Thoughts on ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’

Overview

Hemingway writes so well that every time I put the book down, I felt a twinge of guilt for leaving the characters, my friends, comrades in a freeze frame. At every hiatus, I imagined the scene halting like a video on pause, and the likes of Robert Jordan and Pilar and Anselmo and Maria were stuck just waiting for me to return for the continuation of their tale. Hemingway’s untethered style of writing which placed the conveyance of thought, emotion and relatability above conventional form made this an endearing, engrossing read that swept me up in its dilemmas and torment. I don’t think I have ever read a book that tapped into the human psyche in such a genuine and authentic way; Hemingway did this by deliberating in granular detail. Every nanometer of thought was expressed, every twitch was recognised, every flaw was examined, the small details that the subconscious usually picks up and takes for granted in real life scenarios, was vocalised in this book. These are true marks of wisdom, not just great writing, and it’s as if Hemingway was a psycho analyst or a psychiatrist who had the ability to unravel a forgotten truth within you through his words.

The Granular Detail

The granular detail helped turn a 3-day affair into what felt like an epoch of drama, and I guess that was partly the point — Robert Jordan had lived a lifetime within those days. Beyond that, it kept me physically in the scene, coercing me to experience it all as if I were there. The precise portrayal of every signal…