Which war novel do you like better Catch-22 or Farewell to arms and why???
I personally like A Farewell to Arms better than Catch-22. I enjoyed how the novel was blunt and to the point. There were no happy endings in A Farewell to Arms, which I found refreshing. Too many novels today end in happily ever after or the pain of the characters ending (usually because they die). This novel shows that happy endings are not always understood and that pain does happen. Hemingway puts you right into the story useing your own emotions in contrast to the characters to force you to react to the story.
What does everyone else think???
Nicely done, Allison. I would be interested in what others have to say in response to this post.
ReplyDeleteFarewell to Arms is my favorite of the two. Simply because it was easier to understand. When I don't have to reread and rethink so much about what the writer is trying to say I can concentrate on the plot and enjoy it. In comparison to Catch 22, Hemingway balances the war scenes with the romantic ones. The love story behind Farewell To Arms is my favorite part of the novel. Hemingway's 'big finish' in his novel made this the war story memorable and divergent to the typical happy ending often seen in romantic novels.
ReplyDeleteI like A Farewell to Arms more than Catch-22. The circular logic in Catch-22 was interesting, but it was hard to follow sometimes. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it during the summer and had more time to pay attention to those details. I have a hard time focusing on the longer books we read for school because I have so much to do, so it was nice reading A Farewell to Arms. It still had a full story, but it did not take as many pages to tell it. I also found the relationship between Henry and Catherine interesting. Maybe I will reread Catch-22 this summer, and my opinion will change.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I am going to be the odd one out. I liked Catch-22 better because for me I can idenitify more with the use of humor and the language more than I can with the dry language of Hemingway. I felt that Heller could portray the war and his thoughts in a more clear way than Hemingway's Iceburg style. I did react more to A Farewell to Arms, and understand it a lot more than I did last year; but I still feel that Catch-22 is more understandable, and a more enjoyable book all around.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Catch 22 far more than I did Farewell to Arms. The humor in Catch 22 made me laugh multiple times, and the novel made much more sense to me. I also believed that it effectively showed the farcical aspects of war, i.e. the military's bureaucracy. A Farewell to Arms, on the other hand, was dry, and I could really care less about a love story. Catch 22, in comparison, always had my attention, and was a pleasure to read. A Farewell to Arms was simply not entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy that our class can have opposeing viewpoints on different novels.
ReplyDeleteI think that Maryssa and Nick make very good points when it comes to Catch-22. Even though I enjoyed A Farewell to Arms better than Catch-22 I can still see how they enjoyed the novel. I think it is interesting how the humor and circular logic and help to expose the bureaucracy of the military and inform the readers on how far-fetched the whole set-up is. I also believe that if I took the time to enjoy Catch-22 I would have been able to appreciate it more.
I liked Farewell to Arms because there was more of a love interest and it tied in with the conflicts of the story. Catch 22 seemed too logical and sarcastic, which I would think I'd like but it was too much for me. Farewell to Arms had war, romance, and tragedy and was just an all around good story.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm with the losing team here. I liked Catch-22 more than Farewell, mostly because of the humor. The circular logic, and the way Heller wrote in circles was also very interesting. As Nick said, Catch was much more entertaining. It was actually a war story - Farewell was too much of a love story for me, and just couldn't keep my attention.
ReplyDeleteWhile I personally enjoyed A Farewell to Arms more, both novels definitely had their strong points. In a way, I guess you could say that I'm a hopeless romantic because I'm a sucker for romance novels, and in any case, A Farewell to Arms falls under this category. I am not however, a huge fan of war stories, so the romantic side definitely made up for the setting. Catch-22 also had its positives. While it was also a war story, the humor kept me interested, and is really the only thing that got me through reading it. While Mr. Bruno always manages to make any and every book way more interesting through our class-discussions and his in-depth questions, this intensified interest does not come about until after we finish reading, unfortunately enough, so the humorous aspect of Catch definitely made a difference.
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