FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

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Summary: Hemmingway has done it again.
Review: Hemmingway opens his classic account of Robert Jordan and the anti-fascists guerillas he helps, with the surveying of a mill and bridge. Through Hemmingway's superb writing skills we find out why Jordan is on this particular mission and the basis of his mission in Spain.
Robert Jordan is sent to Spain to help an anti-fascists guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain. There, in the mists of war, he falls in love with the beautiful Maria. In his description of war and what the tolls of it are, Hemmingway forgets nothing. In his excellent account of El Sordos's last stand he leaves out nothing, and provides multiple viewpoints of the situation. All forty-three chapters are written without flaw and provide the reader with a true story about war and the devastation it causes. From page one to page 471 the reader's senses are bombarded with a colorful array of writing. This perhaps is Hemmingway's best work and was published at the height of his career. This book is guaranteed to give you your bang for your buck, and doesn't come close to A Farwell to Arms or The Sun Also Rises. Everyone should read this book and be exposed to one of the most influential American writers ever.

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Summary: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Review: One is compelled to ask, "what about John Dunne?"

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Summary: hemingways bells were ringing with this classic installment
Review: Hemingway and his simplistic style of writing live on in the stories he tells and represents.Through his writing you can tell that this is a man with the best of both worlds, in that he is not only a great writer but orator as well. This fact is why the trueness of his stories live on as if he's telling us the story himself right from the book. Robert Jordan and his gang of rebels are a reflection of a Spanish Civil War in which they live by there feelings toward politics, but their representation in the war is a hidden treasure behind the depths of mountains and lost memory in hope that this saga lives on forever.

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Summary: Extra words add extra confusion
Review: For a school project, I was asked to choose any book and write a review. I have never been a big fan of Earnest Hemmingway, but I was up for a challenge and I chose one of his works. For Whom The Bell Tolls is Hemmingway's novel on the Spanish Civil war. It goes through the struggles that an American, Robert Jordan, goes through in order to help the Spanish guerrilla of the mountains overcome the fascist government. It follows him through the struggle with the people of the mountains, and what he must do to keep his newfound love. It includes many of the past stories of the characters and has a lot of character development in the 471 pages that the book contains. In it, he is given the task to blow a bridge in order to keep the fascist army from reaching the mountains during a guerrilla attack. The storyline is good, but there is a lot of extra and unneeded material. I had a lot of trouble reading this book because of the fact that it went on many different tangents about the past lives of the characters. Some of these stories went on for several pages and got very confusing at times. Hemmingway used many different names for the characters, which tended to make it a bit more confusing. It bothered me that instead of saying Robert or Jordan, he always wrote Robert Jordan. He used very little pronouns and it made the book drag on for days. Many of the sentences were repeated several times, and that, too, made the book long. At certain points in time, I felt myself screaming in my head for him to say it once and be done with it. But all in all, the storyline was good. I haven't always been a big fan of Ernest Hemmingway, and I was hoping that his book would change my mind. But in the end it was more frustrating than fun. The book makes you want it to come to an end. If you have a lot of time on your hands like a long car ride or a really long vacation, I would recommend this book. But if you are looking for something that won't take you very long to read and is easy to understand, then I would suggest reading something a little different. As for the school project that I had to accomplish, I think this book gave me something easy to write about since the plot was so thin.

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Summary: The Importance of Putting Others First
Review: Hemingway expertly begins this book with John Donne's poem... "No Man is an Island..." The main theme of this story, to me, is centered around our connection to others. No matter if they are right down the street or across the Atlantic Ocean from us. As Donne said... (I paraphrase weakly) "Whenever someone in mankind is hurting, it hurts me because I am part of mankind and mankind is part of me."
This book has several interesting elements:
1. Robert Jordan's strong sense of duty.
Why does a Spanish professor from Montana decide to leave his obiviously comfortable life to fight with the anti facist guerillas in a far away country? What compels him to give up himself so completely to fight for a people that he seemingly has no connections to? Where does Robert's commitment to duty come from? These questions are addressed and answered expertly by Hemingway in the thought process of Robert, conversations he has and lived out in his very relationships.
The book is dominated by Robert's "thinking out" of his actions in the face of what he has to do. I really enjoyed this facet of the story. I think it adds to the length of the novel but it is definitely worth reading.

2. The demise of Pablo's sense of duty and passion.
When we meet Pablo in this story, he is a man on the downside of his effectiveness. He no longer has convicitons. He no longer has a will to accoplish his goals. Pablo's lack of determination plays directly against Robert's and Pablo's wife Pilar. It is interesting to look at Pablo, the old leader of the rebel band... and how he is losing his influence over these people. His pride even causes him at times to hurt the anti facist cause, which he once felt so strongly about. Robert and Pilar are both on fire for the cause and it consumes them. Pablo has lost all his fire for the cause and is now apparently useless. (Pablo does experience some redemption in the end...)

3. The blossoming relationship between Robert and Maria. Love in the face of impending doom.
I'm not usually a big romance guy... at least in the books I read. But the love story between Robert and Maria is beautiful.
It grows out of a most impossible situation, Robert the foreign freedom fighter finds Maria the ravaged former war prisoner. She does not necessarily look beautiful on the outside but Robert loves her anyway. He loves who she is, and what she becomes to him.
Interesting internal discussions happen for Robert about her. I love the one that talks about how he has to in essence live a whole life with Maria in 3 days. All because he is unsure of whether he will live to have a life with her after the war. These two people really loved each other and would do anything for each other.

