FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

Rating:
Summary: profiles in courage
Review: in for whom the bell tolls hemingway looks at war from the individuals perspective. his army is a rag tag group of guerrilla fighters, not the army. the time and setting is the spanish civil war. a general understanding of that war is helpful. the characters include mostly local insurgents and one american mercenary. the horrors of war are portrayed on both sides with neither having the higher moral ground.

it is also a study of courage in the face of potential death. this is developed not only through the underlying theme of war, but the stories of some of the characters earlier lives which include bull fighting and the running of the bulls.

the one drawback to the book is the stilted language used in the dialog of the novel (including the refusal to use obscenities).

a book well worth the read

Rating:
Summary: I obscenity on thee!
Review: It cracks me up how Hemingway refuses to write swear words and the word "obscenity" becomes a verb, ie. We are obscenitied!

The obvious Spanish syntax is interesting as well and I imagine that those not fluent in Spanish would find the English both twisted and awkward at times.(example, Hemingway writes, "For a favor, do this!, which seems a direct translation of "Por favor".
Another example is "How many years to you have?" (Cuántos años tienes) instead of the proper English "How old are you?". It's as if Hemingway wrote the dialogue in Spanish and then translated it word for word into English. I'm not sure if this is genious or annoying.

Regardless of this goofy English, the novel is a good read and I recommend reading it.

Rating:
Summary: overrated
Review: Hemingway will be remembered as the Lord Byron of the 20th century; vastly overrated, woefully untalented.

Rating:
Summary: It tolls for cheese
Review: This is mediocre, overblown late Hemingway. The prose lacks the clarity and force of his early works. The careful use of repetition within sentences gives way to piling on clause after clause, with ands and ands and ands, that aspire to some sort of Biblical grandeur but end up collapsing under their own lack of content.

From the man who, as Dwight Macdonald said, essentially invented realistic dialogue, we get all sorts of hilariously stilted And-God-said-to-Abraham pronouncements. One ludicrous sequence I remember was the gypsy woman telling Maria about how the earth will move only three times when making love. This is delivered without a smirk: Ernest has, at this point, lost the sense of humor that made the bitterness of the earlier books easier to bear.

I wondered whether he was trying to recreate the cadences of Spanish in the dialogue that read so clumsily but, since I have never come across sequences like this in any other novel in Spanish, I'm guessing that people talk in Spanish just like the rest of us do, and that bad writing is bad writing in any language.

I'm lucky that teachers didn't force this book or Old Man and the Sea on me in school, because I may have wondered what all the fuss was about. A genius isn't necessarily a genius for his entire life-forget necessarily, isn't USUALLY-and even the most talented writers often have the shortest of windows: The Sun Also Rises, the short stories, and to a lesser extent A Farewell to Arms. (The earth moves three times.) That was his window. The light comes through the glass and it's good.

Rating:
Summary: For Whom The Bell Tolls Review
Review: "Flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees." This is very typical Ernest Hemmingway diction in his book, For Whom The Bell Tolls. He always manages to use very descriptive imagery in his writing. In this book, Hemmingway tells a story of group conflict and romance.

In this novel, Hemmingway tells the story of a man named Robert Jordan and his life as a guerilla soldier in the mountains of Spain in the year of 1937. In his journeys, Robert Jordan is allied with another soldier, Pablo, his lady, Pilar, and a girl named Maria. Robert Jordan is sent to these mountains on a mission to blow up a bridge. In his time with his these people, Jordan deals with conflict within the group and his growing interest with Maria.

Ernest Hemmingway is very effective in telling the struggles of Robert Jordan when he is trying to blow up the bridge, and the romance he has with Maria. Hemmingway's descriptions of the bridge and the mountains of Spain creates a crystal clear image of the setting Robert Jordan is in. "The mountainside sloped gently where he lay; but below it was steep and he could see the dark of the oiled road winding through the pass."

