Frederick Henry is an American soldier serving as a Ambulance driver for the Italian Army in the First World War.
Through a colleague he meets Catherine Barkley , a British nurse. This book is the story of their love affair with the war as a back drop.
Shortly after the initial meeting Henry is seriously wounded and the affair blossoms as Catherine nurses him and becomes his lover. The wounding is what occurred to Hemingway in real life and he supposedly went on record as the first American to be wounded in WWI.
The affair continues and Henry eventually deserts to be with Catherine due to her pregnancy.
The Hemingway I like -the short punchy sentences - is here but in my opinion the book can't decide whether its a full on romance or full on on war novel and ends up not being either.
I began to struggle with this with about a third of the book to go, I stuck it out but it dragged for me after a promising start. And like Graham Greene , Hemingway won't leave you tired from laughing.
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