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A Bell for Adano
by John Hersey (Narrator: David Green)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Recorded Books (1989-11-31)
ISBN: 9991832246
EAN: 9781556900426
Audio Cassette
SKU: 01HB-063b-7-0408
Condition: G
Comments: ISBN: 1556900422 ; UNABRIDGED; EX-LIBRARY with typical stickers and markings; 6 audiocassettes in original plastic case; Case shows typical wear; Everything appears to be in order; While we cannot test our thousands of hours of media, we guarantee them to play well. Narrated by David Green. *International Buyers Welcome!* (except for prohibitively heavy items, as noted) - Satisfied customers in over 40 countries! We ship quickly and guarantee satisfaction. Your purchase helps support a U. Chicago student
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
An Italian-American major in World War II wins the love and admiration of the local townspeople when he searches for a replacement for the 700 year-old town bell that had been melted down for bullets by the fascists.
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Customer Reviews
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great book I stumbled upon
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-01-25
another 5 star vote for a great book. Found it at a thrift store- for a dollar, started reading it and could not put it down! see if you can.
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Thoroughly Enjoyable
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-06-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
A great story and great dialogue. This is a well constructed book that has great characters and great imagery but also manages to keep the story moving along. While i am sure my enjoyment was enhanced because i read it while in Italy, I would have enjoyed reading this anywhere. It is a great portrait of small town Italy and of people.
It is also interesting in this story of the US liberation of Italy, that it was written in the mid-1940s and has a thinly-veiled very negative portrayl of General Patton.
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Great Read
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-05-02
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this back in High School in the sixties. I recently saw the movie and remarked how I did not remember much of anything about it, so I got the book and read it. It is an easy read and quite entertaining. The movie is excellent but the book is outstanding. It is charming, warm and real. It demonstrates that in this world we have bureaucrats and politicians out for themselves (like Gen. Marvin.) We have people who want to do better but cannot because they are jaded(Borth, Purvis). And fortunately we have some Jopollos who are kind and caring. Too bad there are not many of them in leadership. They are lacking even in the church but there are notable exceptions. I recommend this to anyone looking to read soemthing inspirational to life them out of the doldrums. I had read Hiroshima and that seems to get more attention than this work. This is a thoroughly worthwhile read.
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Decency wins out over adversity
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-08-11
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is John Hersey's wonderful "feel good" novel set in Italy during WW II. Major Victor Joppolo has been assigned senior civil affairs officer of the allied occupied town of Adano. Joppolo, an Italian-American, is a good man who only wants to do what is best for the town. He befriends the town's citizens, determines their needs, and tries to accommodate them. In addition to the major concern of getting the people fed, he learns that the town once had a bell that was rung every quarter-hour until Mussolini had it removed to be melted down for ammunition. Joppolo goes on a mission to get the bell back or replaced somehow.
Of course there must be a black hat countering Joppolo's every good move, and that person is General Marvin, the dictatorial, self-important, and ultimately destructive Commander-in-Chief - obviously based on Gen. George Patton. Joppolo is willing to bend and even subvert orders to accomplish what he perceives his task to be: to bring order, decency, and democracy to the war-torn and defeated town. He succeeds marvelously, despite Marvin's interference, and receives the praises of all the Italian civilians he deals with (sometimes this is overdone just a wee bit). Hersey's Italian characters are warm and very human; especially good are the proud fisherman Tomasino and Joppolo's interpreter Giuseppe. Hersey based his novel on a short article he'd written for LIFE magazine, which told of a visit he'd made to the American military governor at Licata, Italy, in 1943. The book is entertaining and life-affirming - interesting for a war novel.
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A fun book for an airplane ride
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-04-08
0 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
which is when I read it between Toronto and Rome. This is a fun, slight book which gives a few unique insights into Italy, the war and the U.S. Army. I kind of wished it was more hard hitting but the author was writing in the 40s a more innocent, less critical time.
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