338. A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
1929
Around 355 pages

My sister moved out recently, leaving me somewhat sad and alone, with only a block of habanero cheddar to keep me company. Consequently, I have been trying to avoid listening to depressing music or watching any emotional movies. This novel would definitely fall under the "oh no no" category, but luckily, I knocked this out during my adolescent Hemingway phase.

Lieutenant Frederic Henry is an American medic serving in the Italian army during World War I. Frederic falls in love with a nurse, Catherine, and the two attempt to maintain a relationship despite the fact that Frederic is still fighting.

Hemingway sprang to my mind recently when I was reading about foreigners rushing to Ukraine to fight off the Russians. It seems crazy to me, but I guess it's naive to think soldiers are comprised mainly of the reluctant hero type. This was a beautifully tragic story, Hemingway at his very best.

You might think I wouldn't click with Hemingway and his hypermasculinity, but his willingness to be vulnerable always wins me over.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Catherine was based on Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse who left Hemingway for an Italian officer. 

Banned in Italy.

Hemingway wrote 39 endings until he was satisfied.

UP NEXT: Passing by Nella Larsen. Hey girl, how've ya been?

337. The Red Harvest

The Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett
1929
Around 225 pages

Once in a blue moon, I crave a hard-boiled detective novel, where characters drink so much scotch it makes my stomach hurt just reading about it. We're just easing into the concept with this novel, but it's a fun introduction to broads and blackjacks.

The story is told from the point of view of the Continental Op, an unnamed detective. The story draws on Hammett's own experience as a Pinkerton detective, which is hot. He is called to Personville by Donald Willsson, a newspaper publisher who is murdered before he can meet with the Continental Op. Our narrator then meets with Willsson's father, a local industrialist who has recently enlisted street gangs to end the local labor disputes, not realizing that the Sharks and the Jets don't dance together. Oh and there's a dame obviously.

This genre of novel is always fun, only slightly less fun than doing the voices (I do a great Humphrey Bogart). This story actually has more to say than the usual hard-boiled detective story, as the backdrop of the novel is a labor revolt rooted in real life events.

A nice introduction of things to come.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Andre Gide called the book "a remarkable achievement, the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror."

Inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre.

UP NEXT: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. Welcome back to the blog Papa.

336. Living

Living
Henry Green
1929
Around 270 pages

I find Henry Green to be kind of boring and not in the least worthy of a whopping six entries on this List. Even his titles are pretty dull. If I were going to trim the fat here, I would drop this, Loving, and Caught. Oh well, modernism has made me suffer worse than this.

Living tells the tale of several factory workers in Birmingham, England. The narrative mostly focuses on Lily Gates, and her relationship with factory worker Bert Jones. The story reminded me of Sister Carrie, where characters not so subtly "stand" for their demographic. Oh, and he also doesn't use that many articles, in imitation of languages that use them sparsely. Um, okay.

There's nothing glaringly offensive about this novel, just didn't leave much of an impression. Poor Henry, he doesn't get much respect on this blog.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

There's a deliberate lack of conjunctions to reflect the Birmingham accent.

UP NEXT: The Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. 

335. The Time of Indifference

The Time of Indifference
Alberto Moravia
1929
Around 300 pages

Based on the title, I fully expected this novel to be about Europe's indifference to war crimes. I had forgotten books could be about subjects other than World War I. I would have enjoyed the novelty more if this wasn't Clarissa: Next Generation.

Leo pulls a reverse Mrs. Robinson: he is having an affair with his mistress's daughter, Carla. Carla wants to escape her life, with no clear idea of what she wants to escape to. She resolves to sleep with Leo on her birthday to start a new life. Leo is...rapacious, to say the least.

There's not much emotional complexity in the female characters. Once again, virginity is framed as some precious jewel women must defend at all costs, otherwise they are "lost." Men can't ruin women, if they could, they wouldn't be so pissed off all the time. Leo was creepy as hell, viewing Carla as daughter/mistress and forcibly grabbing every woman in sight. There's no shortage of toxic masculinity in 1929. 

Unless you want to read about a brutish man chasing around younger women, it's not really worth the undertaking. That's what the news is for!

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Moravia wrote this after a meeting with his friends, where they each agreed to write a novel. 

UP NEXT: Living by Henry Green. Yawn.

334. All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque
1928
Around 200 pages

When I think of World War I novels, this is the first one that comes to mind. It doesn't get any trenchier than this. I remember some of my classmates had to read this in high school, though I think my teacher made us read Siddhartha instead. Hey, as long as it's a white guy, we're good. Anyway, this was a quick and miserable read, so it wasn't too difficult to knock out.

Paul Baumer is a German soldier on the Western Front. He was a volunteer who had patriotically swallowed the propaganda the adults in his life shoved down his throat. Things get trenchy.

I saw the movie adaptation before reading this, which is one my early movie blog posts that I am too ashamed to link to now (we were dealing with 14 year old Amanda at the time, and she was too busy angsting to spellcheck). Anyway, the story is pretty much exactly what'd you expect, war is bad. 

Paul is a solid representation of the average soldier, so Remarque was able to provide excellent commentary by merely following our prototypical patriot to the natural conclusion of his life.  A true classic that doesn't overstay its welcome.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Was among the first books banned and burned by Nazi Germany.

The 1930 film adaptation won Best Picture. 

UP NEXT: The Time of Indifference by Alberto Moravia. Based on the title, I know I am going to feel guilty by the end.

333. Berlin Alexanderplatz

Berlin Alexanderplatz
Alfred Doblin
1929
Around 460 pages

A third of the way through the List, and halfway to Satan. Obviously a momentous occasion, that should be observed with a blood sacrifice and the candy of your choice. I wish we were celebrating with a book I actually enjoyed, but one must make do.

This is one of those novels where the author summarizes the chapters at the beginning with lines like "this section can be skipped." Why, I haven't seen that technique since the olden days of Henry Fielding and William Makepeace Thackeray.  But then they's also a weird mix of Joycian modernism that I abhor, so this is hard novel to place in time.

Which I guess makes sense, since this came out during a strange period of history: the Weimar Republic. We follow the story of Franz Biberkopf, who is having trouble adjusting to life after prison. Oh, and the Nazis are taking over.

I didn't click with Doblin's style, and I can see why he didn't he gain the cult status of someone like Franz Kafka or Thomas Mann. But it's interesting to read any book that came out of Germany during this time.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Most recent adaptation was 2020.

UP NEXT: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque