A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

An American is fighting for the Italian army in Italy. He deals with different conflicts and challenges as a foreigner. He gets injured and spends time recuperating. There is a girl. She gets pregnant. They flee via boat to Switzerland. There they make up some lies on the spot and say they are there for winter sport and end up fine. She goes to have the baby. Things don't go well, so they try a C-section. The baby dies. She has complications and she dies. The story is set in a war, but deals primarily with the human challenges that are fairly independent of war. Even the military aspects can be more "human", such as not trusting others that are "different", even if they appear to be officers.

Berlin Alexanderplatz

 Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin

This book took place in the not-so-nice of Berlin. Nazism is gradually ascending, however, the focus is not on politics. The characters are living their not-so-good lives in a not-so-good Germany. They are struggling and not super happy. I struggled to get involved with the book.

The Sound and the Fury

The first time I read The Sound and The Fury, my reaction was "huh?" It seemed to be nothing more than some random scenes in the life of a dysfunctional southern family. Most seemed to be in Mississippi, but some Boston scenes are popped in the middle. Then it just ended. At first I thought it ended with a murder and escape, but after going over the end again, it was just a fast moving horse. So, again, huh?

Then I started again and it seemed to make sense. There really isn't much plot. Instead we have a number of different character studies told in styles representative of their current mental states. Most is told in a first person stream-of-conscious, though the end goes in a more traditional 3rd person narrative.

The first section is told from the perspective of a "lunatic" who is living in the now, but seamlessly jumps to events in his past, without really observing that they are anything other than current. This narrative weird narrative style works pretty well. However, the quality of the narrative seemed to be a little too strong for somebody with extremely limited mental capacities. At times he seems to be a fully normal adult, but then he drops down to a random event of the mentally challenged.

The second section breaks out of Mississippi and follows the brother at school in Boston. His mind is rapidly streaming everywhere, dredging up past problems with his family as well as issues with the world in general. At times, he has straightforward recollections of his family or live discussions with fisherman. At other times, his mind goes in to hyperdrive, rapidly linking thoughts and ideas and going in every which direction without any semblance of narrative. While this section can't be quickly read like a "plotty" narrative, the stream-of-conscious is done exceptionally well.

The last sections are more straightforward, and focus more on the money-centered Jason. After going through the wild thoughts of the others, this is rather pedestrian exploration of the dysfunctional family. However, storytelling is not Faulkner's strong point. The use of different writing styles to bring out characters is where he succeeds. His work reminds me of Jasper Fforde. It is great reading, but there is no engaging story that keeps you going.

Dodsworth

As a youth Dodsworth sees a future in automobiles. He rises to become a wealthy car company CEO. His kids get married and he sells the company to a larger auto company, he leaving he and his wife free to reinvent themselves in Europe On the trip over, they make a European friend. They meet other friends who think that Mrs. Dodsworth is much longer than her age. First, she is absolutely distraught that one man would dare attempt a relationship with her. However, she later enters in to a relationship with a European and asks for a separation. Meanwhile, he is longing for some of his old companionship and business interests. However, in meeting with other expats in Europe, he observes that they are all neither European nor American but just "expats" with their own culture. The quest for difference has not turned out well for the couple, and they find themselves fabricating stories to maintain the illusion of contentedness.
So much for the attempts to "buy" happiness.