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For Whom the Bell Tolls

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 96,108 ratings · 2,466 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 Spain, it tells

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Paperback, 480 pages

Published 2003 by Scribner (first published January 1st 1940)

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Apr 17, 2013 Geoff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won't deny my youthful bloody-lust to travel afar and get the girl and die in valor "fighting the good fight"- before those words were emptied by experience and observation-; and to read the messages-in-bottles (all polished sea-glass smooth by now) my teenage self is tossing into a flood tide from far, far away in some distant dimension (where he hardly resembles myself, and I am ashamed of him) this book is "written-well". I perfectly remember my parent's back porch and sun-struck green afte...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Madeline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-list

Just when I'd decided that Hemingway only ever wrote books about people getting drunk in cafes and thinking about how miserable they are, he surprises me and comes out with something like this. Naturally, the characters still get drunk and think about how miserable they are, but they do it while being guerrilla fighters in the Spanish Civil War, which makes it awesome.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien writes that, "If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some s...more Just when I'd decided that Hemingway only ever wrote books about people getting drunk in cafes and thinking about how miserable they are, he surprises me and comes out with something like this. Naturally, the characters still get drunk and think about how miserable they are, but they do it while being guerrilla fighters in the Spanish Civil War, which makes it awesome.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien writes that, "If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie." I kept coming back to that quote as I read this book, because it proves that Robbins was absolutely right. For Whom the Bell Tolls is not an uplifting story, and it's not moral. And when you're writing about a ragtag bunch of rebels fighting a fascist army, that's not easy to do. There are no good guys in this story, and no bad guys - not even the fascists.

"Good" and "Bad" in this story isn't divided by such clear lines. Instead, the biggest enemy that the protagonist (I won't use the word "hero") Robert Jordan faces is within the rebel group itself - a lot of strong personalities are drawn together by this war, and throwing them all together and making them live in a cave maybe wasn't the best way to go about things. The result is a fascinating portrait of a small group of people under enormous pressure, all trying to do the right thing even as they question what the right thing really is. Even when you're fighting fascists, nothing is black and white.

Another observation: having previously believed that Hemingway was incapable of writing compelling female characters, I am now forced to revise that opinion. There are only two women in this book, but they are both fully realized and compelling. Other reviewers found Maria one-dimensional, but I thought she was fascinating because of what was hinted at, but not revealed, about her. Her staggering understatement to describe her time as a prisoner of war - "Things were done to me" - is wonderful. She was tragic and sweet, and on a related note, Hemingway writes some surprisingly good sex scenes, so there's that.

And Pilar. Holy crap. Probably one of the most well-done characters I've ever read, she's alternately the mother figure, the best friend, the confidante, and the villain. Pilar is my new spirit animal.

A war story without heroes or villains, full of hollow victories and rage against the bureaucracy of war and what people under pressure can be forced to do, filled with some very good meditations on killing and war and love, and the importance of acting beyond personal gain. Well done, Mr. Hemingway.

(I should also add that Campbell Scott, who read the audiobook, does a fantastic job - he makes the characters' voices different enough for you to tell them apart without difficulty, and his Robert Jordan voice is exactly how I imagine Hemingway sounded in real life. If you're considering reading this, I'd recommend tracking down the audio version)(less)

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Apr 21, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was long and boring that did not go anywhere,. The reason for me was that it was too slow, epsically the fact that the whole book is centered around one event that in most books would have taken at most 1/4 of the book to get done. The interaction of the characters was always the same, the past lifes of the character did not matter to me for the main hcaracter to make his decision.

But on the other hand, it had a great impact on one person, James Oliver Rigney Jr. He was so impacted on...more

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Jun 27, 2008 Tom rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 stand this book! I should...more 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 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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Apr 04, 2013 Saman added it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

یک ترجمه‌ی بد از یک شاهکار ادبی. نمی‌دانم اولین بار چه کسی عنوان این کتاب را این‌قدر بی‌روح و سرد به "زنگ‌ها برای که به صدا در می‌آیند" برگرداند؟

عنوان زیباتر و رساتر این داستان را (این ناقوس عزای کیست) بیش‌تر می‌پسندم؛ چرا که داستان صرفاً روایت یک عملیات پارتیزانی محض نیست، بل‌که روایت یک رابطه‌ی انسانی و در مقابل آن چیزی به نام آرمان و هدف است

