Some books just get better and better. Instead of the boredom which persists through 'The Sun Also Rises' this novel has the basic brutality of war and a sweet love affair to carry it through its perfect plot strokes. His penchant for romantic streams of thought at random points in time sink in more thoroughly. There are these quasi-camouflaged flashbacks into the narrator's past which are lovely, the most famous, I'm sure, the log of ants at the very end. It was very exciting. The retreat sequence is remarked on the back cover to be one of the greatest moments in literary history, which is a grand way of saying it rocks. The dialogue still feels a bit dreary in its pointlessness, though of course it is extremely realistic. The use of language is great. Was the swearing bleeped out just for that line from the doctor at the end? Also how often did Hemingway use the n-word in real life?