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For Whom the Bell Tolls

by Ernest Hemingway

3.85 · rating details · 43,976 ratings · 1,668 reviews

In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spai

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Paperback, 471 pages

Published July 25th 2002 by Scribner (first published 1940)

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Jun 27, 2008

Tom rated it

Ok, before I commit the sacrilege of dismissing this "classic," permit me to establish my Hemingway bona fides: I have read and loved just about everything else he wrote, and have taught Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, and many short stories, and had a blast doing it. I've read Carlos Baker's classic bio, and numerous critical articles on H. I've made the pilgrimage to Key West and taken pictures of his study and the hordes of 6-toed cats. I dig Papa, ok?

But I can not s...moreOk, before I commit the sacrilege of dismissing this "classic," permit me to establish my Hemingway bona fides: I have read and loved just about everything else he wrote, and have taught Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, and many short stories, and had a blast doing it. I've read Carlos Baker's classic bio, and numerous critical articles on H. I've made the pilgrimage to Key West and taken pictures of his study and the hordes of 6-toed cats. I dig Papa, ok?

But I can not stand this book! I should say up front that I've never been able to tolerate it long enough to finish it -- twice. First time was nearly 30 years ago, and as a fairly recently discharged Army troop,I took up this book with much anticipation and excitement. I couldn't get past about half way through. I found the prose so incredibly flat and dull as to be soporific (and, yes, I fully understand and appreciate H's famous "Iceberg Principle" of writing -- "the thing left unsaid" etc). The problem wasn't the "thing left unsaid;" the problem was too many things said, and in a very boring fashion. How could a book with such a dramatic plot be so dull, I wondered in shock? It's all in the language, or lack thereof. I have a theory that great short story writers often don't make great, or even good, novelists, because the voice and style that works so well in the shorter genre just doesn't translate to the longer one (John Cheever, case in point; IB Singer, to a lesser extent). Now, of course, H. did write great novels; this just isn't one of them. Take away the language in H's novels, and what are you left with -- borderline juvenile adventures and fantasies, or at best, semi-journalistic accounts.

Compare the opening of Bells with the opening of Farewell to Arms: be honest and tell me if you hear even one faint echo of the magical rhythm of that famous opening in Bells -- anywhere, not just the beginning? And the dialogue, sweet jesus, joseph and mary, I've heard corporate phone recordings with more intonation and human warmth.

A few months ago, our book club selected this novel. At first, I kept my opinions to myself and hoped I would have a different response reading this time. I readily acknowledge that my reading tastes have evolved -- matured, I hope -- significantly over the years, and maybe I just had a tin ear 30 years ago. Not the case. I couldn't even get beyond the first 6 pgs this time. That flat voice was duller than ever! "Waterboarding would be more tolerable than reading 400+ pages of this stuff," I thought. I've choked down some mediocre books before for the sake of fulfilling my civic duty as a long-standing member of our book club, but I couldn't do it this time.

This is not to suggest that the rest of you are wrong. I have a dear friend who's read more great literature than I can remember, and he loves this book, and expresses great shock when I tell him how much I hate it. But there it is. (less)

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Jan 15, 2008

Adrianne Mathiowetz rated it

· review of another edition

At some point in high school, I decided that I hated Ernest Hemingway. Was it the short story we read in English class? Was it the furniture collection named after him at Gabbert's? Something made me decide that Hemingway was a prick, and after that I dismissed him entirely.

This book was beautiful.

I don't even like books about war. (Case in point: I scanned half of War and Peace. I think which half is obvious.) But this book took five hundred pages to blow up a single br...more

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Jul 11, 2010

Andy rated it

Shelves: nobel-winners

The Spanish Civil War is a very interesting historical event, but this story is full of bad dialogue, glorifies the brave American, and largely ignores the plight of the Spaniards themselves - not to mention that the love interest is as one-dimensional as a blowup sex doll, which is pretty much all that her character serves as in this book. I recommend Orwell's Homage to Catalonia if you want to know what the Spanish Civil War was like - unlike Hemingway who was just a reporter in Spain, Orwell...more

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Jul 14, 2011

Cynthia . rated it

Shelves: classics, ernest-hemmingway, favorites

You know you’ve devoured a good book when after going over the last line you feel somewhat ethereal - an unworldly feeling of satisfaction. Well, that is what I felt with this book.

This is my first of Hemingway and my second war novel (first was Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five).
When I picked it up from my book rack, I told myself “Hmmm.. Hemingway. This must be a difficult book”, but I was proven wrong. Hemingway’s stylistic choice of words, the density and intelligent distributi...more

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Dec 06, 2008

Chris rated it

Shelves: classics-you-should-stop-avoiding

I can't understand how anyone would dislike this book. I loved "The Windup Bird Chronicle," but I understand how one wouldn't enjoy it. "For Whom the Bell Tolls," however, was one of those classics that was so perfect, so profoundly moving and yet just enjoyable to read, that I can't comprehend the negative review. Like "Anna Karenina," "Crime and Punishment," or "Native Son," its one of those cornerstones of literature that utterly justified ...more

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Sep 03, 2008

Lavinia rated it

Shelves: 2008, fiction

“Noaptea era senina, iar capul lui la fel de limpede si rece ca si aerul de deasupra. Simtea in nari mireasma ramurilor de brad de sub el, mirosul specific de brad al cetinilor strivite, si mirosul mai patrunzator al rasinii scurse din ramurile retezate. Se gindea la Pilar. Pilar si mirosul mortii, isi zise Robert Jordan. Asta-i mirosul care-mi place. Asta si mireasma trifoiului proaspat cosit, mirosul salviei strivite sub copitele calului cind umbli dupa cirezi, fumul focului de lem...more

