Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Farewell to Arms cover art

A Farewell to Arms

By: Ernest Hemingway
Narrated by: John Slattery
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

For Whom the Bell Tolls cover art
The Sun Also Rises cover art
To Have and Have Not cover art
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories cover art
The Old Man and the Sea cover art
In Our Time (1925 Edition) and The Sun Also Rises cover art
Winner Take Nothing cover art
The Nick Adams Stories cover art
A Moveable Feast cover art
The Hemingway Stories cover art
Selected Hemingway Stories cover art
Across the River and Into the Trees cover art
Men Without Women cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Fahrenheit 451 cover art
The Sound and the Fury cover art

Summary

The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse.

Hemingway's frank portrayal of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, caught in the inexorable sweep of war, glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature, while his description of the German attack on Caporetto, of lines of fired men marching in the rain, hungry, weary, and demoralized, is one of the greatest moments in literary history.

A story of love and pain, of loyalty and desertion, A Farewell to Arms, written when he was 30 years old, represents a new romanticism for Hemingway.

©1929 Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright renewed 1957 Ernest Hemingway (P)2006 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

What listeners say about A Farewell to Arms

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    433
  • 4 Stars
    174
  • 3 Stars
    63
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    11
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    416
  • 4 Stars
    112
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    357
  • 4 Stars
    137
  • 3 Stars
    61
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    13

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Farewell to a good listen

A great book damaged by poor reading. The monotonous narration leaves this lifeless. Conversations are particularly dead. A disappointment.
The experience has taught me to listen to the preview of each download now.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

In Another Accent

Would you consider the audio edition of A Farewell to Arms to be better than the print version?

John Slattery does a fine job narrating Hemingway's classic novel. He gets the balance between the hard-bitten laconic tone of the narrative, from the terse war reflections to the suppressed pain at the end. He negotiates the accents (American, Italian, English, Scottish, Swiss) convincingly. I read the text alongside the audio and I thought Slattery's reading brought out tones and inflections I might have missed on the page.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The narrator, Frederic Henry, dominates the novel. It's his take on the events he recounts.

Which character – as performed by John Slattery – was your favourite?

In addition to Henry's narrative voice, I liked the way Slattery realised the Italian characters. He did not resort to the stereotype caricatures that an inferior reader might have attempted in order to play to the gallery.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It is too dense a work for a single sitting. The reading makes the listener want to sit and reflect on scenes and chapters.

Any additional comments?

One of Hemingway's enduring qualities is that he writes on the page the way his narrators would speak. There are several good readings available. William Hurt's reading of The Sun Also Rises is top quality. Stacy Keach's readings of the short stories are excellent. It's a pity that Alexander Scourby's readings of the stories appear to be out of the catalogue, but you can still enjoy his reading of The Great Gatsby, which is masterly. John Slattery's reading of A Farewell To Arms is in the same league.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Farewell to Arms

As always very well written by Ernest Hemingway. The novel covers both the Great War and the love affair between an American Lieutenant and a nurse. Bitter sweet and well crafted, a great read as is to be expected from one of the great novelists of all time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Really enjoyed this one. The ending certainly packs a punch, and I've not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it a few weeks ago.

The last two chapters were really unlike anything I've ever read/listened to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bringing Hemingway’s writing to life

Having read the paper version, I was sceptical that the audible version could do it justice. However, I was glad that my scepticism was unfounded and was drawn into the story again. The narration brought the story to life that reading alone couldn’t achieve.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

❤️

Another Great War love story from one of the greatest, my 2nd Hemingway book and looking forward to the next

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Captures so much from two linked experiences

A perfectly formed description of the war from an angle I’m unfamiliar with other than working in the area 50 years ago and hearing grandfather tales.
Hemingway doesn’t do happy endings but the finale is too tragic
The narrator has done a fine job - bringing a large number of characters to individual life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning audio book with excellent narration

Slattery sounds just perfect darling as the young tenente. A slice of time encapsuled in a story of love and heartbreak. Highly recommend. Still reeling from the ending and the sense of loss.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!