A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is a novel by Ernest Hemingway, set during World War One and with autobiographical elements. It was first published in 1929 and, as one of Hemingway’s works, is considered a classic.

The novel is divided into five books. The first book introduces the main character, Frederic Henry (often called simply Tenente, “Lieutenant”), an American ambulance driver on the Italian front, as well as details his meeting of Catherine Barkley, a British nurse, via his Italian friend Rinaldi. It ends after Catherine and Frederic have begun a relationship and Frederic has been sent to a hospital in Milan due to a wound in his knee inflicted by a mortar shell. The second book is about the growth of Frederic and Catherine’s relationship’s growth (Catherine, being the loving woman she is, had herself transferred to the hospital Frederic would be staying at). It ends with Frederic being sent back to the front and Catherine being three months pregnant. In the third book Mr.Henry returns to his unit on the front, just in time for the Austro-Germans to break through the Italian lines, triggering an Italian retreat.

The actual retreat phase was by far the most interesting part of the book, since there I could actually convince myself that harm could befall these characters. Frederic is with three fellow ambulance drivers, one of whom gets shot by panicky Italians and another surrenders to the Germans. Later, Frederic is taken to the “battle police” (a group of Italians executing officers for “treachery” ) and escapes being shot by jumping into a river. In the fourth book Frederic and Catherine reunite and flee to Switzerland in a rowboat; in the fifth, they live a pleasant, fulfilling life on the Alps until Catherine goes into labor.

Personally, I found this book to be tedious and couldn’t understand why it (or Hemingway’s writing style) could ever be considered excellent. The two main characters were rather bland and personality-less, and their interaction gave me the mental image of two bad actors reading a rather corny script to each other. Also, Hemingway failed hard on making the front seem like a war zone: there was no discernible mention of what was going on sound- and scentwise, and everyone seemed to have forgotten there was a war going on. Part of this could perhaps be attributed to Hemingway having been in a war zone long enough to think that the sounds and smells would be obvious, but even so, his proofreader should have commented on the fact. Almost all of the faults in characterization could be put down to the fact that, apparently, Hemingway tried to make Catherine and Frederic his ideal woman and ideal man, respectively. Ideals are far from realistic and boring to read.

All in all, I would definately not recommend this to anyone who likes books where things actually happen. If you like slow-paced novels about relationships, then sure, why not give it a try?

Foundation

Foundation, by Isaaac Asimov, is the first in his series and arguably his best known work among both sci-fi fanatics and the general appreciator of literature alike. Published in ’51 and steadily holding its high acclaim until the present, it’s become, well, a classic. But I don’t want that to color your vision of this novel. Truly, it is a remarkable story, yet stamping the “classic” label on it is, in my opinion, one of the most forced and artificial things we can do as readers. This goes for any book you pick up- appreciate is as you would any other and criticize it by the same standards. However, there is something to be said for the fact that Foundation has stood the test of time and established itself as one of the most prominent sci-fi novels.

The first book of the Foundation Trilogy follows the rise of the new Galactic Empire, under the scientific capital, The Foundation (on the planet of Terminus). Its success in controlling the surrounding kingdoms is credited to the psychohistoric predictions (a new field of research) of the genius and mastermind mathematician, Hari Seldon. Planning and precalculating the probable paths The Foundation would be likely to take, Seldon- though long deceased- guides The Foundation through different stages of power brought on by the last in a sort of chain-reaction of events. The book is largely told through dialogue, from which arises all other aspects- the plot, settings, characters, and conflicts.

This said, I found the style in which Foundation was written comparable to none. In a sense, long dialogues, most of which concerned galactic politics, grew tedious after a certain point. One who is used to fast-paced thriller novels may not last long under these dense exchanges. But don’t get the wrong idea- skipping over even the smallest section will only leave you confused and lost. The book was written in such a way that while the dialogues may be lengthy, these are what communicate the plot, setting, and characters to the reader and every sentence replaces a paragraph of description. One must marvel at how masterfully this technique was executed, which is perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of the novel.

All criticism aside, I found this book engaging and a refreshing change from what I was used to. With two more books following it, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation, much of it worked to lay the groundwork for the next. Personally, I look forward to continuing on in the series, but I do suggest you pick this book up and decide for yourself. It’s a staple for your bookshelf and a great work of literary genius that will give you a new take on science fiction.

The Illustrated Man

“…you see,’ said the Illustrated Man, “These Illustrations predict the future.’

I said nothing.

‘It’s all right in the sunlight,’ he went on. ‘I could keep a day job, but at night- the pictures move. The pictures change.”

Eighteen illustrations, eighteen tales; each futuristic scene strung together by the shifting pictures and the startling array of arcane images tattooed onto the Illustrated Man’s back. In his collection of stories by the same name, Ray Bradbury tells of the future’s dazzling cityscapes, the outlandish inhabitants of distant worlds, the twisted imagination of humanity, and its horrifying consequences.

The Illustrated Man is largely a collection of short stories, very loosely tied to the opening plot, where our storyteller meets the Illustrated Man- a seemingly ordinary character save for the fact that his arms and back are covered in bizarre images allegedly drawn by a woman of the future. These pictures depict a range of joyous, to unsettling, to downright disturbing subjects with a surreal- yet strangely familiar- tone.

I found this to be an incredibly worthwhile read. The length of each story made them easy to follow and advantageous for my own attention span. While I enjoyed some tales more than others, not a single page was wasted on dull descriptions. Instead, Bradbury plunged straight in to each sub-plot, colorfully and effectively illustrating the setting and characters in under twenty pages. Many stories were laced with what we now consider to be overused clichés, though it’s quite easy to push these aside considering that Bradbury could even be credited with the creation of many of them, being the celebrated writer of science fiction he is. Still, no matter how many martians and spaceships added to the mix, the characters are executed flawlessly to the point that it never even crossed my mind that the themes were so… corny. The end of the book returns to the original setting and takes an unexpected and frightening turn, which ties up the book very neatly and leads the reader with thoughts of bewilderment and a sense of daunting wonder.

This book doesn’t deserve the size of review I’m writing for it. I could walk you through each chapter and marvel at the exotic imagery Bradbury has crafted; but I’d much rather you find someplace to buy this book, and read it.