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Jul 09, 2008

Garrett rated it

I have a hard time with Mr. Hemingway, I guess. For Whom the Bell Tolls didn't involve as much rampant drinking as many of his other books, but I blame that on the setting—a cave in the mountains where only a few gallons of wine were available (and a flask of absinthe, the flavor of which is described over the course of about thirty pages). However, his standard sexism toward the female characters still applied. Here are a few more things I didn't like about the book:
*Did he really have to...more

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May 09, 2008

Roger W. rated it

In two minds am I about this book.

For one, it was masterfully written and as I know is often cited as Hemingway's best novel. There were many flashbacks of various characters which were compelling glimpses into their pasts; Mr. Hemingway occasionally took us into the mind of the American protagonist, and the flow of his thoughts was perfectly captured, snippets of this and that jockeying for attention. The language too was unique. No Spanish speaker I, but it was clear to me th...moreIn two minds am I about this book.

For one, it was masterfully written and as I know is often cited as Hemingway's best novel. There were many flashbacks of various characters which were compelling glimpses into their pasts; Mr. Hemingway occasionally took us into the mind of the American protagonist, and the flow of his thoughts was perfectly captured, snippets of this and that jockeying for attention. The language too was unique. No Spanish speaker I, but it was clear to me that from the get go the stilted or artificial English was an attempt to capture the cadences or syntax of the Spanish everyone was really speaking in the book. It took me a bit to get used to this but for me it was no hindrance to the reading: I soon got used to it and its innumerable descriptions of things and people as 'rare' for example.

But then, on the other side, I could really not get interested in the characters or the story until well past the middle of the book. I just kept plodding on, waiting for that interest to come which it finally did at around the last third of the story. Quite why this was so is a mystery to me: the characters were well drawn and the descriptions evocative; one could perfectly imagine the mountain country and pine forests. Did it have to do with the fact that this was another of those stories I had seen on film first? I saw the Gary Cooper - Ingrid Bergman film version a couple years back I recall, so the basic story and characters were known to me. That really wasn't it however.

I am not of the same stuff heroes are made of. I could only partly appreciate the main character's attitudes. It wasn't his country but was a place he loved and was willing to fight and die if necessary to save it, which seemed a noble sentiment. Further, he accepted the necessity to kill others and the possibility of being killed himself to fulfill a military task he had freely taken on. He forced himself to think objectively about this and not allow his personal feelings come into play. It seemed a realistic depiction of the fine line a person would have to walk in such a situation, but when it came down to it I couldn't put myself in his shoes. Perhaps much of it was akin to the squeamishness I feel about movies with a lot of violence; I don't like films where gouts of blood spurt from bullet wounds. I can't enjoy the experience since I expect any moment to be confronted with the next outpouring of gore and guts.

This book dealt with the violence of war, its atrocities on both sides; stark thoughts of people placed in life and death situations, contrasted with the beauty of love and life and the fleeting ephemerality of the moment. And it did it in spades. But for whatever reason it was very slow in capturing my imagination and my heart.(less)

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Jan 30, 2009

sage rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, glbt-interest, reviewed, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've read this before in excerpts but never the entire novel.

About this edition, this is an audiobook read in a matter-of-fact, almost Bogart-esque style, which fits the era perfectly. It's wry and heartbreaking and rubs like sand in an open wound. Perfect for a gruesome war story.

About the style.
Some people have issues with Hemingway's style. I like him except when he gets too excessively Gertrude Steinian, which he does in two sections of this book -- but it se...moreI've read this before in excerpts but never the entire novel.

About this edition, this is an audiobook read in a matter-of-fact, almost Bogart-esque style, which fits the era perfectly. It's wry and heartbreaking and rubs like sand in an open wound. Perfect for a gruesome war story.

About the style.
Some people have issues with Hemingway's style. I like him except when he gets too excessively Gertrude Steinian, which he does in two sections of this book -- but it seems intended, to me, as they go along with the protagonist losing his self-control to a resurgence of carefully repressed feeling. The lack of contractions and the strange diction match what Spanish sounds like in translation, and the novel is taking place mostly en español, so it fits. If you live in an area with a lot of Spanish-speakers, it's easier to tell. The rhythm of speech is the same. Not all of the Spanish is translated, incidentally. There's a lot of fabulously vulgar slang that slipped through the censors. *g*

Hemingway writes some gorgeous sentences, let me tell you.

What I missed from the excerpts I had read before was Hemingway's/the narrator's profound sense of disillusionment concerning the Spanish Civil War. It was a travesty and rightfully deserves to be called the *real* second world war, what with the Germans and Italians arming and aiding Franco and Britain, France, and the US standing by watching civilians be massacred and mutilated without lifting a hand. It's a horrible time in history. And no one teaches it now. It's fallen out of the world history curricula because it's too awful. Or because the US and its allies failed to step up. (And if FDR had, would the Nazi war have started early? I imagine someone's written a book on that.)

