My first Hemingway

Now, I know why people are so crazy about Hemingway’s writing. It is just so powerful, and the most intriguing part is you can’t tell why is so beautiful and moving.  The writing is so simple, it is the way I write, yet it just leaves you breathless; so familiar yet so stunning.  Maybe it is the vivid description or may be it the way the characters are developed I can’t tell what has left me so impressed, but I know one thing this book has changed my life.

And the weirdest part is that the book I just finished, Farewell to the Arms, it is set in a completely different time, an era which is unknown to me. The central characters and I share nothing in common yet I know how they feel, I can empathize with them.

Now, for someone who reads as much as I do, people might wonder don’t I get this feeling quite often for characters  who are also placed very differently than I am. Well, yes and no. Yes, I do and no because it is not the same. Yes, I feel mortified with Lizzie Bennett when her Mother acts like a pest because I have been in her situation.  Yes, I feel for Harry, Ron and Hermione at various instances throughout the series but that is because I have been through the same experiences of love, heartbreak and bullying as a teenager. However this is something different I have never felt something like this before, I feel Henry’s sense of loss throughout the novel, something I have never experienced personally. I feel Catherine’s feelings of inadequacy. (Although I am not particularly fond of the character)

As I already mentioned above I am a little dissatisfied with the way Catherine’s character was portrayed, it was one-sided and submissive. It was a stereotypical character and usually, my feminist tendencies do not allow me to like a novel which has a somewhat negative or one-sided portrayal of women. But must say there was some magic in this book, it moved me to tears; the ending was quite depressing yet it left me with a sense of satisfaction and I just can’t wait to give this book another reading