Michael Leask

By Ernest Hemingway

Book Review

I was excited to borrow this book from the library. It’s Hemingway! He is a prolific author with all the gravitas his name contains. A classic and the name of a Metallica song. This must be a story that I need to read.

I was wrong.

I was disappointed, to say the least. I quit after eight chapters; it was so dull. It may have been interesting literature back when it was first released, but I couldn’t find anything to make me want to read it.

Each chapter didn’t really have a point, and if it did, it was too minuscule to further the narrative. For example, dialogue like:

“What is that?” Character A said.
“This? It’s a pen,” Character B said.
“Just a pen?”
“That’s right.”
“Any colours to this pen?”
“Blue.”
“Not black.”
Etc.

In my example, the reader may wonder if this pen has something to do with furthering the story’s plot. It does not. It’s just a pen.

Pages and pages of this type of dialogue were in these chapters. Discussing the details of how the main character reached in his bag and tied it up in a thick paragraph did nothing to add to the scene or need for the reader to know this information.

I don’t get why it’s considered a classic or has earned the right of famous literature. If one wants to read about war, I suggest the novel All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I understand For Who the Bell Tolls is set in World War 2, and the latter is in World War 1, but All Quiet on the Western Front is a far more gripping story that delves deep into what it’s like to be in war.

In the end, if the reader likes For Whom the Bell Tolls, great, but it’s not worth the time.