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A Farewell to Arms

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A Farewell to Arms

By: Ernest Hemingway
Narrated by: John Slattery
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About this listen

 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.

©1929 Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright renewed 1957 Ernest Hemingway (P)2006 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military War Heartfelt Tear-jerking Italy Military

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Would you consider the audio edition of A Farewell to Arms to be better than the print version?

John Slattery's portrayal of an american medic serving with the Italian infantry in WW2 is just so lovely. He inhabits the Hemingway character perfectly. I was so hooked I barely stopped listening from start to finish.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Farewell to Arms?

The relationship between Henry and Barkley is subtle, beautiful and so moving.

A beautiful story beautifully told

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Definitely not his best, but it reads with the same descriptive nature that Hemingway is known for
If you're a fan of his pragmatic and no-nonsense style, you'll be satisfied
If you just want a moving book by a classic author, For Whom The Bell Tolls is a better example of his work

Still Hemingway

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For many chapters I couldn't get over the impression that this was a take-off of Hemmingway's style. The 'Janet and John' style, as it sounds to UK listeners (of a certain age). But, Hemmingway builds his characters from conversation - the way they talk - and this narrator almost converts the book to a play at some points. I loved the conversation (soliloquy, since the narrator is talking to himself) where he asks himself 'what if his lover/girlfriend dies (in childbirth)'. I can't imagine how it would look on a page - but played by this actor... really something.

Narrator performs book

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truly enjoyed this.

although the female English accent on a man is annoying at times the story and descriptions are Hemmingway at his best.

highly recommended!

best read of Hemmingways

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The book is great, if a bit of a downer.

I was merely, mildly irritated by the reading until, suddenly, the lector changed his voice so that it sounded like a stage Pakistani being 'waterboarded' by the CIA.

From the context I deduced that it must be what he imagined to be a Scottish accent and, to be fair, if you listened really hard it did sound almost ,but not quite entirely, unlike a bad imitation of Mike Myers imitating Mel Gibson pretending to be Scottish. The English and Italian accents are just barely better. This was so annoying that it really cheapened the whole work.

A lector whose work I will carefully avoid in future.

Why do lectors who can't do accents, do accents?

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I couldn't stop listening. I was in the story with Henry also my first hemmingway novel

it felt like that I was there and felt what they all felt.

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It's so wonderful to listen to this novel. You hear every word, every tone - when you read you can miss a lot. John Slattery gives life to the - on the surface - subdued lovestory. On my Top Ten!

No one besides Hemingway

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Wonderful performance from Mr Slattery, it's like sharing a room with Roger Sterling. Reptative at times, but this is Hemingway's style. In my opinion the most vivid writer ever, you can hear feel and taste every sensation of war time Italy.

Vivid storytelling at its best

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Given the date I thought it would be good to listen to a reading of 'A Farewell to Arms' forty years after I first read it and I am glad I did so. The book has not aged as badly as some might imagine and despite Hemingway's decline in popularity, due no doubt, to our modern aversion to his hunting, fishing and shooting lifestyle, this remains a classic. On a macro level he covers the war well from the perspective of an American 'outsider' in the Italian army. I have always loved Hemingway's descriptions of eating and drinking and Frederic Henry's consumption is enthusiastically described. So is his affection for his Italian comrades. He is also a master at describing the natural world such as the crispness of weather, the slap of water on an oar and the smell of woodsmoke. At the micro level Frederic's relationship with Catherine is covered in intense detail and is surprisingly frank in respect of sexual relations given the time in which it was written. John Slattery does a great job with the narration and, although Catherine was a bit of a stretch, overall I feel he was convincing. The final part of the novel is utterly heart-breaking and brutal but that was Hemingway. The world kills everyone in the end.

Brutal Classic

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My first Hemmingway novel and I didnt want it to end. The narrator reads it beautifully and gives great depth to the simple descriptive style. excellent

Beautifully read

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