinces himself that this feeling of strong attraction is only the ramification of war, of loneliness, and of the desire to share one's misery with someone else. Yet as their affair progresses, especially after Henry was wounded and put on covalence leave, he begins to see the sparkle of his passion for Catherine expands into this glowing fire of love. War is a vital component in Henry and Catherine's relationship as they plot their future together with war as their perpetual constraint; they only lean on one another more when Henry was forced to return to the front after learning Catherine is pregnant. The irony of their love is the shared conviction that their affair is in some way a representation of matrimony; refusing to marry Henry after he has learnt of her pregnancy, Catherine urges Henry to go back to where he belongs. During the retreat, Henry deserts the army in order to escape the persecution that awaits all officers. Fleeing back to the side of his love ready to sacrifice his life in order to be with her, Henry prepares Catherine for the journey of their lives. The ending, set in a Swedish hospital, is by no means a reconciling "period" to the long sentence with few commas even.

Hemingway's own tragic romance is beautifully depicted by the movie made from Agnes Wiensky's novel, In Love and War. In some way, despite occasional righteousness and victors' justice, war is an opening to the broader side of nature's hideousness. Wars are not meant to be sweet and gentle, even if they are enshrouded with the divine touch of patriotism and of love. Henry and Catherine had grace under the soaring siege of WWI because they didn't just observe the on-going war as a superfluous event, but as a contagion of fear from which they must flee. And in fact they do flee to freedom. Through Hemingway's laconic and rough narration, few insights emerges above the surface; yet, what his pen doesn't convey on the surface is an even deeper well that awaits discovery and understanding, and that is the reality apart from the polish plane of prose.

Some asks if the setting has been different, could A farewell to arms have been culminated by a more jovial ending that may in some way capture the triumphant nature of love. After all, we as a species do rise above history, more often triumphant than not. But Hemingway is not only a survivor of two wars, he is also the keeper of poignant memories of his own love loss. It doesn't necessarily mean that Henry and Catherine's love was killed by war-it was finished by fate. Their love never died, it is immortal in the sense that their tale is an on-going story without end. Their love is as great as love can be even without ornamental phrases fictional lovers whisper in each other's ears; one gesture, one glance, one word is enough to convince each other as well as the readers how strong the war has made them to be, as one.

Men make war, true enough for most of Hemingway's works, but also, more significantly, wars make men. Hemingway is one of those who were certainly made stronger by not only triumph, but also losses in the hands of fate and of Self.