4. The ultimate sacrifice... Self sacrifice.
I don't want to get into the details of the conclusion of the story. Hate to spoil a good read. But the theme of self sacrifice comes through loud and clear. To me, this is the theme of life. We make a real difference when we give up on our sense of self and make an impact on others. Whether they are people we are closely and intimatly related to, or people we have never seen before. Robert Jordan gets it... he puts others first and gives up all he has.

Read this book... it is a rewarding experience. It is a war novel, but you will notice I rarely mentioned the war. It is so much more than a war novel. I loved it ... I think you will too.

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Summary: The Bell Tolls for Ernest
Review: Perhaps the bell tolled for Ernest and his bid for literary greatness with the passing of this book. Did Hemingway exhaust all his courage, strength, and virility in this work?

FWTBT is leagues away from The Sun Also Rises, taking themes from A Farewell to Arms to another level. To the extent that Hemingway wanted to reach the apex of truth in storytelling, and to find a suitable language to express it, this book is a great achievement. Hemingway chooses Spanish modulation of English words to power his narrative - from the start, the reader senses the honor, strength, and spirit every sentence spoken carries with it.

Ernest is not just translating from Spanish to wow us; the reader feels that when he wrote this book, Spanish was the only language that could express his happiness, his sadness, his pleasure and suffering. Maybe Spanish contained the words and meanings Hemingway and those involved in the war for Spanish liberty sought desperately every night by the campfire - words of fear and love.

To me, this book was Hemingway's most significant attempt at articulating his life philosophy. It is ominous in the hero's struggles with his personal and family history - of duty, resignation and death, inability to hope or believe, or believe that happiness can last. You might argue that El Sordo's last stand is followed by Hemingway's personal literary last stand - against fascism, fear, and life's various illusions. This is Hemingway's last battle. Thereafter, he is honorably discharged to a life of fishing and beautiful memoirs.

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Summary: Best quotes ever
Review: This book is beautiful. I don't know what else to say. It is also extremely sad. Don't be surprised if you finish this book at 1:00 AM, on the floor, crying. Although I don't have a copy of the book in front of me, it has a quote along the lines of

Everyone must do what they can, you can do nothing for yourself but perhaps you can do something for another.

This is a main theme in the book, though I think that it is even more - it is directly applicable to each of our lives. The beautiful thing is, is that this help that we can render to each other is not some lofty political idea of either the right or the left. It teaches us that each one can do his/her best, but that is all that they can do. Robert Jordan, the main character, vividly demonstrates this. From the United States, he has given up a safe job as a Spanish Professor at a University in Montana, to become a demolitions expert for the Republicans (anti-fascists) in the Spanish Civil war, in the 1930's. Pained by the loss of his father to suicide, he refuses to end his own life prematurely, choosing instead to delay the pursuers of the guerrila group he has fallen in with, when he has the chance of surrendering to them and saving his own life.

As much as I want to, I cannot describe the beauty of this book. In three and one-half days, he falls in love, is betrayed by the guerrilla group's leader, strikes a blow for the Republic, and makes himself the All-American hero. But the real beauty is reading about someone who just enjoys the beautiful things of life, the air and the meadow and Maria and the sandwhich of meat and cheese with wine to wash it down that he eats in the countryside in a time and place when people were as human as they are now. Among the many tragic elements of this book are the leaders at the top of the Republic, who seem to spend their time smoking and drinking and letting military secrets slip that cause untold anguish for those beneath them. Also tragic is Jordan's reading of the letters to a dead Fascist soldier (that his group had killed). This soldier has a woman waiting at home for him and worrying for his life and...it just all ties together, showing us, as the quote at the beginning indicates, that "no man is an island", even the enemy is human, was born, will live with the same fear and pain that we do, and will die. We hate each other but are so similar that it's painful when we discover that someone else on the "other" side could have been our own brother. The Fascist soldier and the Republican aren't really that different, and the woman that waits at home for him cries just as much as Maria does. This book is so big and terrible and inspiring and real. This book strikes a blow for a kind of pragmatic idealism. Realize that the world is a messed up place but that eveyone can do what they can.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating, but My Perspective Changed
Review: When I first read this book, I was captivated by the complex plot, the setting description, the character development, and the clear, direct writing style. Those strengths and qualities are still there, but recent world history, and the wisdom of age, have led me to find war stories much less attractive, especially if there is an element of glorification. This story depicts the horrors of war, but also portrays it as high adventure for those who survive. If that depiction does not turn you off, this is an excellent book.

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Summary: Say it a thousand times
Review: This is the second Hemingway book I've read, the first being Farewell to Arms. This book is about 200 pages too long. There are some wonderful bits washed out by blinding repetitiveness. Over and over again Robert Jordan talks in circles around his head, Pilar nags and curses, Maria and Robert compete to see who can proclaim their love the best. Say it right once, clear, simple and powerful. Do not say it a thousand times so your words are an echo of an echo of an echo.

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Summary: Tepid, Macho, Romantic *Crap*
Review: Simply put, this book, and Hemmingway in general, is overrated. There is nothing unexpected in the prose nor storyline, just a typical page-turner or "best seller" -- and that is *not* a compliment! Lacking in any real insight and imagination, Hemmingway is more like a modern-day Stephen King or Amy Tan or any other writer who sells their soul for the sake of popularity.