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A bell for Adano di John Hersey
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A bell for Adano (originale 1944; edizione 1980)

di John Hersey (Autore)

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
1,1123217,939 (3.76)106
Classic Literature. Fiction. John Hersey grew up in China, studied at Yale and Cambridge, worked as a journalist, and astonished the nation when he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for A Bell for Adano. His first novel, its offbeat blend of patriotism and warm humor immediately captured readers' hearts. In 1943, the American Major Victor Joppolo finds himself the civil affairs officer-the mayor-of a small town in Sicily. Equipped with the rulebook, How to Bring American Democracy to Liberated Territories, he sets about bringing choices to a people whose every recent activity had been dictated. Asking them what the town needs most, he is answered: give the town back its spirit-a bell to replace the 700-year-old one that was melted down for bullets. The major soon discovers that he may not be able to guarantee democracy for the ancient town, but he can do something about the bell. His story is one of humanity in the midst of war's cruelty, and conviction in a maze of military bureaucracy.… (altro)
Utente:jose.pires
Titolo:A bell for Adano
Autori:John Hersey (Autore)
Info:Bantam Books (1980), Edition: First Edition, 245 pages
Collezioni:La tua biblioteca, Lista dei desideri, In lettura, Da leggere, Letti ma non posseduti, Preferiti
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Etichette:Nessuno

Informazioni sull'opera

A Bell for Adano di John Hersey (1944)

  1. 00
    The Secret of Santa Vittoria di Robert Crichton (quartzite)
    quartzite: Another story about an occupied Italian town during WWII
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Good wartime story in Italy. I read my mother's copy. ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
3.5, rounded up.

Written in 1944, while the war was still in progress, A Bell for Adano is a more positive and humorous read than I had expected. Not to say the angst of war and loss is not there, but the battles are in the background and this is really a story of reconstruction. It is the story of one man, Major Victor Joppolo, an Italian American, who is given the assignment of Civil Affairs Officer; his duties to see to the needs of the Sicilian town of Adano, which has just been freed from Nazi control.

Can you imagine this major job not being interfered with by bureaucrats who cannot get out of the way of what the men on the ground need to do? Neither could Hersey, so he included General Marvin, a character you cannot help but hate, and one I am positive was based on a real general Hersey knew, just as Joppolo was based on a real major, Mr. Toscani.

Victor Joppolo is a moral man. He makes mistakes, but he sincerely wishes to restore this town and its people to some semblance of the lives they led before the war, and it takes some moral courage and fortitude to do that. The bell in reference is a 400 year old bell that the Nazi’s seized and melted down for weapons production. For the town, and for Joppolo, this bell represents something more than itself, it is the symbol of their freedom and for all that was lost and cannot be restored. It is Joppolo’s mission to replace the bell.

This is a delightful and sweet read. While I feel it would not get even a nod by the Pulitzer committee today, it was very significant in its time. One of the most vital debates toward the end of the war was how to deal with the areas and the people who were under Nazi rule, particularly in areas like Italy where that might appear to be a choice they made, rather than their being a conquered population. How much assistance, monetary and otherwise, should be given to help rebuild? I like Joppolo’s answer to this question, and I believe most Americans did at the time. I think this explains the Pulitzer, and since the prize is for a specific year and cannot be separated from the historical events of the time, I think it was well bestowed.
( )
  mattorsara | Aug 11, 2022 |
Understanding that A Bell for Adano was written before the end of the war, the book brings to life the story of an American Major Joppolo as acting civil authority for the city of Adano, Italy. The foibles between the new American occupiers and the citizens of Adano are the gist of the story. A more or less a light-hearted look at the lives of the citizens intermingled with the Major interactions makes for an interesting read. ( )
  Pharmacdon | Jun 3, 2022 |
A Bell for Adano reminds me of Catch-22 in its comic vision of the U.S. military in the Mediterranean theater during World War II. Its main character, Major Victor Joppolo, is no Yossarian, but the cast of characters surrounding him are, while far less determined to either defraud or escape from the military, nonetheless just as clownish in their behavior and incompetent in their service as those surrounding Yossarian.

Joppolo is the administrator of the town of Adano, which has been recently liberated from the Fascists. He must figure who among the "American-loving, Fascist-hating" townsmen he can trust to help him restore the town. While his official mission is to see that the town functions, his true mission becomes to make the people of the town happy. As part of this, he is determined to find a suitable replacement for the 700-year-old bell which was taken from the town tower by the Italian army and melted for armaments. On his quest, he earns the friendship of the townspeople, the respect of his fellow soldiers, and the love of one of the women of the town.

In simple language, Hersey paints a portrait of simple people negotiating their way from their mistrust and disdain for the mafia and Fascists who ran their lives to acceptance that the Americans are not just substitute despots but truly benevolent overseers. The novel's events are equally funny, tragic, happy and sad, and the bitter-sweet, no-good-deed-goes-unpunished ending feels both true-to-life and appropriate.

A Bell for Adano is a short but enjoyable story told in a manner befitting the characters who people the book. ( )
  skavlanj | Sep 15, 2021 |
I found myself quickly drawn into this story. It was easy to read, the plot easy to grasp, the simple characters attracted my interest. But that was the high point and from there my impressions moved downward. The characters were too simple. You were either a "good guy" or a "bad guy". Admittedly, the good guys had flaws or weaknesses, but they were minor, easily explained, understandable from the narrator's point of view. The bad guys, primarily the General, were just bad. It was inconceivable that amidst their flaws they could still provide value to society, potentially great value, or that their personal morals and values were worth delving into. The novel painted a very simplistic view of the world that I had a hard time buying into. ( )
  afkendrick | Oct 24, 2020 |
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» Aggiungi altri autori (7 potenziali)

Nome dell'autoreRuoloTipo di autoreOpera?Stato
Hersey, Johnautore primariotutte le edizioniconfermato
Hooks, MitchellIllustratoreautore secondarioalcune edizioniconfermato
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Classic Literature. Fiction. John Hersey grew up in China, studied at Yale and Cambridge, worked as a journalist, and astonished the nation when he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for A Bell for Adano. His first novel, its offbeat blend of patriotism and warm humor immediately captured readers' hearts. In 1943, the American Major Victor Joppolo finds himself the civil affairs officer-the mayor-of a small town in Sicily. Equipped with the rulebook, How to Bring American Democracy to Liberated Territories, he sets about bringing choices to a people whose every recent activity had been dictated. Asking them what the town needs most, he is answered: give the town back its spirit-a bell to replace the 700-year-old one that was melted down for bullets. The major soon discovers that he may not be able to guarantee democracy for the ancient town, but he can do something about the bell. His story is one of humanity in the midst of war's cruelty, and conviction in a maze of military bureaucracy.

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