For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway is much, much longer than The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell to Arms, and yet it covers a shorter time period, only about four days. The effect of this is that we seem to encounter every action, spoken word, and even private thought of those days. This is deliberate, as one of the themes is that a lifetime can be condensed into important events that last less than a week. The novel is more plot-driven than other Hemingway texts I've read, and the outcome of those four days is an important question that emerges early.

I really like Hemingway. By my estimation, The Sun Also Rises is a rare perfect novel. The short story collection In Our Time is right there as well. Some of his later work varies in quality a bit, and while For Whom the Bell Tolls may not be perfect (a little too much plot, some awkward dialogue/translation choices), it's still one of the best books in all American literature. A secondary character named Pilar is among the great voices in Hemingway's work, and her storytelling contains some of the most beautiful and challenging vignettes I've ever read.