(As of July 2012, I am selling a first-edition copy of this book through the rare-book service at my arts organization, the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com/rarebooks]. Here below is the description I wrote for its listing.)Written in the middle of World War Two and the winner of the 1945 Pulitzer Prize, this was just one of the many high points of the fascinating John Hersey's life, over the course of a long and eventful career. A missionary brat who learned to speak Chinese before he could speak English, he was eventually a Yale football star and once a private secretary to Sinclair Lewis, experiences which made him almost perfect to be a TIME magazine correspondent in Asia as well as Europe during the war, where among other heroics he survived four plane crashes and was commended by the Navy for evacuating freaking soldiers in Guadalcanal. He was most known in his own lifetime for the groundbreaking, hauntingly poetic reporting he did from the aftermath of Hiroshima, eventually assembled into an entire standalone issue of The New Yorker that officially kicked off both the term and era of "New Journalism," a public sensation (once read out loud by ABC Radio over two hours because the printers literally couldn't keep up with demand) that led directly to the first successes of other storytelling journalists like Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson a decade later. (Interestingly, New Yorker founder Harold Ross once called the publication of the Hiroshima issue the happiest moment of his professional life, while the event ruined Hersey's relationship with TIME co-founder Henry Luce, who felt that he should've offered it to sister publication Life magazine first*.)But before all that, though, was his first novel, 1944's A Bell for Adano, a thin fictionalization of an actual situation he stumbled across as a war correspondent during America's liberation of Italy. Set in one of the tiny Medieval fishing villages that dot the southern Italian coast, crucial as launching and resupply posts for the inward-bound Americans during the invasion, the book largely follows the fate of one Major Victor Joppolo, back home an Italian-American sanitation-department clerk in the Bronx but here the "temporary mayor" of Adano, essentially the mid-level officer in charge of such medium-term goals as rounding up all the remaining fugitive Fascists, replacing draconian local officials, getting the local judges and police working again, re-establishing infrastructure, food distribution, open commerce, etc. And that's essentially what the story is -- a charmingly slow-paced look at Joppolo's work in this chick-lit-worthy, impossibly magical little Mediterranean town, Hersey's point being to show people back home how the natural "get 'er done" resourcefulness of the average American, combined with the democratic freedoms that so many of us were dying for at that point in the war, repeated over and over in thousands of little situations like this one, was the key to the slow turn in tide that was happening in the war right around this time period.Although certainly "rah-rah U-S-A" in tone throughout, the obvious explanation for its Pulitzer win a year later, popular Broadway adaptation a year after that, and popular Hollywood movie a year after that, the book definitely has its fair share of darkness as well, moral ambiguity over how the town should even start approaching the job of punishing next-door-neighbors for being on the losing side of the war, and plenty of self-critical comments about the lousiness of some Americans over there; see for example the blustery "General Marvin," plainly modeled after real war hero General Patton but here presented as the story's main villain. An amazing start to an amazing career, and a war novel admired by both troops and citizens of the time, its low price here makes it a perfect acquisition for Hersey fans, WW2 buffs, and those compiling a collection of Pulitzer-winning first editions.*Oh, and yet more fascinating trivia about Hersey, a man who's been sadly forgotten by the culture at large and deserves to be re-discovered: he once won the National Jewish Book Award despite not being Jewish; a critical essay on the dullness of grammar school literary samplers directly inspired Dr. Seuss to write The Cat in the Hat; and in the late '60s Hersey became a passionate champion of anti-war protestors, the Black Panthers and other countercultural movements, all while serving as a Yale dean, owner of the school's bulldog mascot, and overseer of the campus's antique letterpress program. Wow!
A Bell for Adano by John HerseyNot my cup of teaComing on the footsteps of The Beach by Alex Garland it would have been difficult for The Bell to offer an equal satisfaction.But I must say that I did not like this novel and it might have been due to the circumstances or a pure failure to get its value.In other words, from here on the discourse will be rather negative and not just that, but I venture to say not interesting.If anyone is interested to read A Bell… and takes a note by chance, then the opinion has been expressed.From here on I try to make sense of what I have read and see what I can still get from this brief encounter.I stopped over this work because it won the Pulitzer Prize and with all my hostility I can still grasp why.The writing is interesting and funny- for a reader with a better vision and more relaxed than the undersigned, it can be wonderful.There are many passages that seen from a different perspective would prove rewarding and the read worthwhile.To me, it was rather lame, artificial and somehow without verisimilitude, even if this could well be my refusal to accept reality.Or I just plain reject what other critics and scholars much more dignified have acclaimed and praised in their reviews.I did not connect with almost any of the characters, starting with the hero, continuing with the former Nazis…And ending with the crowd, that instead of being amusing in its attitude-which a normal reader would appreciate- in my case it turned out to be rude, offensive and mob like, although I can see that it is probably wrong.There is a clear villain that made me wish to avoid reading about him- so he with the rest of the culprits mentioned above provoked a full stop about 30% into the book- and his crazy orders and murders.On the way to Adano, this idiot is going crazy because of the carts that oblige him to slow down so he orders his subordinates not only to push a vehicle off into the ditch, but to kill the innocent mule and to force all carts out of the city.This means that people will go hungry; they will have no water since everything is taken in with the carts.To offer a show of bad taste and black humor this is preventing me from getting the probable humanitarian message of the book--tWhy would they be concerned with food, since somewhere at the start we establish another priority-tThe bell and the spirit come on top of the needs of the bellyAnd what was all that fuss made by the new American- Italian supervisor of the city on what would be the most needed things?-tYou need someone to tell you that people need food?-tAnd that is the main priority?And then the drivers of the carts who come to talk about their issue and the danger that the city faces:-tYou could read about them with sympathy, even pity-tI though the passage annoying, with the music of the wheels…-tCome on, give me a break- the screeching ain’t no musicAnd then the administrator applying –in ups and downs – the well known quote and suggestion for people in a foreign land-tWhen in Rome…So he takes one habit that I know from here, because we also used to have it, and applies it to a stubborn man-tKiss your hand!Come to think of it, some of these passages are horrible for this reader and I am glad that I have abandoned reading through it.
