For Whom The Bell Tolls - Sept 2022 Book Group discussion thread

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Serendippily
Serendippily
Sep 2022
1:33am, 27 Sep 2022
26,666 posts
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Serendippily
I obscenity skim read this book at the end. The earth moving with the little rabbit made me snort with delight: Pilar tale of the take over of the facists and the siege of el sordo and Andres long fight through bureaucracy to get a message through and lots of little exchanges with Anselmo I liked a lot.

I was slightly confused as to why Pablo shot his side at the end - i gather to use them and then use their horses - it seemed a bit over complicated. There was a lot of sections on bull fighting and peasants and gypsies that was over flowery - and I like Tolstoy who agonises over similar themes for much longer - but then I skim read quite a lot of him too.

So all in all - some memorable characters and sections. Glad I’ve read it. It was worth reading. But I didn’t love it and I don’t want to read any more Hemingway either.
LazyDaisy
LazyDaisy
Oct 2022
4:44pm, 3 Oct 2022
36,845 posts
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LazyDaisy
I'm really bored with this book. The dialogue, which I suppose is meant to imply conversation in Spanish, just reads to me like a badly translated O level 'unseen' (do they still have those in GCSE?) It's all very slow but maybe it'll pick up a bit. Right now I feel as if I'm slogging through it because not to, would make me a philistine who doesn't understand how wonderful Hemingway is.

I'll be back if and when I finish it :-)
Sharkie
Sharkie
Oct 2022
4:51pm, 3 Oct 2022
20,383 posts
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Sharkie
( LittleDonkeyDaisy - I have never ever liked Hemingway. I read this and A Farewell to Arms in my teens when I was young and impressionable and didn't rate him then. A couple of tries in my twenties - I bought A Moveable Feast so I could read for myself what he thought of the far superior Fitzgerald - and I disliked him even more. Am happy to be philistine, but I don't think so. He's so FOND of himself!)
PeteFastFeet
PeteFastFeet
Oct 2022
12:56pm, 4 Oct 2022
166 posts
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PeteFastFeet
I have to say Hemingway is my favourite author and I am a big fan of him and his work. His writing style often relies on the "iceberg" theory where he doesn't write everything down and the reader has to interpret the emotions and events. A good route into his writing are his short stories.
LazyDaisy
LazyDaisy
Oct 2022
7:44pm, 9 Oct 2022
36,886 posts
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LazyDaisy
I said I'd be back when I finished this, but I've given up on it. Half way through and its style of narrative is just too laboured to convey true tension or emotion for my taste. I don't know about 'iceberg' PFF, it felt more like a tedious blanket that muffled everything. I couldn't make myself care about any of them because of this 'muffling'. Perhaps I gave up too soon but life's too short and there are too many books to read to give this one any more of my time.

It was an interesting choice by Columba as I wouldn't even have thought about reading it otherwise; but now I know that he's not for me :-)
GregP
GregP
Oct 2022
6:58am, 10 Oct 2022
139,680 posts
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GregP
Nice post LazDa
LindsD
LindsD
Nov 2022
8:30pm, 13 Nov 2022
57,944 posts
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LindsD
My post is basically LD's. I did TONS of Hemingway short stories when I taught English in Germany and, although I didn't hate them, they left me a bit cold. I read two chapters of this (in six weeks) and just cba with remembering who is who and with the style. I feel a bit guilty as I feel like I 'should' persevere, and almost never give up on books, but my mental health is so much better when I'm enjoying my reading, so I gave up. Maybe I'll try The Old Man and the Sea.

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About This Thread

Maintained by McGoohan
"It was the bells, the bells what made me deaf, Mary Poppins." So says, Quasimodo the chimney sweep in The Importance of Being Earnest Hemingway.

That magnum opus was made availabe in condendensed form as For Whom The Bell Tolls, and it is in that form that you should read and review it. Go on, forthwith! Fifthwith!

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