I've seen criticism of this novel as "sexist" somewhere, but I don't understand where they're coming from unless it's an anachronistic application of the word. To me it seemed the opposite of sexist. A woman is a guerrilla leader. A teenage girl is a survivor of multiple rape and regains her emotional health and sexual identity after her trauma through the nurturing of the female guerrilla leader. I see a celebration of female power in that. The division of labor is what it is (the teenage girl is hardly strong enough to handle a giant old fashioned machine gun), and everyone in the sorry little band of rebels is equally in the shit together.

Which is the main point of the book for me. There was no glory in the war against Franco. It was an obscenity, a crime against humanity, and the international community was as responsible for meddling in the lives of illiterate paisanos as the first wave of idealistic intelligentsia and Communist idealogues.

What a horrific, traumatizing, nation-crippling thing.

Note: this gets a glbt_interest tag because of "maricón" being one of the most serious insults one can call a man (at the time), and also because of the scene where the guerrilla asks the American why he has to get together with the girl instead of finding a buddy to take his pleasure with as the rest of the men do. "Why not go with one of us?" he says (paraphrasing), and it could be taken as a proposition, but Jordan answers that he's in love with the girl and plans to marry her, and totally sidesteps the matter. :)
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Jan 26, 2012

Jay rated it

Shelves: literature-united-states

Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is not a reliable view of the Spaniards during the decade of the 1930s or of their 1936-39 Civil War. From both of those perspectives, it is a novel flawed.

In Spain of the post-Franco years, and especially since the opening of the archives of the old Soviet Union, the debate about the role of the Communist in the Republic both before and after Franco’s rebellion has increased with renewed intensity. It has long been clear that the war was not a...moreHemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is not a reliable view of the Spaniards during the decade of the 1930s or of their 1936-39 Civil War. From both of those perspectives, it is a novel flawed.

In Spain of the post-Franco years, and especially since the opening of the archives of the old Soviet Union, the debate about the role of the Communist in the Republic both before and after Franco’s rebellion has increased with renewed intensity. It has long been clear that the war was not a simple black-and-white conflict between a freely elected democratic State (the Republic), on one side, and an insurgent Fascism, on the other. What is emerging in greater clarity, however, is the role of the Communists.

The historian Stanley Payne—one of my professors at the University of Wisconsin—has argues that Russia’s subvention of the Republic both before and after 1936 was far more extensive than many once thought. Even if his conclusion that the Republic was moving toward a Communist totalitarianism well before the military’s 1936 intervention is not universally accepted, it is certain that the Republic (a coalition of Anarchists, Socialists, Communists and Republicans) was ill disposed to grant the right wing (a grouping of Church, Military and Fascists) any position in the political arena. It also seems clear that the West’s economic embargo did not drive the Republic into Russia’s hands. The Republican government’s links to Moscow, which supplied that government with armaments and strategy, were cemented well before that embargo.

Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (published in 1940) emerged out of a simpler, less Machiavellian view of the conflict that circulated outside of Spain and that romanticized the Republican cause and minimized Russia’s pernicious involvement. Hemingway’s novel—its plot and characters-- is certainly compelling and continues to rank among his best writing even given some of the negative criticism of the language which was intended to reflect the Spanish spoken by the characters. But, as a window on the Spanish and their war, the novel is unreliable. Although Hemingway worked as a journalist in Spain during a large part of the conflict, he was at best disengaged from the complexities of politics as they played out in Spain through 1939. His time in Madrid in the Hotel Florida, as Hemingway himself describes it, was far less political than social. He certainly never embraced the ideology of any of the Communist parties. He did, however, emerge as a spokesperson for the myths forged by the Stalinists.

When I first read “For Whom the Bell Tolls” as a teenager in 1956, I found both the setting and the politics of the war described by Hemingway as engaging as the novel’s more transcendental themes. I had no reason to doubt the authenticity of Hemingway’s voice in regard to Spain and its War. Robert Jordan, the young American academic fighting in Spain as part of the International Brigades on the side of the Republic, carried me into the mountains around Segovia and into a Spain of matadors, peasants and shepherds. And, although Hemingway described atrocities on both sides of the conflict [Pilar’s account of Pablo’s sacking of a small mountain town (based on actual events in the town of Ronda?) in the environs of Avila is quite chilling], the Republican guerrillas cemented my sympathies for their crusade. As Robert Jordan, I was a Republican. As Robert Jordan, I fell in love with María. And similar to Jordan, I saw the war and the inevitability of a victory of Franco’s Nationalists as the death of truth and idealism in Spain itself. Democracy defeated at the hands of Fascism. Here was the image: Robert Jordan’s commitment to blowing up a bridge was a XX Century reenactment of Don Quijote’s charge at windmills.

Having re-read “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in 2011, after years of studying Spanish history and culture and of living in the country itself off and on during Franco’s dictatorship, I now find it as a view of the Spaniards and of their Civil War both unreliable and deeply flawed. On the other hand, I find the work’s themes—death, honor, commitment, love—and Hemingway’s treatment of them far more meaningful for me than the novel’s physical setting and its portrayal of the Civil War. Hemingway’s treatment of those themes engaged me in 2011 as much as the novel did in 1956.
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Nov 20, 2009

Marius van Blerck rated it

An interesting book, which starts very well, but it eventually submerges a vibrant storyline into interminable and ultimately tedious introspective soliloquies. A pity, because the book shows so much promise. The opening chapters reminded me a little of the feel of Cormac McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" - a book I really loved. McCarthy must have been paying tribute to Hemingway. Another factor that bothered me was how Robert Jordan established total control over the guerilla group ...more