What do You think about A Bell For Adano (1988)?
"A Bell for Adano" is a book that takes place in World War II. It is about an Italian Major who is sent to The Town of Adano to keep everything in order. The people of Adano had just been under the absolute rule of Moussilini. The Italian, Major Joppolo, goes into the town with a mindset and character that he hopes will help change the old ways of the Facists people and help the town prosper. Major Joppolo quickly began at his duties. Foremost, Joppolo had to establish himself. He recruited a couple men to be his advisors for the town. They had told them that the people of Adano were very sad. During the war, there city bell had been taken. The bell was very important to th people. "The bell was in the center of the town. All life revolved around it. The farmers in he country were wakened by it in the morning, the drivers of the carts knew when to start by it, the bakers baked by it, even we the churches depended on that bell more than our own bells." It told them the time of day. It gave them hope. Joppolo had his hands full, but Joppolo wasn't one to give up. His character shone through all of the problems. He was nice to everyone. He was fair to evryone. He let anyone come into his office and he would talk with them abou their issue or dillema. Joppolo was a very virtuous man. He was fair with the people. When one of the former aristocrats tried to cutthe Lazy Fata in line for a loaf of bread, he stood up and order him to the back because it was now a democracy. Personally, I liked the book because it was very interesting seeing how the Major dealed with the different people of the town. I also liked the fact that he was capable of handling the different personalities that were thrown at him.
—Nathan Maracle
John Hersey, a war correspondent during WWII, tells the story of Victor Joppolo, an American Major placed in charge of a town in southern Italy, during the American occupation of WWII. Acclaimed for its rich characterizations, the book was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1945, and later became a hit Broadway Play and a major motion picture. While its popularity at the time is likely due to the favorable light in which Hersey projects America and the ideal of Democracy, in contrast to the evil regime of Italy's fascism, the novel endures in the heart of Americana for its charming vignettes, candid characterizations, and compelling story line.Two plot lines run through the story. The first, that Mussolini removed the town's 700 year old bell that marked the time through out the day, and became literally the heart beat of the town. Mister Major immediately begins a search for the perfect replacement.The second brings about the Major's downfall. A cartman unwittingly drives his cart and mule through the middle of the road when General Marvin, based on General Patton who was known to be cruel though effective, comes barreling down the road. When the cartman fails to move his donkey and cart off the road, the General orders the cart overturned, the donkey shot, and that no carts shall be allowed on the roads. With in a day, the Major is confronted with a town that cannot conduct its trade, even receive water or food, and quickly overturns the General's order. An impulsive service man, whose feelings have been temporarily hurt by the Major, writes a report on the event, and orders it sent to the General. Everyone reading the report feels sympathetic to the Major and rather than destroying the report, forwards it to what might otherwise be a dead end. The reader follows the entertaining path that ultimately leads to the Major's removal and the bell's replacement.Love it.
—Rachel
Ms. Doering, Since my last letter, I have been reading a book called, A Bell for Adano. It is by John Hersey and as far as I can tell, the genre is Historical Fiction. It is 245 pages, even though I am on page 140. I chose this book solely on a recommendation by an English teacher by may or not be reading this. The story in General can be about many different things, I haven't even figured out what the author wants me to think about the book, or the content in the book. It is about many different things, including, the protagonists personal life, the city itself and possible the hardships of war and what it brings people to do. I can't think of a single thing that makes me think, because quite realistically, the whole book makes me think. It makes me think because I don't understand how one page connects to the very next page. It jumps around from one character, to the plot of the city, to random M.P's that have no influence what-so-ever. Characterization, or rather the lack of it stood out to me. Some people were written into the pages as transparent as a little boy with chocolate on his face that denies eating a piece of cake. Others, are so mixed and emotionally inconsistent, I don't know what to think of them, it makes me look deeper, and in a book like a tidal wave of mysteries, that's hard to do. I would not recommend this book to people like me. I like to be told what and who characters are. I like to know clean cut, "alright, look here young reader, this guy, yeah he's the good guy." I dislike when I can't even see where alliances lie, because it's quite realistic, and this isn't exactly a topic I'd like to see myself get put in. I dislike this book more than other books just because of the rant above. I am noticing that I am analyzing more than I was before. I think this is your doing as well. In class we pick out everything down to the way a character has a shoe untied. This even reflects in my listening to music, I can no longer look to the rhythm, but now I look at the meanings. This book was recommended so I have another goal down. I'm not reading as much as my goal says I should be, but I think that's because I have to think more about what the book is trying to say to me. I plan to read a good book next.
—Christopher Cooley
