I have mixed feelings about Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favourite stories, but generally I think I have difficulty with what I've heard of his personality, and in general his attitude to women in life and print.
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a great war novel. We follow Robert Jordan, who is an American volunteer fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He is sent to blow up a bridge, and for this reason is attached temporarily to a group of guerrilla fighters behind enemy lines. They are a motley crew of mostly men and two women. The younger woman is a love interest for our hero and is sickeningly and unbelievably sweet, pliable and naive. The relationship, and in particular its intensity, is vital to the plot, and there is something in Maria being so young and naive which is symbolic or says something about the situation. Nevertheless I found her difficult, some parts of her history vs. present hard to believe and generally wanted her to get a grip. The other female character, Pilar has a touch of caricature, but so do many of the other members of the guerrilla group. Apart from numerous references to how ugly she is, she is well and sympathetically drawn.
The novel feels genuine and somewhat realistic, not overly idealised or cynical. It looks at the individual, human experience of war and is thoroughly engaging. It focuses on individual experiences, lives and deaths rather than on battles or even concerns with ideology. We can feel the characters' fear and both a hope and hopelessness, a kind of resignation. When compared to Orwell's Homage to Catalonia there is no contest, For Whom.. is the better book by miles.
