Dear Mr Hemingway A Letter About A Farewell to Arms
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I have just recently completed reading your novel A Farewell to Arms, and though I usually do not particularly enjoy the books in my high school's curriculum, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by your work. I have never really been a reading fanatic and usually don't find historical novels exceedingly enjoyable; A Farewell to Arms, however, completely changed my previous stereotypes on historical novels. Unlike many war novels, the plot was not solely a "blood and guts" storyline. You were able to incorporate psychological dilemma, love, and entrapment, while still holding onto the tragedy of war, and after reading the novel, I believe that illustrating those extremities was your sole purpose in writing the novel.
While reading novels, whether for class or for personal enjoyment, I like to uncover an element in a novel that pushes it above the average book, and in A Farewell to Arms I found that element to be the seamless transition between multiple storylines. Whereas most novels have one major plot and other subplots behind it, your novel had two central plots, constantly interchanging. You were able to jump from the story of the army and the war straight to the story of love and passion between Frederick and Catherine with ease. In doing so you portrayed the need for love during wartime, even if it was to come from an unexpected source. Early in the novel Frederick Henry says, "I did not care what I was getting into. ...