باری، ترجمه‌ی بد این کتاب باعث شد تا از خواندن آن لذتی نبرم و فیلمی که از آن پیش‌تر دیده بودم برایم باقی بماند. باشد تا برگردان بهتری از این کتاب روانه ب...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Chrissie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, spain, hf, relationships, 2013challenge, disliked, returned, alt

Hemingway uses special "literary techniques" in "For whom the Bell Tolls" that rather than enhancing the reading experience detract from it. Please see the list below. The ending is totally soppy. You learn nothing about the Spanish Civil War, and a better explanation for why Robert Jordan decided to fight with the Republicans should have been given. The scenes depicting physical attraction were bland and insipid. Some dislike the macho behavior of Hemingway's characters, but this doesn't bother...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Adrianne Mathiowetz rated it 5 of 5 stars · 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 bridge. There were tanks t...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 5 of 5 stars

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 distribution of his sente...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Jay F rated it 4 of 5 stars

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, the novel has its difficulties.

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 simpl...more 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, the novel has its difficulties.

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 argued 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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Dec 06, 2008 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 its spot in the cannon. The characters were perfectly...more

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Sep 03, 2008 Lavinia rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 lemne si al fru...more

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Jul 09, 2008 Garrett rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 write...more

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May 09, 2008 Roger W. rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 that from the get g...more 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 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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Jul 25, 2007 Mark R. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

***1/2

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.

The conflict between the ma...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-through-history, 2013

I spent tonight complaining to my RL book club buddies (what up Gray!) about how this feels kinda the same as A Farewell to Arms. Same stolid lead, same gushy love story, same (I suspect) dire ending. (Come on, we all read the title.)

[Later on...] Having finished it, though, I'm not so sure. I think he's about something different here. Sure, his style is unmistakeable. Since we were talking about movies tonight, I'll compare him to Tarantino: you'll always recognize a Tarantino movie, because hi...more I spent tonight complaining to my RL book club buddies (what up Gray!) about how this feels kinda the same as A Farewell to Arms. Same stolid lead, same gushy love story, same (I suspect) dire ending. (Come on, we all read the title.)

[Later on...] Having finished it, though, I'm not so sure. I think he's about something different here. Sure, his style is unmistakeable. Since we were talking about movies tonight, I'll compare him to Tarantino: you'll always recognize a Tarantino movie, because his characters talk in a way that no one talks outside of a Tarantino movie. Same with Hemingway. And sure, he does have themes he's obsessed with. But with Bell, ten years after Farewell to Arms, he's writing a different plot. Farewell was just about the tawdry chaos of war; Bell Tolls is about purpose, and what that means and where it can go wrong. Henry had no goals, or at least not until it was too late; Jordan, by contrast, has a very specific goal, which may not be the right one.

Yes, these are worthily different plots. Hemingway's style is still so distinctive, so tic-laden, that it's distracting - and some of the prose here is pretty fucking purple, by the way. But I was wrong to suspect that he wrote the same book every time. This is a different book. That's a compliment.

This is his best book, too. His most focused and his most exciting. It covers maybe four days in intense detail, explains its top six or eight characters with terrific truth, and it drives with tremendous force.

(view spoiler)

Hemingway is, barely, the most accessible and least complicated of the trio I associate him with - Faulkner, Steinbeck, him. His scope is the least epic. And he is badly sentimental. There's always a love interest and there is never any doubt about it. He falls in love like a ninth-grader does. The difference is that the ninth-grader is on to something else two weeks later, whereas with Hemingway someone dies.

It's a flaw, but I find Hemingway tremendously likable. His plots are tight and clear, his philosophy stops where it ought to, and his stories wrap themselves up perfectly. He's an excellent novelist. No, I don't think he's as complicated as Steinbeck or Faulkner. Steinbeck is, at his best, epic and grand and just as intensely readable; Faulkner is trying things that neither of the others had the balls to. Faulkner is also a pain in the ass; Steinbeck is the best of them. Hemingway is right in the middle.

And as a guy who is in love, Hemingway's grandiose descriptions of it work for me. Okay, rabbit.
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Jan 30, 2009 sage rated it 5 of 5 stars · 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 seems intended, to me, as they go a...more 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 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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May 19, 2013 Pedro rated it 5 of 5 stars

Continuo achando o estilo do Hemingway incrível: nada parece supérfluo e tudo reflete seu caráter. Não que este caráter seja incrível, por si... Certamente é impactante, mas imagino que seu apelo já foi muito maior - graças a Deus.

