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For Whom the Bell Tolls

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For Whom the Bell Tolls

By: Ernest Hemingway
Narrated by: Campbell Scott
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About this listen

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.
Classics Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military War Civil War Heartfelt Military
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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)

What listeners say about For Whom the Bell Tolls

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

For whom the bell tolls

I decided to try this one as I wanted to experience some of the classics that have passed me by. All I can is 'its a masterpiece' what have I been missing! I'm going through all his work now-can't get enough he's a genius. So believable, so much detail without ever being boring, so tender yet describes man's inhumanity to man so graphically yet without a hint of gratuitousness. Buy it you'l love it. The narrator is absolutely suburb and reads the work as if he has read it a thousand times and knows it intimately and thoroughly loves it, which gives the whole experience a ***** rating.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

perfecty read

I've read this 8 times and was impressed by the delivery here, perfectly weighted

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Captivating and thought provoking

in this book Hemingway captures what seems to be the true experience of war. Similar to "saving private Ryan" but more intimate, and very perspicaciously written.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good reading but he needs mis pronounces shone

the guy says shone weirdly. apart from that it's a great story and a decent performance. Ivanhoe is up next. wish me luck

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Tragic yet beautiful

I don’t enjoy books about war but chose this because I am still haunted by a passage in one of Hemingway’s other novels. At first I found this a hard listen but the writing is wonderful and the narrator perfect and I was soon swept along.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful mix of Love and War.

Equally gripping in tenderness and brutality. I loved the ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ language. It added to the charm.
Maria capable of loving Roberto after such cruel treatment by the hands of the fascists.
I enjoyed this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Totally engrossing

Would you consider the audio edition of For Whom the Bell Tolls to be better than the print version?

The narration was first class, and totally suited the characters and setting for the novel

Which character – as performed by Campbell Scott – was your favourite?

Robert of course

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Couldn't wait to put it on in the car

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best books I read

Everything: plot, characters. Keeps you focused and engaged throughout. Very dramatic.

Good quality of narration too.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellently written and very well preformed.

A brilliantly moving exploration of humanity, death, love and ideology set against the back drop of a band of guerrilla fighters trying to blow a bridge during the Spanish Civil War.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Gripping story for a finish.

Takes a while to develop all of the characters and the back story, but stick with it. It's worth it

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