Title: For Whom the Bells Toll

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Genre: Classics

Publisher: Arcturus Publishing

Format: Paperback

Pages: 495

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

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 of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan’s love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo’s last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise.

“If the function of a writer is to reveal reality,” Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, “no one ever so completely performed it.” Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author’s previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.

Review:

This book was pretty good. It wasn’t riveting, or heart clenching, or on the edge of my seat I’m so into it, but it was good and the story and characters were interesting enough to keep me engaged!

The book is about the Spanish Civil War and an American soldier who becomes involved. Robert Jordan meets up with a band of guerrilla fighters to blow up a bridge. I thought it was interesting how the author chose to call the character by his first and last name throughout the whole book.

One thing I didn’t like is how long and drawn out some of the parts were. Like some of the explanations could have been shortened. It made me bored in a few areas! But I still enjoyed reading a book on the subject, especially as Hemingway was a reporter in Spain during the war! So he definitely provides an interesting perspective to the war! Maybe he was trying to show his perspective through the main character, as Robert Jordan is an American!

Overall, I enjoyed my first Hemingway!

Happy reading!