A Bell for Adano

I had never heard of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel before it was chosen for book club. Published in 1944, this book centers on a small Sicilian town during the Allied occupation in 1943. An American major takes over the running of Adano. Major Joppolo works hard to do what is right for the people of the town, including getting a bell to replace the one that was taken during Mussolini's rule and melted down to make ammunition.

My general sense of the book is that the comedic parts reminded me of the movie The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, but other parts of the plot slogged along. In this day when we've read Catch 22 and other war novels, this book feels dated to me, but if it was reworked as a short story, I think that would improve it.