A Bell for Adano

By John Hersey

Winner Pulitzer Prize in Novels, 1945.

I'm puzzled as to why this novel won the Pulitzer. It just doesn't seem to have that much substance to it. Plus the attitude of the novel to the Italians is patronizing and condescending. The main character is Victor Joppolo, who has been put in charge of the town of Adano during WW II as the allies are moving through Italy. This is what Joppolo says

to the local people who he is hiring to help him run the city:

"What makes a man master of another man? It is that he pays him for his work. Who pays the men in the government? The people do, for they pay the taxes out of which you are paid… Remember: you are servants now. You are servants of the people of Adano. And watch: this thing will make you happier than you have ever been in your lives."

Sounds like he thinks he is talking to a bunch of  grade school kids, not to grown men who have more years and more experience in government than he. And the story is kind of lame. The town lost its bell when it was taken to support the war effort by the Italian government. So Joppolo tries his best to find the town a new bell. The Americans in the story were all a bunch of jerks. The old term "ugly American" comes to mind. I just didn't care for this story. Although I fear that the attitude portrayed in it was probably very much true to life.

Review by The Millions.