Essa observação está intimamente ligada com a minha leitura; não consegui deixar de questionar o que percebi ser a intenção do autor. Uma vivência crítica, sim, da dor e do sofrimento da guerra, mas que reconhece e chega a dar a impressão de estar muito confortável com...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Marie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

I tried, I really tried, but I found it impossible to empathise with any of the characters – with the possible exclusion of Pilar – and, without empathy, the ultimate outcome of the longest 3 days in anybody’s life totally lost its importance and meaning. I obviously missed some great clue/revelation, as I kept asking myself what on earth was Robert Jordan doing, involved in a conflict that had really not a lot to do with him, apart from his past Spanish teaching and possibly some idealism, alth...more I tried, I really tried, but I found it impossible to empathise with any of the characters – with the possible exclusion of Pilar – and, without empathy, the ultimate outcome of the longest 3 days in anybody’s life totally lost its importance and meaning. I obviously missed some great clue/revelation, as I kept asking myself what on earth was Robert Jordan doing, involved in a conflict that had really not a lot to do with him, apart from his past Spanish teaching and possibly some idealism, although this idealism – if that is what is was – is completely negated by his taking advantage (in my humble opinion) of a young girl who has been extremely traumatised and is clearly incapable of making any kind of decisions for herself. Despite her portrayed vulnerability, I never really felt moved by her plight. I only felt exasperated. It probably reflects on me more than it reflects on Hemingway, and I really wish I hadn’t made For Whom the Bell Tolls my introduction to his work. As it stands, it is very unlikely I will ever attempt another one.

Aside from my lack of interest as to the fate of most of the protagonists (I lost interest in the fate of the bridge mission way before that), I also found the style of writing extremely difficult to come to terms with. As I was reading it on my Kindle, I originally thought the copy I had was a poorly transcribed version (obscenity this, blasphemy that), until I checked it against others. In addition, although I think I do understand what Hemingway was trying to achieve by making it look as if the native language of the Spaniards (thee, thou, etc) was translated verbatim, it didn’t work for me at all, making the whole reading experience feel like a wade through treacle. Worse still was the excruciating and cringe-making dialogue between Maria and Robert once they became lovers: “My little Rabbit”?? Pass the sick-bag someone, please, quick! I know wars do different things to different people and affect men and women in different ways but (to me), the whole “love story” angle felt contrived and (on Robert Jordan’s side at least) opportunistic.

Those 3 days took me 3 long weeks to get through, and in the meantime stopped me from starting and enjoying anything else, until I admitted defeat a couple of chapters away from the end and finally gave up. All in all, I came out of it having learned a valuable lesson: life is too short to persevere with something you are not happy with, whether it is regarded as a “classic” or not.

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Aug 27, 2011 Karl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-all-time-favourite-books, nobel-reading-project

For Whom The Bell Tolls.
By Ernest Hemmingway.
Phew. That was a long read.

It was definitely worth the effort tackling something as big as this classic novel, given that most of the themes in the story will resonate with many people.

One in particular was Robert Jordan's DEATH ANXIETY that is prevalent throughout the book; He ruminates about this a lot and as the reader knows how bad the situation is you can't help but feel sorry for him and the rebels.

The terror the REBELS feel about possible captu...more

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Nov 20, 2009 Marius van Blerck rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 within hou...more

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May 16, 2009 Kevin rated it 5 of 5 stars · 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 t...more 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 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 5 of 5 stars 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 characters wi...more

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Oct 01, 2007 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 in his descri...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Mike Frost rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 in such uncomplicated p...more

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Sep 08, 2007 Matthew Klobucher rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 hold with muc...more

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Jul 19, 2007 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 by his first name...more

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Jun 28, 2010 Jennifer Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 2 of 5 stars

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 5 of 5 stars

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 stressful s...more

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About Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collec...more Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works. Three novels, four collections of short stories and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.

Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school he reported for a few months for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives. The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent, and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s "Lost Generation" expatriate community. The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's first novel, was published in 1926.

After his 1927 divorce from Hadley Richardson, Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from Spanish Civil War where he had acted as a journalist, and after which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. They separated when he met Mary Welsh in London during World War II; during which he was present at the Normandy Landings and liberation of Paris.

Shortly after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went on safari to Africa, where he was almost killed in two plane crashes that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life. Hemingway had permanent residences in Key West, Florida, and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in the summer of 1961.(less)

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Quotes from For Whom the Bell Tolls

“There's no one thing that's true. It's all true.” — 843 people liked it

“There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.” — 144 people liked it

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