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May 16, 2009

Kevin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, historical-fiction, heavy-duty, the-good

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a fictional account of the Spanish Civil war, and I say this now, it is probably one of Hemingway’s finest works of fiction. Like Orwell, he reported on the war, arriving in Spain in 1937 and worked with the International Brigades in the Madrid area, advocating a Popular Front Government. The premise of the novel is this: The protagonist is an American called Robert Jorden, a University Teacher in Spain, who joins the International Brigades and gets sent on a mission ...moreFor Whom the Bell Tolls is a fictional account of the Spanish Civil war, and I say this now, it is probably one of Hemingway’s finest works of fiction. Like Orwell, he reported on the war, arriving in Spain in 1937 and worked with the International Brigades in the Madrid area, advocating a Popular Front Government. The premise of the novel is this: The protagonist is an American called Robert Jorden, a University Teacher in Spain, who joins the International Brigades and gets sent on a mission to blow a bridge up behind the Fascist lines prior to a Republican offensive. He teams up with a group of Partisans, and this mission and his relationship with his band of comrades is essentially what the book is about.

There are many, many themes in the novel; for instance, the nature of the war is questioned, and how far people would go to win, or at least what they would do for their beliefs. What is at stake here is probably tied up with the future of the world, or at least a future free from bigotry and oppression. But this is only hinted at. Hemingway paints a very barbaric picture near the beginning of the novel about the execution of a group of Fascists in a village during the start of the war. This is probably the most disturbing scene in the book, but he does show the nature of the Fascists; landowners, the ruling clique, etc. He also shows how barbaric the whole of the conflict became, and he doesn’t like the CNT-FAI (Anarchist-Syndicalists) either, which is shown not just in this scene, but throughout the novel (Red and Black ‘crazies’). However, one of his partisan group, Pablo, who was involved in the execution, ends up disturbed from what he let happen; even though Pablo has some very questionable motives, I think it is from this scene that we understand how he turned out how he did. Fascist barbarity is not ignored. Jorden falls in love with a Spanish Woman, Maria, who was rescued from an earlier attack on a train; she had witnessed the inhumane execution of her parents by the Falange and was subsequently humiliated (her hair shaved, raped). No side gets off from what occurred, but we know, and Hemingway knows, who the true culprits are.

Then there is Anselmo, and old man with the band; someone who hates the concept of killing anyone, because he is a Christian and Jorden muses that he is a rare Christian in this Catholic Country, because he has more humanity in him than most, if not all of the Priests in Spain during this period. And of most men. During the war, the Catholic Church, or at least the Spanish alternative of it, were hated by the Reds because they were so tied to the State and upheld their ‘barbarity’, or at least the injustices which had occurred under the old order. Many were shot. Hemingway muses on this point, or at least the protagonist does, trying to justify it as a peculiarly Spanish thing (stemming from the Inquisition etc), rather than anything else.

I think Hemingway was tied more towards the official Republican line than that of the POUM or Anarchists; this is painted very clear in his book. He also questions the role of the official Communist Party, detailing their excess towards deviants (mentioning Trotskyists and so on). But I think what the book tries to portray is the comradeship towards his fellow partisans, each with their own ideals, and what they would do for the cause. Robert Jorden I think knew his end in this book, based on his thoughts throughout and what Pilar speaks to him about (like she also knew his destiny), and so this is where the love angle comes into play with his relationship with Maria. During their brief time together, he states his love to her, and knows she is the woman whom he has fallen the most in love with in all his life. They must have spent all of three days together, and, towards the end of the book, when he falls at the last moment from a tank shell, he tells her that she will always be a part of him, and her him; that they will always be together. This is something that humanity cannot destroy. It is a very sad ending to a very good and deep book. I am sure this will stay with me for sometime.
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Mar 03, 2008

Patricia rated it

Recommends it for: My sister inlaw and anyone else who really enjoys intense thinking books

Recommended to Patricia by: someone at Kennecott

Shelves: classics

This is the most impressive book I have ever read. I can see why Hemmingway was such an revolutionary writer.

The language in this book is tough and clipped. However, it is still poetic, provocative and beautiful. I was completely awestruck by the treatment of the Spanish language in the novel. Hemmingway kept the Spanish colloquialisms and treatment of pronouns in the dialogue. In this book the spanish language is completely alive. It has stregnths and weaknesses just as any of the c...more

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Jul 25, 2007

Mark R. Rinker rated it

· review of another edition

This is the sixth Hemingway book I've read, and easily my least favorite and so far the only I wouldn't give a five-out-of-five rating.

There are a lot of great sections in the book, and the ending is fantastic. I don't know that I've ever read a book that explored the specific theme of death any more than "For Whom the Bell Tolls," offering different viewpoints, all of which come from characters very aware of the fact that they could be dead in a matter of days.

...more

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Oct 01, 2007

David rated it

Again Communism rears its head (Darkness at Noon was my last book), but this time in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), however, it's merely scenery (as are the facists) for the novel's main attraction: Love and War. As an aside, Hemmingway observes what comes as a hard truth to others eventually; that "Soviet Communism" was rotten in its core. Show-trials in Russia and inefficiencies of the Russian hand in the Spanish Republic are not overlooked. Hemmingway is absolutely brilliant...more

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Feb 21, 2009

Mike Frost rated it

This book seems to have found some resurgence of popularity among my generation lately, and it is certainly well deserved. Having only read "The Old Man and the Sea" previously, I greatly enjoyed Hemingway's terse style and was impressed that, although written in English, he was able to so thoroughly capture the essence of the spoken Spanish. I must read more Hemingway.

