For Whom the Bell Tolls

By: Ernest Hemingway

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1952 Ernest Hemingway (P)2006 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This is the best book Ernest Hemingway has written, the fullest, the deepest, the truest. It will, I think, be one of the major novels in American literature." (The New York Times Book Review)

death, love and a war story

Wonderful, descriptive writing. There is much about death and about love while telling a war story. Hemingway drags out the story to a great deal and ends it in an exciting, moving way at a much greater pace. A great book to read but tedious for the first half.

One of the best, all time

Brilliant. Literature at its best. Hemingway develops characters with a rare understanding of humanity and a wisdom of the world. His love of Spain and his knowledge of the European wars of the early 20th century are only surpassed by the excellence of his storytelling. Simple. Classic.

great voice

Love it, the readers voice particularly appropriate. handles some of the more grammatically peculiar Hemingway phrasing very well.

The temptation to stop will come, youll regret it.

About halfway through the book I found the time between listens getting longer and longer. Fortunately, I did not stop altogether for I would have missed one of the most wonderful climaxes in writing history. This was due to the slow pace that Hemmingway set at first and to the time he takes to develop his characters fully before pushing toward the end of the book.

I read a piece of advice suggesting to read up a little on the Spanish War before getting into the book so that you can imagine some of the territory he is describing more fully and to add to the seriousness of the entire journey; I will second that advice. I was in Barcelona during most of the book and during the time of Catalunia's decision to secede from Spain, and to vote for independence despite the risk of being beaten by the police Madrid sent over. This added to the intensity and richness of the entire story as a whole and inspired me to immerse myself even more into the culture of Cataluna.

Fantastic book and an unforgettable story.

Detailed and beautiful

Cambell Scott does an exquisite job of bringing these chatacters alive. Salud Hemingway. Salud Scott!

Great listen. Should have read this years ago.

I never gave Hemingway a chance to impress.
Will be listening to more of his work now.

The cutting insults exchanged and attributed to Spanish culture are sometimes shocking and other times halarious.

Performance was outstanding! English, Spanish, and French along with accents and gender -- all great.

If Hemingway lived through half of what he writes about his choice to end his life, while still troubling, is somehow less so.

Really liked it except the ending

I really wish I knew the ending of how Robert ended up. Where did he go, did he live?

Worth the listen

At times this story seemed to drag and bore me, but the writing was beautiful and the last chapter especially was so rich. The thoughts and feelings conveyed seemed true and real and for that this was worth the read (or listen). The narrator was great, though maybe a tad dry. It was fun to listen to the Spanish accent.

GREAT BOOK

ANOTHER GREAT LISTEN! WELL READ AND THE STORY HOLDS YOU TILL THE END. ONE OF THE BETTER HEMINGWAY ENDINGS.

it was ok

the whole story about a bridge, maybe I'm not getting it. some parts were sleepers, some were intriguing, probably not recommending this story.