A beautiful story beautifully told

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.

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Still Hemingway

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

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Narrator performs book

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.

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3 people found this helpful

best read of Hemmingways

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!

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

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.

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

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

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No one besides Hemingway

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!

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Vivid storytelling at its best

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.

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Brutal Classic

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.

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Beautifully read

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

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