On a side note, I read that Hemingway once won a bet with some of his friends who ribbed him for writing i...more

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Sep 08, 2007

Matthew Klobucher rated it

This is the Hemingway novel that stands out the most for me. Filled with life, color, drama, and pathos, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" details a particular episode of the Spanish Civil War. With his characteristic spare but beautiful prose Hemingway draws people and places with striking individuality and beauty. A celebration of life at its most tragic and violent, this book manages to capture both the seeming utter futility and the great joy and promise of humanity. I don't personally hol...more

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Jul 19, 2007

Nathan rated it

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Shelves: fiction

Hemingway was a name I had always known and associated him with some kind of highbrow literature. What I didn't know was that Hemingway writes in such a simple, elegant, sometimes biblical manner, but remains highbrow. This book was so dry, yet so rife with emotion. Hemingway leaves you to decide so much about how you feel without leading you down some path that he has created. "Blow thy bridge, Robert Jordan." That was interesting to me: He never once called the main character b...more

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Jun 28, 2010

Jennifer Patrick rated it

Shelves: best-of-the-best

Refered to me by someone I love, this is one book I understand why it is considered a classic. The love between Robert and Marie is so passionate for the brief time they had together it breaks my heart. Pilar was wonderful, I loved her stories about her days with the bullfighters. Loved everything about it!

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Apr 02, 2008

stew rated it

I obscenity your transmission. I obscenity in the milk of your ancestors. I, and always and forever I; wandering I, mucking I, obscene obscenity forever and always and milking and transmissing and mucking wandering amongst the forever and the always I; obscenity obscene, mucking milking milk ancestral forever and ever to have and to hold and to be and now and always and forever; this now, wandering now, transmissing now, mucking now, milking now, obscene obscenity now, ancestral now, forever to ...more

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Dec 27, 2008

Jeff rated it

I'm afraid that after reading this, I will be forever disappointed in all other novels. Rarely do I give such distinguished praise for a book, but Hemingway's is quite deserving. Hemingway writes in a way that makes other writers envious in that his story is so simple and strong yet human, complex, and fragile. Centered around a very small mission in a war most Americans (myself included) know/knew nothing about, FWTBT is really about the intracacy of relationships as they morph over stressfu...more

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Dec 25, 2008

Seth rated it

Finished Christmas morning. Very sobering war story. I liked Robert Jordan's self-talk. Pilar has to be one of the best characters I have read for some time. I read somewhere that this is considered to be the most comprehensive war novel in scope ever written. While reading I couldn't help asking why would this be so comprehensive? The story is about one minor offensive involving only a handful of people and the story last only three days. Now having finished it I realize that I have been...more

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Dec 17, 2008

Hayden added it

Stories about war always seem to have their fair share of brutality and violence. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway certainly follows these characteristics. The novel takes place in 1937 at the height of the Spanish civil war, where an American named Robert Jordan who has left the states to fight on the republican side travels behind enemy lines. He is given the task of planting explosives on a fascist controlled bridge and blowing it up. On his way to the guerilla camp he meets its le...moreStories about war always seem to have their fair share of brutality and violence. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway certainly follows these characteristics. The novel takes place in 1937 at the height of the Spanish civil war, where an American named Robert Jordan who has left the states to fight on the republican side travels behind enemy lines. He is given the task of planting explosives on a fascist controlled bridge and blowing it up. On his way to the guerilla camp he meets its leader, Pablo who opposes the bridge operation from the start. It is clear the Pablo is going to cause problems for Robert. During his stay at the camp Robert and the men frequently discuss the hardships of killing another man. Robert Jordan comes to the conclusion that Spaniards all have a desire to kill and it has been shown throughout history. This is shown when he states, “We do it coldly but they do not, nor ever have. It is their extra sacrament. . . . They are the people of the Auto de Fé; the act of faith. Killing is something one must do, but ours are different from theirs”. Throughout the book Hemingway shows the brutal side of war and Robert quickly looses his idealistic views of the republican cause once he is actually behind enemy lines. When in camp Robert meets Maria, a woman who was captured by the fascists and raped but is now living with the republicans. Robert and her are drawn to each other and one night she comes to him and they make love and declare their love for each other. He is overcome by the bond he feels with Maria when they are making love and it is described when Hemmingway states, “For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere”. This quote describes how Robert seems to loose all senses when making love to Maria. As the book nears to a close the action picks up with the attack on the bridge. I would recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in the Spanish civil war, or how war can have effects on indiviguals.(less)

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Jan 15, 2012

Larry Gordon rated it

Having never read Hemingway, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. Perhaps the glorification of war, with a good dose of machismo? But nothing of the sort. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a truly nuanced look at people dealing with all aspects of war: patriotism, idealism, camaraderie, brutality, horror and self-doubt.

The story centres on Robert Jordan, an American volunteer in the International Brigades in the Spanish civil war. The nation was being torn apart, as some rallied to th...moreHaving never read Hemingway, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. Perhaps the glorification of war, with a good dose of machismo? But nothing of the sort. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a truly nuanced look at people dealing with all aspects of war: patriotism, idealism, camaraderie, brutality, horror and self-doubt.

