For Whom the Bell Tolls
Hemingway uses special "literary techniques" in For whom the Bell Tolls that rather than enhancing the reading experience detract from it. Please see the list below. The ending is totally soppy. You learn nothing about the Spanish Civil War, and a better explanation for why Robert Jordan decided to fight with the Republicans should have been given. The scenes depicting physical attraction were bland and insipid. Some dislike the macho behavior of Hemingway's characters, but this doesn't bother me. I see it as typical of the times, and Pilar is the best character of this novel. She is a strong, intelligent, no-nonsense woman! What remains undeniably true though is that Hemingway can draw a scene so you see, hear, smell and feel it in your pores. It is interesting to see what goes through a soldier's mind, but there is so much wrong with this book I cannot justify a better rating.
I listened to the audiobook. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Scott Campbell's narration, except that a few bomb blasts fell flat. Even a good narrator cannot save a bad book.
May I suggest A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises instead?!
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Through 1/2 of chapter 10:
I very much enjoy the description of the landscapes and events. I like the strength and clarity of the prose. The dialogs have stopped bothering me. I am in chapter 10 and what happens is truly moving. You feel as the villagers' mood changes from controlled hostility to frenzied anger to drunken brutality. There is a massacre in the town.
Through Hemingway's usage of the words thee and thou, I understand now that he is simply giving the reader more information about the relationship between the individuals speaking. It doesn't disturb me in the slightest any more. In fact I like it! It serves a purpose.
(Please note that by the end of the book I was totally fed up with this.)
I am in fact totally enjoying the book now. I have come to care for some of the characters, Pilar in particular. There is emotion in the book. There is the theme of what makes a person fight in a war. Motivation is not the same for all, and thus one person's behavior will be very different from another's.
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Through chapter 7:
This is what is bugging me:
1. The dialogs are NOT in the least believable. None of them.
2. Swear words are replaced with "unprintable word" or "obscenity". This is ridiculous and disrupts the prose! "F*/k you" will be written, "obscenity you", for example. Crazy!
3. In the 30s people did not speak with the terms "thy", "thee", "thou art". This is driving me nuts. WHY has Hemingway done this?
(Answer: Kim explained this to me. It is to show the relationship between the people speaking. Please see comments 21-22 below!)
4. Robert Jordan is holier than "thou" (:0)), and it drives me crazy. SUCH a perfect soldier with SUCH motivation, and he is SO devoted to his job.
5. To top it all off the love between Maria and Robert Jordan jumps out of nowhere. The same day they meet they are in bed, no, actually a sleeping bag, and then she says in one of those above mentioned dialogs that she doesn't know how to kiss. Jeez! (OK, if one is a little patient an explanation is given.)
6. And what is this with calling Robert Jordan Robert Jordan?. Everyone else goes by one name, usually a nickname!
I will persevere. Why? Well because I DO enjoy Hemingway's depictions of places and events. They become moving and laden with feeling. You feel the immensity of those airplanes lined up in rows. You hear the gurgling stream. There is something that draws me to Hemingway's writing; it is just the dialogs that irritate me.
I LIKED A Farewell to Arms. I hope this turns around for me.
