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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I first read this book in Persian translation when I was a teenager. Back then, if Goodreads had existed and I had been on it, I’d have given this five stars. I listened to the English audiobook this month since it is going to be discussed in our book club. My different reaction proved to me, once again, how much I have changed. The one thing I found truly fascinating was the linguistic technique. But the story, I had to increase the speed to 1.5 and sometimes to 1.75 to be able to bear the monotony.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The beginning was boring and it was hard to get through, but classics always are. They just don’t flow as well as modern english, for me anyways. I did enjoy the ending tho. Honestly, the last 30% was really good. I dont know if I would read another Hemingway but I am glad that I read this one
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is beautiful in its examination of the human experience through a thrilling and raw war story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, War
'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is a novel on the Spanish civil war. It's told in the third person, but focuses on Robert Jordan, an American fighting for the republic, even though Hemingway sometimes follows other characters, mainly when he needs other perspectives to tell his tale. The book is dialogue-rich, but unfortunately these dialogues are rarely that interesting, despite the constant tension between the lines. Strange and rather manneristic is Hemingway's use of thou and thee, apparently in an attempt to translate the Spanish forms into English. Worse are the love scenes, which are preposterous and very badly written (which, incidentally, was also the case in '[b:A Farewell to Arms|10799|A Farewell to Arms|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1313714836l/10799._SY75_.jpg|4652599]'). Love interest Maria is an all too typical girlish, vulnerable object of male desire, ready to be protected. There's a hefty dose of machoism anyway, and often Hemingway's novel reads like a written Hollywood war film of the 1940s.
The book is rescued first by its high level of consistency of time and place, only covering four days and three nights in the same mountains somewhere west of Madrid. Second, by Pilar's harrowing account of the red terror in an unnamed Ronda in chapter ten, and third, by the breathtaking finale, which is one of hope and of false hope, and a race against the clock, with fast cross-cutting between scenes. During these last ca. hundred pages the book becomes a real page-turner.
'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is a novel on a just war lost, and it certainly brings the Spanish war to life, but of the two famous English language books on the conflict, George Orwell's '[b:Homage to Catalonia|9646|Homage to Catalonia|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394868278l/9646._SY75_.jpg|2566499]' is the better one, for Orwell's dry, factual description of what the war really looked like, is much more convincing than Hemingway's romantic heroism.
The book is rescued first by its high level of consistency of time and place, only covering four days and three nights in the same mountains somewhere west of Madrid. Second, by Pilar's harrowing account of the red terror in an unnamed Ronda in chapter ten, and third, by the breathtaking finale, which is one of hope and of false hope, and a race against the clock, with fast cross-cutting between scenes. During these last ca. hundred pages the book becomes a real page-turner.
'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is a novel on a just war lost, and it certainly brings the Spanish war to life, but of the two famous English language books on the conflict, George Orwell's '[b:Homage to Catalonia|9646|Homage to Catalonia|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394868278l/9646._SY75_.jpg|2566499]' is the better one, for Orwell's dry, factual description of what the war really looked like, is much more convincing than Hemingway's romantic heroism.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I cried
This is the first novel I have read by Ernest Hemingway in English, and I have to say this was a long, emotional ride. I loved the story of Robert Jordan, and liked what this said about life. It really does show that life is short and that one must take advantage of it while life exists.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No