The story centres on Robert Jordan, an American volunteer in the International Brigades in the Spanish civil war. The nation was being torn apart, as some rallied to the fascist side while others fought for the republicans.

Jordan is assigned to blow up a bridge with the help of a local guerrilla band. While still supporting the cause and willing to sacrifice his life, if necessary, he was becoming more jaded with growing ambivalence about warfare. “The things he had come to know in this war were not so simple.”

Everything about the war seemed to be in varying shades of gray, rather than black and white. The fascists killed and tortured innocents, yet the leaders of the republican guerrilla band had themselves carried out a brutal mass killing of fascist prisoners and supporters.

An elderly man in the guerrilla band struggled with his conscience. As he watched fascist soldiers at the bridge guardhouse they would later attack, he thought: “It is only orders that come between us. Those men are not fascists. I call them so, but they are not. They are poor men as we are. They should never be fighting against us and I do not like to think of the killing.”

When visiting a nearby city, a friend of Jordan's talks scathingly about the republican leadership, who are safely away from the combat. “I have just come back from Valencia [the republicans’ HQ ]…No one comes back very cheerful from Valencia…The cowards who fled from Madrid still govern there….And Barcelona. You should see Barcelona…It is all still comic opera. First it was the paradise of the crackpots and the romantic revolutionists. Now it is the paradise of the fake soliders…who like to strut and swagger and wear red-and-black scarves. Who like everything about war except to fight. Valencia makes you sick and Barcelona makes you laugh.”

“You went into it knowing what you were fighting for. You were fighting against exactly what you were doing and being forced into doing to have any chance of winning,” Jordan concludes.

Thought-provoking and an interesting story. I’ll make a point of reading more Hemingway. And more about the Spanish civil war.
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Dec 14, 2011

Steven Greenberg rated it

Hemingway's best accomplishment by far. Great and fascinating plot, wonderful and memorable characters, and the message, always pertinent, that human acts are interlinked in infinite ways. The title of the work says it all: It's from John Donne's most famous sermon about man's duty toward and responsibility for his fellow man. Also, more specifically, the novel is about the Spanish Civil War, a bloodbath-of-a-cataclysm in which the "good guys" were the Republicans, backed by Stalin, wh...more

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Nov 13, 2011

Javer Hernandez rated it

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" a story about Hemingway's experiences during the Spanish Civil War. I find this work by Hemingway a true learning experience. Hemingway wants the reader to work a little by leaving some key details to the imagination. I find this style of writing fascinating and quite useful. One thing that really draws my attention is how Hemingway goes back and forth between characters and even timelines. This is an aspects of Hemingway's style of writing that I try to inco...more

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Sep 08, 2011

Madison rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Madison Buechler
English II
Mr. Rich
Book Review
8/13/11
Hemingway, Earnest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: SCRIBNER, 1940.
During the Spanish war, a young man named Robert Jordan is sent to blow up a bridge to stop their enemy from getting supplies as quickly on the other side. When he first sees the bridge, he knows inside that he is going to die on this mission. Robert Jordan’s story is told in full detail in For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is filled with many ...moreMadison Buechler
English II
Mr. Rich
Book Review
8/13/11
Hemingway, Earnest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: SCRIBNER, 1940.
During the Spanish war, a young man named Robert Jordan is sent to blow up a bridge to stop their enemy from getting supplies as quickly on the other side. When he first sees the bridge, he knows inside that he is going to die on this mission. Robert Jordan’s story is told in full detail in For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is filled with many heart wrenching scenes that really define Earnest Hemingway as a writer. He was only able to keep me reading because there was always the question of if Robert Jordan was going to die or not.
I was upset by the way Robert kept fantasizing with Maria about their future, even though he was convinced he wouldn't make it during his mission. He had her hopes up, and made her extremely happy. And just as she was actually beginning to be happy with him in those few days they had her dreams were ripped apart? If Robert Jordan knew he was going to die why would he do that to her? “Now he was just lying to his girl and to himself to pass the night before the battle and he knew it” (Hemingway 345).
Maybe he never really loved her, he just convinced himself so much, he wanted to have someone to love, and to love him. If it were a smaller less guarded bridge then maybe he wouldn't have messed with anyone, and he would just keep doing what he was good at, making things explode. I don’t understand why the book couldn’t be about his adventures during the war, and not his death and the way he crushed Maria's dreams and happiness.
Hemingway is really good at making you keep reading, even though I wanted to abandon the book at times, I just had to finish and see if he died or not. If he hadn't, the ending would have at least been happy. There are two unexpected things that happen, first, how the band of Sordo was destroyed, and second, exactly how Robert Jordan died. Hemingway is skilled at making twists that somehow go along with the story. The complications with the wiring for the bombs were almost expected in the end because everything was just going too well at first.
Whenever someone spoke, it was like old English, with words like thou, shalt, and thee. Just the phrasing made it sound older. But when Hemingway was just describing someone or something, he didn't use that kind of language, he used every day English. I think he does this to show the time that they're in, while showing how people felt and saw without confusing the reader. I think it would have been easier because if he hadn't used the older type English in the book would have been easier to read, despite its many flaws.
War would be a good theme for this book, because there is constant fighting, either with the fascist enemy, dispute among companions, or war with oneself, which you can see with Pablo and Robert Jordan. “Pablo is gone. … He has taken something of thine” (Hemingway 360). There is conflict throughout the entire book, there is always conflict, and nothing is ever truly resolved. Even though Robert Jordan succeeded, the war did not end because of him, he did not affect much in the end.
I like more fantasy type books, while still having the right amount of description to make it seem like it could actually happen. I still like realistic fiction as well, but it doesn't seem as though this story could have happened as much as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan or Cry the Beloved Country. They included actual historic events and were researched, while For Whom the Bell Tolls lacks that really realistic quality that I like.
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Sep 07, 2011

