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| For Whom the Bell Tolls | 
 enlarge | Author: Ernest Hemingway
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $4.75
You Save: $10.25 (68%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  (269 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1836
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0684803356
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780684803357
ASIN: 0684803356
Publication Date: July 1, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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 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.
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 264 more reviews...
 The best of Hemingway November 7, 2008
Filled with complex and interesting characters and written in Hemingway's characteristically simple, but effective style, For Whom the Bell Tolls is Hemingway at his best. There are few novels I would recommend more highly.
Hemingway's fascinating characters, from the American, Robert Jordan, to Pablo and Pilar, often referred to "the woman of Pablo" (if there can be one criticism of Hemingway, it is that his female characters are often simple; however, this is not true of Pilar), make this novel so wonderful, along with Hemingway's vivid descriptions of everything from the characters themselves to the horrors of war (one scene that comes to mind particularly is Hemingway's description of the execution of a group of fascists, who are beaten to death before being hurled from a cliff).
Although it is not a tale for the faint-hearted (forgive the cliche), For Whom the Bell Tolls is arguably Hemingway's greatest work. Anyone who enjoys Hemingway, McCarthy, or Faulkner should enjoy this novel.
 Stylistically superb but lacking in action and thin on the background of the Spanish Civil War November 1, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I began reading For Whom The Bell Tolls directly after finishing a particularly bad modern novel. At first, For Whom... was a breath of fresh air: no long, run-on sentences; no excessive adverbs in the dialog tags; not a whole lot of meaningless adjectives, etc. The dialog was crisp and terse and enjoyable, and the setting was captivating.
But then... nothing happens. For a really long time. And all of the flashbacks via thought and story start to get confusing. At times, I wasn't sure if the story was in the present or past; in the thoughts of the protagonist or the speech of another character. And speaking of characters, four of them are strong and compelling: Robert Jordan (the protagonist), Maria (his love interest), Pilar (a tough old woman), and Pablo (a once-great but now tarnished soldier). A fifth character of note is the Gypsy, but the other characters in this ensemble cast are largely indistinguishable from one another.
One more criticism: I was really hoping to get a better understanding of the Spanish Civil War and its politics. Maybe I did. But Robert Jordan and his cadre are not hardline Communists nor anarchists (they have special contempt for the latter) but "republicans" in their fight against the Fascists. Not a lot of background is given as to the roots of this conflict or the underlying motivations of each camp.
Overall, I feel I have been enriched by reading this book, and I like Hemingway's writing style (this is my first Hemingway since reading The Old Man and the Sea in 9th grade), but all in all, I understand why this has been called one of the "10 Books Not to Read in your Lifetime." Also: Did I have an edited version? What was with all of this "I 'obscenity' in your milk," etc.?
A Must-Read October 2, 2008
This tackles several questions: How war shapes men, past and present and what a real hero is.
Set in the Spanish Civil War, the story revolves around the experiences of a volunteer fighter, an American college professor named Robert Jordan. Filled with idealism at first, watch him reconsider as he faces the prospect of his own death.
One of Hemingway's finest.
Heminway is a GOD ! September 19, 2008
Hemingway is the best American author ever. He says more in fewer words than anyone else. His descriptions are so vivid and concrete and his stories are moving. Simply unrivaled.
For Whom the Bell Tolls September 13, 2008
This book should be a "must read" for everyone. It is one of the top twenty-five books of modern times.
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