Good wartime story in Italy. I read my mother's copy. ( )

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.
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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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )