Hemingway at the peak of his powers creates passages that will burn themselves into your mind.

3.5 Stars for For Whom the Bell Tolls (audiobook) by Ernest Hemingway read by Campbell Scott.

The luck of an American professor to find love on the battlefield during the Spanish Civil War. This seems like an overly romanticized idea that an American would go to Spain and fight the fascists for the Soviet Union.

En “Por quién doblan las campanas”, Hemingway se vale de la guerra civil española para hacer lo que mejor sabe: seducir al lector. Su método es tan simple como significativo. No narra acontecimientos pomposos de la historia ni sucesos memorables de esos que se convierten en monumentos para los libros de historia. En cambio, relata la sencillez de la gente de a pie, madres, hijos, campesinos, barberos y profesores llevados a la sinrazón por la bestialidad de la guerra armada por esos figurones uniformados que adornan con sus efigies las fracturas históricas que ellos motivaron a fuerza de neurosis histéricas, y de los que sacaron réditos de usura protagónica, relegando en el olvido los sacrificios de los pobres diablos del día a día.

Si algo tiene de didáctico este libro es el recordarnos que la burocracia es el enemigo número uno de ese pueblo secuestrando por las ideologías más descaradas: el nazismo, el fascismo y el comunismo. Sin embargo, su narración está tan encarnada en la humanidad, que uno no sale de semejante lectura sin haber experimentado alguna de las formas más profundas de la empatía y la compasión.

Leí este libro con la angustia permanente del que sabe que los protagonistas van a perder. La conexión entre el título, el epígrafe y el desarrollo de la trama, me iban anunciando que no debía encariñarme con ningún personaje porque al final me dolería su muerte. De hecho, sentía que ese hilo que tejía su fatal destino estaría irremediable y misteriosamente conectado con mi vida.

این ناقوس مرگ کیست یا زنگ‌ها برای که به صدا در می‌آیند نام رمانی است از ارنست همینگوی که در سال ۱۹۴۰ منتشر شد. این رمان روایت داستان رابرت جوردن سرباز آمریکایی است که در میانه جنگ‌های داخلی اسپانیا به بریگاد بین‌المللی پیوسته‌است. وی به عنوان متخصص مواد منفجره وظیفه یافته‌است پلی را که بر سر راه دشمن قرار دارد منفجر کند.

Written in 1940, after Hemingway travelled to Spain three times during the Spanish Civil War as a reporter.
Most people will know it tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American, former Spanish teacher who has volunteered as a guerilla. He is tasked with connecting with Spanish guerilla's hiding out in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range between Madrid and Segovia. His goal is to dynamite a bridge, to coincide with an attack being planned by the Republican Army against the Fascists.

Hemingway's story takes place over a short timespan - around 4 days, has a limited amount of characters, and is mostly written from Robert Jordan's perspective.
People seem to love it or hate it. For me I enjoyed reading this, and I see from a quick look down my 'friends' and 'following' that they almost exclusively liked it - a few 3***, more 4**** and some 5*****.

Many hold this up as Hemingway's best. I find it hard to review and even rate classic fiction by the big hitters, but for me I enjoyed reading this.
For me, 4****.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica

Make his fight on the hill in the early day
Constant chill deep inside
Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey
On they fight, for they're right, yes, but who's to say?
For a hill, men would kill, why? They do not know
Stiffened wounds test their pride
Men of five, still alive through the raging glow
Gone insane from the pain that they surely know

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

Take a look to the sky just before you die
It's the last time you will
Blackened roar, massive roar, fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry
Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery
He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see what will be, blinded eyes to see

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

Ne znam, nešto mi je nedostajalo. Možda prevelika očekivanja, možda pogrešna očekivanja. Nota melanholije koja me je iznenadila u Sunce se ponovo radja, ovde je gotovo uvek smeštena izmedju redova, i to ne posebno ubedljivo. Mnogo je više onog avanturističnog, onog mačo, onog što sam i isprva očekivao od Hemingveja. Ali i kao takav mi je nekako razočaravajuć (u poredjenju sa Starcem). Kao avantura, ovaj roman nije ništa posebno. Kao antiratni, kao ratni roman, takodje se nešto ne ističe. Kao ljubavni je loš (iako shvatam kontekst).

I dalje postoje momenti briljijantnosti doduše. Hemingvej je strašno vešt pisac individualnih likova, (ali ne toliko i odnosa izmedju njih) i svaki je dovoljno diferenciran da ne bude bled, zaboravan. Dijalog im ne dozvoljava. A i za toliko čuvenog ekonoma reči, i dalje ume da napiše divno liričnu rečenicu. Ali žao mi je što se nije više bavio introspekcijom i oni retki momenti mi nisu bili dovoljni. Možda neki drugi put.

3+

For Whom the Bell Tolls… a few of my friends joked with me when I said I was reading it by saying “spoiler alert…. It tolls for thee”. Yeah yeah - Nice try - but Hemingway gets this John Donne reference out of the way right away in the intro. This is actually my third Hemingway story. My first was A Farewell to Arms (I liked the name Catherine from this book and named my daughter the same). Next, in 2019 (much later) I read The Old Man and the Sea. Fast forward a bit and consecutively I read Vonnegut’s Timequake - which mentioned both A Farewell to Arms && The Old Man and the Sea… followed by Blake Crouch’s Wayward which mentioned The Sun Also Rises. I took the three Hemingway references in two books as a sign I needed to work another of his into my reading list… So it goes… sorry still thinking about Vonnegut I guess

Complicated and disturbing, yet told in Hemingway's simple, journalistic prose.

Are you ready? I like Pablo

Bulls, drink , woman and a father who committed suicide. Yes this book has the most Hemingway in it

I will start by saying that the plot here was thin and dragged out over a big book. That was annoying. On the other hand this is the first time where I find Hemingway explore his ideas and feelings in regarding of life, death , love and social justice. Hemingway really loved Spain

The plot again, yes it’s dragged but I think this resulted in knowing the characters very well and to care for them when the mission starts ( eventually! )

Not my favorite Hemingway but it sure is the most Hemingway.Maybe along side with A Movable Feast.
It is good and worth reading

2.5

یک جای کار می‌لنگه

من نسخه صوتی کتاب رو گوش کردم که از روی ترجمه "وحید نامور" اجرا شده و این ترجمه ظاهرا سانسورش خیلی زیاده و دو پا رفته وسط کتاب!

Brutally realistic story set in the Spanish Civil War. This book covers almost every human emotion and condition. Unbelievably gripping and immersive narrative. What a masterpiece.