For Whom The Bell Tolls: Book Review

I recently re-read "The Old Man and the Sea", probably for the 3rd time, when I decided to try another Hemingway novel. My Uncle Cordy gave me 4 or 5 of Hemingway's books years ago, I am just now getting around to them. Hemingway could write! This book is genius. FWTBT is a great example of prose well written, excellent fore-shadowing (even with the title), dissection of war (and its uselessness), depiction of human interaction in a confined scene (here folks of varying cultures are thrown together to carry out a secret mission). At first I was thrown by the writing style (Thee's and Thou's for example), but came to appreciate how it was handled. Trying to maintain a Spanish flair, formal vs informal, almost as though it was translated from Spanish? Guerrilla fighters trying to maintain respect amongst themselves? Drawing from the "thee" ending John Donne's poem? I don't know, but Hemingway wasn't afraid to experiment. As I read on I barely noticed it. The dialog frequently starts with Spanish and dips into English translation, or at times a paraphrasing.

Even the "self censorship" ('obscenity this' and 'obscenity that') instead of using curse words started to make sense. When actual curse words were used in other places they carried a greater impact.

To borrow from physics, if the universe can be on the head of a pin (¿how many Angels can dance on the head of a pin?) then the life of Robert Jordan can easily span the 3 days covered in the book. Love (albeit with an under-developed character, Maria), cowardice (Pablo), bravery, self reflection, strength and wisdom (Pilar)... I could probably go on, but will just say put this on your TBR list.

I may turn next to "A Farewell To Arms”. Though it may be a while.

Ciao!