Author: Ernest Hemingway
Pages: 284
Average rating: 3.8/5
The story opens up near a river, a young man looks out the window from a cottage, as the dust flies up with the soldiers marching about, The images of war, the story takes us back into World War 1, where a young American by the name Henry signs up in the Italian ambulance service. But the story doesn't limit us only to the complexities and pains of war, it also tells us about how love flourished amongst this chaos, The young soldier sets his eyes on Catherine Barkley, an American nurse, she knew it well that he was just amusing himself but she played along. While all this was happening war was still being waged throughout the country, battles being fought and lives being lost, Henry is soon sent to the battle front, quiet preparations carry on before going on the attack but little did he know what was written in his fate, it was here that catastrophe had struck and Henry injured his leg, the events that transpired after this point were however all to his favour, he was sent to a hospital, an American one, it was a new hospital that had just opened up, his nurse there was non other than Catherine Barkley herself, from their pre-existing "relationship" this is when love flourished. They were madly in love. Before going off to the front again, Henry was decorated for the bravery that he showed by diving head first in the bomb attack to save his mates, the very same attack that left him wounded and unconscious. The story however does not only revolve around these two, it also tells us about the amazing friendships and weird characters Henry encounters in this period of servitude in the Italian ambulance service.
The ending to this all is however rather sad, something better left for the readers to find out themselves, after all a good book doesn't give up all its secrets at once.Even though he wrote 47 different endings it is hard to understand why he went ahead with this one, but then again maybe something otherwise wouldn't take you on this adventurous journey of epic proportions.
Some readers say that this is his best work with a considerable amount of depth and it tells more about the sadness hidden within the author's mind. Scholars suggest that this book cemented his reputation amongst the greats, and I wouldn't be one to disagree. The Novel had many adaptations, primarily as a movie that was shot in 1996 starring Sandra Bullock called 'In Love And War'.
All in all, I personally loved this book and hope that many of you will read it and I would give it a rating of 4.3/5.
No comments:
Post a Comment