For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was the fifth Hemingway novel I’ve read this year, and by far the most ambitious in length, scope, topic, and style. This classic follows Robert Jordan, American Spanish professor turned Republican Demolition officer in the Spanish Civil War as he leads a small guerrilla band to destroy a bridge that will play an important tactical role in an upcoming battle (as will its destruction). This classic has been analyzed, reviewed and studied far more intensely and deeply than I do around here, so I’ll stick to some general impressions/observations.
- First, this took me a long time to read — sure, it’s chock-full of Hemingway’s deceptively simple prose, but something about this one took forever to slog through. I’m not sure why — and what it says about the quality of the book — but this took 4-5 days longer than I thought it should to read.
- Hemingway didn’t pull any punches at all with foreshadowing, pretty much every plot point is predicted within the first 50 pages or so. And then you’re hit over the head with them for the rest of the book.
- Even though this is a third person narrative, it felt far more personal and intimate than his previous novels — even those that were told in first person.
- The part of the book where Pilar describes how she, Pablo and others took over their hometown from the Fascists? Horrific, totally believable and it’ll stick with me far longer than any of the shenanigans regarding the bridge will.
- Oh, hey, finally know where the silly phrase, “the earth moved” (and the interrogative form) comes from. Speaking of that, is it just me, or does it take people longer to fall in love in a Nora Ephron script than in a Hemingway novel? Sure, whatever, it’s war . . . things are more intense, things happen faster, yada, yada yada. Not buying it. Forever and ever, amen love should take more time than it does to brew a cup of coffee.