You Pay Only: $5.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780822004974
ISBN: 0822004976
Label: Cliffs Notes
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 56
Publication Date: June 23, 1965
Publisher: Cliffs Notes
Sales Rank: 294797
Studio: Cliffs Notes
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In addition to being a prodigious author, Hemingway took great personal interest in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. This novel blends a love story with a story of that war and provides one powerful result.
Amazon.com Review:
For Whom the Bell Tolls begins and ends in a pine-scented forest, somewhere in Spain. The year is 1937 and the Spanish Civil War is in full swing. Robert Jordan, a demolitions expert attached to the International Brigades, lies 'flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees.' The sylvan setting, however, is at sharp odds with the reason Jordan is there: he has come to blow up a bridge on behalf of the antifascist guerrilla forces. He hopes he'll be able to rely on their local leader, Pablo, to help carry out the mission, but upon meeting him, Jordan has his doubts: 'I don't like that sadness, he thought. That sadness is bad. That's the sadness they get before they quit or before they betray. That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out.' For Pablo, it seems, has had enough of the war. He has amassed for himself a small herd of horses and wants only to stay quietly in the hills and attract as little attention as possible. Jordan's arrival--and his mission--have seriously alarmed him. 'I am tired of being hunted. Here we are all right. Now if you blow a bridge here, we will be hunted. If they know we are here and hunt for us with planes, they will find us. If they send Moors to hunt us out, they will find us and we must go. I am tired of all this. You hear?' He turned to Robert Jordan. 'What right have you, a foreigner, to come to me and tell me what I must do?' In one short chapter Hemingway lays out the blueprint for what is to come: Jordan's sense of duty versus Pablo's dangerous self-interest and weariness with the war. Complicating matters even more are two members of the guerrilla leader's small band: his 'woman' Pilar, and Maria, a young woman whom Pablo rescued from a Republican prison train. Unlike her man, Pilar is still fiercely devoted to the cause and as Pablo's loyalty wanes, she becomes the moral center of the group. Soon Jordan finds himself caught between the two, even as his own resolve is tested by his growing feelings for Maria.
For Whom the Bell Tolls combines two of the author's recurring obsessions: war and personal honor. The pivotal battle scene involving El Sordo's last stand is a showcase for Hemingway's narrative powers, but the quieter, ongoing conflict within Robert Jordan as he struggles to fulfill his mission perhaps at the cost of his own life is a testament to his creator's psychological acuity. By turns brutal and compassionate, it is arguably Hemingway's most mature work and one of the best war novels of the 20th century. --Alix Wilber
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Vivid portrayal of the morals of people involved in war
Note that this review is for the audio book version of this novel. The narrator was Campell Scott. The audio quality was excellent and the narrator did a good job; he spoke with a slight Spanish accent, which seemed to fit well with the narrative. He did some characterizations with his voice, but not much compared to other narrators I've listened to.
This is the second time that I have read this novel; the first time was over 30 years ago in high school. It's amazing to me how differently I looked at this book this time around. The first time I read it; I saw it as an adventure story with some interesting character development. The second time around I read it as a fascinating look at how war brings out the best and worst in people.
I feel that Hemingway accurately captured how certain people would act in a civil war; the cruelty by some and acts of courage by others. In all cases, the characters were in a situation where there were no great options. He also accurately showed that there are good people on both sides of a conflict; that soldiers do suffer by taking the lives of others.
As a Spanish speaker; I enjoyed Hemingway's use of language. Most of the unique use of English is actually a direct literal translation of Spanish. I hadn't heard the phrases directly translated that way before, but immediately recognized them as common Spanish slang.
This is a book worth reading; you will learn that life is not always black and white.
Rating:  - Moments of perfection
As a huge fan of The Old Man and the Sea, I was very excited about reading this novel. I was therfore surprised to find that parts of this book I struggled through and found slow moving.
In particular, the love story between Robert and Maria did nothing to move me, finding Maria not so much the tragic heroin, but a woman so obsessed with the happiness of her lover that her personality is lossed in a need to please. So much so for me, that I found it difficult to understand why Robert would fall so madly in love with her.
Characters such as Pilar who show a more outspoken independence were more appealing to me. Pilar's description of the revolution of the small town coordinated by Pablo was a magic moment in the book. This narrative was the kind of writing I was expecting and was dissapointed that this was for me the highest part of the book, and so early in the novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it as a great read, it just didn't quite live up to the expectations i had assigned to it.
Rating: - One of the Best Historical Novel's I've Read...
Yes, I said "historical novel," because, even in H.'s day, history passed by very quickly. It's this novel A Farewell to Aarms, and The Old Man and the Sea that, for me, are the real crown jewels of Hemingway's output. Even if you're just interested in the historical aspect of the The Spanish Civil War, you'll get much out of this work. There isn't much more I can add that hasn't already been said.
Rating:  - Slow, but good and artful
The author's style is strong and detailed, but with so little happening over so many pages, I found myself becoming impatient with the story. Perhaps just a sign of the times and my own personal taste, I put the book down after reading only half of it. In reflection, the characters, the settings and the building of the story line are all quite beautiful as a whole, but the pace was just too stretched out for me to endure. Perhaps I'll pick it up again sometime.
Rating: - Typical Hemingway
This is my third experience with Hemingway, and while I fully expect to complete the entire Hemingway collection, I can't quite find it within myself to award five stars to any of the works I've read to date.
In each of the novels (The Sun Also Rises and Farewell to Arms being the other two) I've been entranced at times by the hauntingly beautiful writing, however there have been periods where the story drags, where the almost stream of consciousness style grinds the action to a halt. Not long enough to kill the story, but enough to impact the overall reading experience.
This novel is set in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, the idealogical precursor to the Fascist/Communist clash soon to come on the Eastern Front of World War II. The story primarily involves American Spanish professor and converted Republican partisan, Robert Jordan and the 72 hours he spends with an anti-fascist partisan force in the hours preceding a Republican offensive.
The characters crafted by Hemingway are fascinating, most specifically the partisan leaders Pablo and Pilar. The interaction between the rebels and with Jordan are spellbinding. The character of Pilar is especially haunting and her story of the execution of the fascists (a/k/a prominent citizens) in her small Spanish village is some of the best and most captivating writing I've ever read.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, this 470 page novel is about 100 pages too long, as it is interspersed with periods ... Read More
Browse for similar items by category:
|
