Despite her success, she was the subject of much criticism, particularly surrounding "One of Ours". Her close friend, Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant, saw the novel as a betrayal of the realities of war, not understanding how to "bridge the gap between idealized war vision ... and my own stark impressions of war as "lived"." Similarly, Ernest Hemingway took issue with her portrayal of war, writing in a 1923 letter: "Wasn’t [the novel’s last scene in the lines wonderful? Do you know where it came from? The battle scene in "Birth of a Nation". I identified episode after episode, Catherized. Poor woman, she had to get her war experience somewhere."