This is the second reading of this book for me, since from about 40 years ago, a favorite, too. Amazing how much I can recall and how much I have forgotten!

The story begins during the Spanish Civil War, with the Republicans versus the Fascists, in 1937. Robert Jordan, an American is there to fight on the side of the Republicans and the guerillas that back them. He is given a task by the Republican general of blowing up a bridge controlled by the fascists, but only after the Republicans engage the fascists in a battle.

To do this task, Robert Jordan needs a few men among the guerrillas and an old man Anselmo guides him toward one of the guerrilla camps. At the camp, Jordan meets Pablo the camp’s commander, whom he doesn’t take to, but his wife Pilar, fiftyish and very astute, impresses him. He also meets a few other men such as Augustin, Rafael, Fernando, Andres and Eladio brothers, and old Primitivo. He also meets Maria who helps Pilar in the kitchen. Maria is a young woman who escaped from the Fascists when the train they were in were blown up. Maria was raped by the Fascists. Robert Jordan and Maria are drawn to each other, almost immediately.

Robert Jordan and Anselmo go to inspect the bridge without being seen. When they come back, Pablo says he doesn’t want to help blow the bridge, and Rafael advises Jordan to kill Pablo.

There is another guerrilla group nearby, that of El Sordo’s. The next morning Pilar along with Maria, lead Jordan to that camp. El Sordo agrees to help, but it is a dangerous prospect as the bridge will have to be blown during daytime. On the way back to their camp, they stop in the forest where Maria and Jordan make love.

After they return, a drunken Pablo creates disturbance, which ends up with Augustin hitting him. The others in the camp also agree that Jordan should kill Pablo after he goes off, but when Pablo returns, he says he changed his mind and he’ll help. Then, Maria comes to Jordan that night while he sleeps outside.

At the camp early next morning, Robert Jordan shoots a Fascist cavalryman, waking up everyone. After that they hear fighting from afar, which is Fascists attacking and fighting and their planes bombing and killing everyone at El Sordo’s camp.

This is only the beginning of the novel. The rest is bloody, gloomy, grim, with a lot of the people getting killed brutally. In fact, this is one of the bloodiest stories Hemingway has ever written that I have read.

Yet, the author’s skill in telling this story, his insight into the human psyche, and the clear cut prose but still very poetic are worth every cold-blooded killing and atrocity in the book.

In the story are repeating motifs like animals such as rabbits, and Jordan also calls Maria his rabbit. The omens such as the calamity Pilar sees in Robert Jordan’s palm but keeps mum about it, which as a sign, pointing directly to the way the novel will end, and the uncomfortable forest floor with pine needles and spruce branches.

Quite a few overlapping themes show up in the novel as well, such as the wonder and the beauty of love under the worst possible conditions, the shaky relationships of people with one another when in trouble, the loss of innocence in war for anyone who enters it under any circumstance, the loss of idealism and the heartbreak of an idealist when he finds out the side he was fighting for might not be the good side, and the strengths and the break-ability of alliances and friendships.

What I liked most was Robert Jordan unshakable belief in the ideal romantic love and his sacrifice at the end. I think that alone brought a certain softness to a very harsh and disturbing story, making the novel an all-time winner.

Do I recommend this book to others? Absolutely. As difficult as the plot is, it will be a literary experience to read it for anyone who hasn’t read it yet.

everything, even the beheading of the corpses

is Ernest Hemingway.

It will be an experience you'll love and regret at the same time.

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Created Oct 16, 2020 at 6:58pm • Submit your own review...