Customer Reviews

Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes Von Kurowsky

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After seeing the movie "In Love and War" with Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell, I was left wanting to learn more of the events of this tragic love story. The book clued me in to the actual events that led to the affair and the events that occured afterwards and the truth was actually more tragic than the movie had let on. I was once involved in a romance with a much younger man, he was 18 and I was 24, and there was so much passion but eventually the fantasy fades and reality sets in and sometimes you make decisions that at the time seem like the most sane but later on wonder "what if....?" This book is for anyone who has ever loved and lost. A must read for every romantic.

As soon as I saw " In Love and War" with Sandra Bullock, I immediately went and got the lost diaries of Agnes. I love the movie and the book very much because it gives insight about WW1 and the life and times of Hemingway. I really wanted to learn more about Agnes and Ernest after seeing the movie and reading the book! I was very intriged by their relationship. I only wish someone could've saved or found Ernie's letters to Agnes

I really enjoyed the book. It was very hard to put down. It took me back to when my fiance was in the Gulf war, and we had to do a lot of writing. When Agnes wrote about wishing he (Hemingway) was there with her and how she couldn't wait to be with him again....brought back a lot of memmories. Since I have read this book, and enjoyed it, I have to now buy "Farewll to Arms"

Although this is being published as a tie-in to the movie, this 1991 volume has true scholarly merit. The 18-year-old Hemingway met and fell in live with nurse Agnes Von Kurosky in the Red Cross hospital in Milan while recuperating from wounds inflicted at the Italian front during World War I. Their alleged affair was the basis for his novel "A Farewell to Arms" in which she appeared as Catherine Barkeley. She eventually jilted him, and he later killed her in his novel. Included here are sections from her private diary from the time that Hemingway was her patient as well as her letters to him. A remembrance by fellow patient Henry Villard and an essay by Hemingway scholar James Nagel add to the proceedings. This volume offers fascinating firsthand information on one of the most important events in Hemingway's life. --Michael Roger

This book is not for everybody, but it is for those who know what it is like to be young and deeply in love with someone older, then have it all end abruptly. It changes your life: it changed my life. I was 19 and in love with a 21 year old widow. Her husband had been tragically killed in a car accident before they had been married barely a year. She was grieving, of course, and I was young and naive. It made it all the more poignant that I resembled her late husband -- blond hair, tall. Our love affair was lasted three weeks, and then she ended it. Why, I never really knew, but I think it was because at 19 you are not quite yet a man. I was more than crushed: I was destroyed -- or so it seemed. Not many months after, she sought me but I refused to be found. My attitude had more to do with pride than anything else. I wanted to be over her. I did move on rather quickly: three weeks, no matter how passionate, is not enough time to carry around a torch for very long. But, in the intervening decades, nearly 40 years now, I have often wondered where she is and what happened to her. Did she marry again? Is she happy? I wonder if she knew how much I loved her: I would have done anything for her in the world -- and, I mean anything. I have made a fair success of myself, am happily married, have wonderful children and grandchildren. But when I think of her, I am 19 all over again -- a "kid," as she called Hemmingway. Someone reading this will surely conclude that I am still not over her. Like Hemmingway, I sought to "cauterize" her out of my life; and I succeeded -- but, not quite.

What a refreshing side of Hemmingway's life to see. Very interesting stories & letters.
I like this book very much & plan to pass it on for others to read.

As a Dr. in Psychology, I can antherstand Hemingway and obvious Agnes. I suppose this romance was to beautiful to hold stand!. Anyway I antherstand 1961( Ernest did suicide WITH Agnes her letters next to him) AFTER 4 TRYING? to forget Agnes! MARRIAGE'S. This prover real eternity love exists, only both have to FORGIVE, and that's the hard way (I do know personnell). They were really made for each other, sad, so sad: stubborn Ernie and WHY?. Dr. Patrick Verheyen (U.S. Graduated ;-).

It is no secret that Ernest Hemingway went to Italy in 1918 with a volunteer ambulance unit, was wounded in the leg, and had an affair with one of the nurses (Agnes Von Kurowsky) while recovering in a hospital. (Many of the scenes in his A FAREWELL TO ARMS are based on these experiences.) This volume contains her diary and letters she wrote to him at the time (his letters to her are lost), as well as a few other pieces. One significant revelation is that it seems their relationship was platonic: when Agnes broke it off she said she felt more like "a mother than a sweetheart" (she was also 7 years older than he was). The letters reveal interesting insights into who Hemingway was at a time before the macho aura completely took over his personality. A so-so movie was based on this book.

Please, does anyone knows if the book "Hemingway, in love and war" has been traslated in italian?. Thank you very much, Massimo.

Its just really a deep analyse of the dream in Ernest his life.
I agree agree totally with Dr. Verheyen:

Hemingway and (the false) Agnes in projection of real life!.

Romance of oné site (Ernest Hemingway anyway).

I am doctorating in psychology in beautiful Rome: Italy.

I live back in New York City (after my doctorating?).