Antonia added it

The reader of For Whom the Bell Tolls follows Robert Jordan through the Spanish forest as he whines on about how disastrous his mission is, and how much he wants to drink a cold beer. Ernest Hemingway forces the reader to listen to the unnecessary rants and rambles of this main character, all while having to endure the equally repugnant supporting characters. This so-called “love story” is just another Romeo and Juliet, where all the two characters had to do was look at each other over a platter...moreThe reader of For Whom the Bell Tolls follows Robert Jordan through the Spanish forest as he whines on about how disastrous his mission is, and how much he wants to drink a cold beer. Ernest Hemingway forces the reader to listen to the unnecessary rants and rambles of this main character, all while having to endure the equally repugnant supporting characters. This so-called “love story” is just another Romeo and Juliet, where all the two characters had to do was look at each other over a platter of meat to immediately fall madly in love, then proceed to have sex for the rest of the book. The book jacket’s proclaims of “[Hemingway’s] portrayal of Jordan’s love for the beautiful Maria… it stands as one of the best war novels of all time,” is the complete opposite of the truth: it is badly written with disturbing characters and mystifying plot switches.
Throughout For Whom the Bell Tolls, you are trapped inside of Robert Jordan’s head, listening to everything from his favorite hotel in Madrid to his grandfather’s war résumé, all of which are completely irrelevant and yawn-inducing. Not only does Robert Jordan’s personality grate at your nerves, but his great love for Maria is spurious and shallow. During his first encounter with Maria, he objectifies her and is only concerned with her looks. “She has a beautiful face, Robert Jordan thought. She’d be beautiful if she hadn’t cropped her hair,” (22). However, the fact that she looks unpleasant doesn’t stop Robert Jordan from sleeping with her just hours after he called her hideous. Once the couple realizes their enormous love for each other, we have to suffer through Maria’s horrific golden retriever attitude towards Robert Jordan as she begs him to let her wash his socks and fold his sleeping bag. Robert Jordan doesn’t seem to be bothered by the obvious fact that he is the only one with control over this particular relationship, and proceeds to create the pet name “Rabbit” for his girlfriend, the origin of which can only be linked back to the dead rabbit Maria and Robert Jordan ate the first time they met.
The unappealing relationship between Maria and Robert Jordan is not the only thing in For Whom the Bell Tolls that directs this book to disaster. Confusing scene changes paired with misleading character identities and Shakespearean language helps to thoroughly complicate the bland story. Throughout many chapters, I had no idea if the characters where in either a) a cave in the mountains in Spain, b) in a hotel restaurant, or c) in Russia. More confusing settings were described during Robert Jordan’s extensive storytelling about the mysterious “Gaylord’s,” a place which seemed to morph from a bar, to a government conference room, and then to a hotel, was never clearly explained as to what its purpose was in the story. Then there were the myriad of characters within Gaylord’s, all described with great detail, from hairstyles to family history, only to be forgotten the next page. I was completely baffled as to the differences between characters such as “Karkarov,” “the Gypsy,” “Fernando,” “Anselmo,” and “the old man,” as they all seemed to have at least one other twin character who was exactly the same.
For Whom the Bell Tolls was a confusing mess that had neither a good plot nor interesting characters. Trying to wade through dense pages of self-absorbed lectures and pompous speeches was not what I was expecting from a novel by Ernest Hemingway, and was certainly not what I wanted to read over the summer. There were so many ridiculous additives to the story, from Robert Jordan’s name—was his first name Robert and his last name Jordan? Or was his full first name Robert Jordan?—to his random and melodramatic death from a broken leg. All in all, For Whom the Bell Tolls was a complete waste of time and energy to read and try to comprehend the initiative for Ernest Hemingway to write this catastrophic failure of a book.
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Sep 07, 2011

Graham Tyler added it

Graham Tyler
English II
31 August 2011
Review B

Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Macmillan, 1993

Ernest Hemingway’s, For Whom The Bell Tolls, opens in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway, one of the most talented writers of all time creates a very detailed war time story about the bravery and glory of guerilla fighters and the sacrifices they make. Hemingway creates a character named Robert Jordan who is an American who joins a b...moreGraham Tyler
English II
31 August 2011
Review B

Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Macmillan, 1993

Ernest Hemingway’s, For Whom The Bell Tolls, opens in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway, one of the most talented writers of all time creates a very detailed war time story about the bravery and glory of guerilla fighters and the sacrifices they make. Hemingway creates a character named Robert Jordan who is an American who joins a band of guerilla fighters to help sabotage the enemies main supply bridge. Hemingway writes in great detail and care but I thought the book was a little long. But regardless the book is well written and very interesting.
Robert Jordan is instructed to blow a bridge to help aid the allied advance. Along his journey while he is scouting the bridge he meets a band of guerillas stationed in the caves and hills above the bridge. They agree to help with the operation but the leader begins to second guess his actions. The other guerillas sense he needs to get be killed but he eventually comes around. Robert Jordan then meets another guerilla company and they agree also. But before the operation is executed the other company is attacked and killed by the fascists. Robert Jordan convinces Pablo the leader to go on with the operation as it must be done.
Hemingway is an incredible writer and tells the tale of a brave American who gives his life in order to carryout the mission. “He was completely integrated now and he took a good long look at everything. Then he looked up at the sky. There were big white clouds in it. He touched the palm of his hand against the pine needles where he lay and he touched the bark of the pine trunk that he lay behind” (Hemingway 471). Robert Jordan in this passage has been shot off his horse and can not be dragged away from battle. He is lying in the middle of the road with other dead soldiers waiting for the fascists to catch up. He contemplates suicide but instead loads one bullet into his pistol and waits for the fascist commander. Hemingway depicts the strong emotion of a soldier left behind with no way out and how he reacts so close to death, as well as the heroic and glory side of war, in which a soldier tries to leave on the battlefield.
Hemingway also gives the background of the time period of the Spanish civil war. Where the fascists are trying to take control of Spain and crush the old leadership. But the large European countries like England and France do not want a fascist régime taking control of Spain as they are their neighbors. Also at this time Europe is about to enter World War II. The novel creates the graphic seems of war in great description and detail. The book was an excellent depiction of war and the discipline it takes to be a soldier behind enemy lines, like Robert Jordan.
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Sep 06, 2011

Sarah Farnsworth added it

Sarah Farnsworth
Mr. Rich
English 10-1
August 31, 2010
Review #2
Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Scribner, 1940.
War is an incredibly controversial term that accounts for many mixed emotions. War is like a window into the soul of the hurt and the souls with strong prides for what they believe in. War brings out the true side of people and in some their inner savage leaving all innocence gone. But even when all innocence is gone and hope is f...moreSarah Farnsworth
Mr. Rich
English 10-1
August 31, 2010
Review #2
Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Scribner, 1940.
War is an incredibly controversial term that accounts for many mixed emotions. War is like a window into the soul of the hurt and the souls with strong prides for what they believe in. War brings out the true side of people and in some their inner savage leaving all innocence gone. But even when all innocence is gone and hope is far past believable somehow love always manages to make its way through in some kind of form. In Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan who has left the United States to enlist in the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War is assigned the very difficult task to blow up a Fascist- controlled bridge. On his way there meets new people to help him as well as Pilar whom Robert quickly falls in love with.
Every single character in For Whom the Bell Tolls loses his or her psychological or physical innocence to the war whether it is from the devastation of losing both parents therefore becoming forced to grow up quickly like Joaquín. Or losing the physical innocence like Maria did when she was raped by a group of Fascist soldiers. Going along with these physical costs of the war are all psychological problems to go with them. Robert Jordan initially came to Spain supporting the Republican cause thinking and trusting that he was good. After fighting in the war, Robert Jordan becomes more evil about the Republican side and forgets most of his original beliefs. The victims from the violence of the murderers’ guilty actions in the war are also involved in the loss of their innocence. “We do it coldly but they do not, nor ever have. It is their extra sacrament. . . . They are the people of the Auto de Fé; the act of faith. Killing is something one must do, but ours are different from theirs” (286). This sentence perfectly describes just how much war has torn the innocence in people from their conscience. Killing to them has become a must do or even considered a lifestyle when in reality it is something I believe should never be done intentionally.
War is also accountable for the loss of innocence of people who aren’t involved in it directly. War journalists, writers, and we as readers are forced to think away from our innocent expectation that wars involve good and clean moral choices that separate us from the enemy when in reality is not always the case. In my opinion Hemingway portrays in For Whom the Bell Tolls that honesty is based on inner experience instead of fact and dependence, and that the sides of right and wrong are never obvious. With no positive sides of right and wrong in, there is no idea of a happy victory in battle, no idea of winning or peaceful closure that evil has lost and good has prevailed.
Although a lot of the characters in the book take a contemptuous glimpse of human nature and feel exhausted by the war, the novel still holds out hope for romantic love which I admire. Even the wise Pilar reveals traces of a romantic, idealistic outlook on the world. Robert Jordan and Maria fall in love at first sight. “For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere” (159). This quote to me describes how deep Robert and Maria’s love is and how immense and idealistic it lasts for them. Love bestows Robert Jordan’s life with new meaning and allows him new reasons to wake up in the fight of the disillusionment he feels for the Republican cause. Robert believes in love despite the fact that other people deny its actuality. In my opinion, this idea of romantic love is one of the most important ways in which Robert Jordan ejects complex ideas in favor of action and idea over the course of the novel.
For Whom The Bell Tolls is a fantastic novel that I highly recommend for anyone out there who has never read it. Hemingway has done a great job in allowing the reader to think about concepts that are sometimes difficult to comprehend on ones’ own. It also discusses many important topics and helps you see things from other points of views. I couldn’t put it down.
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About Ernest Hemingway

Awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style."
Received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.

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“And who understands? Not me, because if I did I would forgive it all.” — 51 people liked it

“How little we know of what there is to know. I wish that I were going to live a long time instead of going to die today because I have learned much about life in these four days; more, I think than in all other time. I'd like to be an old man to really know. I wonder if you keep on learning or if there is only a certain amount each man can understand. I thought I knew so many things that I know nothing of. I wish there was more time.” — 47 people liked it

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