For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls is not really my kind of book, normally. I am not a big Hemingway fan nor am I a fan of war stories. However, in my quest to read some classics that I had never read before, I picked it up a few weeks ago, and it has taken me a while to get it read. I had a little trouble with the language, but mostly it took me a long time to read it because it is not a book that is easy to stop and start. Reading a chapter or two at night (the way I normally read books) is not a good way to read this one. It is not easy reading and therefore hard to constantly pick up and down without losing some of the understanding. I was at Russell's a couple of weekends ago, and I was able to read for several long blocks of time. During those periods, I understood the book better, enjoyed it more, and wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. But when I got back home and to my old method of reading, I once again had trouble picking it up at night and lost some of my interest.

That being explained, I did like the book, although I did not love the book. I liked the love story of Roberto and Maria, and I really wanted to know if they would stay together. I wanted to know if Robert and friends were really going to blow up the bridge or not. I did not particularly like the way the book ended, but was not surprised at it. I have to admit that the ending, forshadowing Robert's death, was true to the story and answered for me who "thee" is. ("Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee" is a rough approximation of John Donne's poem.) Of course there are several other characters for whom the bell tolled!

This is what I found most perplexing about the book: there is a class set of them in the library! Why was this book with its obvious sex scenes (not explicit, but pretty close!) ever assigned to high school students? I was sickened when Maria describes her rape and amazed that a class of high school kids were ever assigned this book. Maybe I am too old-fashioned, but I could just foresee a lot of parent complaints and I personally would not have wanted my child to read this when he was a teenager. Don't worry; I never would have complained about it or not let him read it if he had been assigned it or wanted to read it on his own. I'm just saying that I would not have liked it.

I will keep a few of these books for general check out, but discard the rest of them. It was a good story, and I will be watching the movie soon and will post again.