Hemmingway's character description in this novel is terrific. Each character is described with vivid details of their personality and physical characteristics. When talking about Robert Jordan, Hemmingway says, "The young man, who was tall and thin, with sun-streaked fair hair, and a wind- and sun-burned face, who wore the sun-faded flannel shirt, a pair of peasant's trousers and rope-soled shoes.." Hemmingway provides each character with their own individual description and background in this book.

The plot of this novel is one of courage, loyalty, and romance. Hemmingway tells about an American man in an International Brigade who shows bravery in his mission to blow up a bridge. Hemmingway also describes his loyalty to his comrades in his time in the mountains. Most of all, Hemmingway tells of Jordan's growing love of the girl Maria. "Her teeth were white in her brown face and her skin and her eyes were the same golden tawny brown. She had high cheekbones, merry eyes, and a straight mouth with full lips. Her hair was the golden brown of a grain field.."

Ernest Hemmingway uses wonderful diction throughout the entire novel. Hemmingway uses Spanish words and phrases often in this book such as, "Hola", "Salud", and "Dentro de la gravedad". All of these examples give more detail to the characters, and the Spanish culture as well. Hemmingway also uses imagery very well in this novel, always trying to give you the best mental picture possible of the situation. "..and the four knelt, looking very awkward with their heads against the wall and their hands by their sides, and Pablo passed behind them and shot each in turn in the back of the head with the pistol, going from one to another and putting the barrel of the pistol against the back of their heads, each man slipping down as he fired."

For Whom The Bell Tolls is a fairly easy-reading book and tells a very good story. This is a perfect example of Ernest Hemmingway at his best. He delivers a great account of one man's adventures in the civil war of Spain, while tying in romance and the brutality of war along with it.

Rating:
Summary: It Tolls for Thee
Review: From Ernest Hemingway's decision to open his novel about the Spanish Civil War with the selection of John Donne's essay from which the title is drawn to the constant references made throughout the work to living life in a few days, it is clear that one or more of the main characters in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" will not be around come the final pages. The book's hero is an American Spanish professor named Robert Jordan. Jordan teaches at the University of Montana at Missoula. He is in Spain learning about the country when the Spanish Civil War breaks out.

Jordan is a socialist who joins the International Brigades, which composed foreign nationals from many different countries who came to Spain to fight for the socialist republican forces. Jordan has become a 'partizan' fighting behind the fascist lines. He has been given the assignment of destroying a key bridge during a republican assault to capture the city of Segovia.

In order to fulfill his mission Jordan must acquire the assistance of local guerrilla bands who live cautiously in the mountains. It is Jordan's interactions with these Spanish irregulars that comprise the bulk of the novel. While he comes to this mission with much knowledge of the Spanish, it is in the few days he spends with the "band of Pablo's" that he learns the most about Spain and its people.

Hemingway avoids the typical problem of an author writing about a 'foreign' people. Most authors attempt to make the people they are writing about seem somehow unique beyond the local quirks that sometimes arise in isolated communities. Hemingway does not try to make the Spaniards in his novel stand out as a people. He brings each character out as an individual, not as a supposed Spanish type.

My only real complaint about "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is the relationship that develops between Jordan and the younger woman Maria. Unfortunately, Hemingway does not avoid the typical literary problem of seemingly creating a romantic relationship between two characters simply because it makes the story more dramatic. As Jordan and Maria are falling in love I never truly believed that they had any deep feelings for each other. This is only a minor deficiency in the story though as very few authors are able to overcome this difficulty.

The highest praise I can give to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is that Hemingway almost makes me, a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist, root for a socialist victory. Almost.

Rating:
Summary: Very vivid
Review: I can't say enough how much I like Hemingway and his writing. The complexities of relationships and the struggle to understand people's loyalities are shown in this book. Also a refreshing and informitive look at the Spanish Civil War. Which in my belief is not widely known here in the States.

Rating:
Summary: Which Hemingway first?
Review: Hemingway spans quite range. If you have just finished reading The Great Gatsby and are interested in the jaded, bored-with-life, spoiled and rich who drink and drink, read The Sun Also Rises. If you've just finished Dr. Blade #57, you like senseless action, and just want to say you've read Hemingway, try To Have and Have Not. But if, like me, you come from a background of JRR Tolkien, RL Stevenson, HG Wells and Jack London, and perhaps you have already read a few Nick Adams tales or The Old Man and the Sea, then don't be daunted by this story's length - this is your book.
While it's true this book slowed down a few times, that rang true. It mirrored the reality of my military experience. Then again, there are some chapters of this book burn into the memory: how the Communists first dealt with people after taking their hometown, the stand they took on the hilltop, the final scene, and others. There characters were clear, the action realistic, the inaction tense. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: "...It tolls for thee"
Review: This is one of the greatest modernist novels to deal with the subject of war. Set during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, this novel explores war as it really is, not as what it is glorified or vilified to be according to the whims of a journalist or novelist. There is very little of the actual war in the foreground of the plot--the entire novel spans only about four days--but the relationships of the characters and their interaction with one another allows the reader to see what war is like from the viewpoint of those who participate in it. Like Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, this book deals with the psychological and human ramifications of war.

The hero is Robert Jordan, an American idealist fighting in Spain on the side of the 'Republic,' or Communist, party. Opposite the 'Reds' are the so-called fascists. At the beginning, Jordan has an unflinching and unwavering duty to the cause, but the people he meets and a girl he falls in love with alter somewhat his outlook. The bulk of the novel deals with Jordan's own philosophy, but also with the philosophy of the band of guerillas he is assigned to complete a mission with. Through his love for the girl, Maria, and his interaction with the scheming rebel leader Pablo and his wife Pilar, Jordan learns much about life and war.

The plot moves quickly enough, and all leads up to the final climactic battle at the bridge. This is perhaps Hemingway's finest moment, and his treatment of the battle and fate of the group is nothing short of masterful. The quote from John Donne "never send to know for whom the bell tolls" looms ominously throughout the novel, and the battle of the bridge and the final, chilling moment of truth for Robert Jordan drives home the harrowing fact that is the reality of war: "it tolls for thee."

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully tragic story of love and war...
Review: Hemingway's story of Robert Jordan, an American college instructor fighting for the Spanish republic, is a beautiful story of desperate love and the death of an ideal.

Robert Jordan has been assigned the task of blowing up a bridge behind Fascist lines in support of a Republican offensive. He is sent to a guerrilla camp in the mountains behind the lines, where he meets those who are to help him with this task. He also meets and falls in love with Maria, a young Spanish woman who was brutalized by the fascists, and rescued by the band in a previous raid.

Hemingway details the nature of the war in the way that only he can, using his stark prose to depict the decay of the idealism that characterized the beginning of the Spanish Republic. This is particularly evident in the character named Pablo, a once-fervent fighter for the Republic who has lost hope in the cause and just wants to be left alone in the hills. Each character has his own idea of the Republic and why they are fighting, which is as truthful a depiction of the Republican cause as could be hoped for.

There were three parts of this book which really stood out for me. The first was Pilar's account of the execution of the fascists in her village. Pablo's ruthlessness, along with the growing terror of the people who go from reluctant participants to bloodthirsty mob, is terrifying in its escalation and horrible finish. Second is the final stand of El Sordo, who accepts his fate, but draws a little pleasure and satisfaction in his efforts. Third is the final battle in Chapter forty-three. Hemingway doesn't overdramatize things, he realizes that things are dramatic enough, and the straight-forward presentation of the battle as things go well and then get worse carries much more impact as a result. The stark, straight-forward writing makes these events come to life as tragic circumstances not only for the dead, but for those who survive as well.

I would suggest that any reader do a little research into the Spanish Civil War before reading this book, as a little knowledge of the circumstances and people of the war (like Marty and La Pasionaria) will enrich the story immensely.

This book is very compelling reading, as Robert Jordan struggles with love and duty, while both fearing and accepting his dangerous assignment. In the abstract, this book is about the death of the ideal in Spain, the corruption and dissent which led to the demise of the Republic. Hemingway conveys these ideas in a way that only Hemingway can, weaving a fabric of sadness and beauty amid hopeless circumstances.