Old Man and the Sea

This is my first time reading a Hemingway book, and I must say it was a delightful experience. His writing is beautiful. It feels as if you're right there with the characters, which makes the story even more moving and prompts you to reflect on and compare it to your own life.

I read this book a while ago. About to read it again. It is truly captivating and allows you to time travel back in the era.

The 1 start was docked for me because I actually didn’t car for the writing style of the conversion. Semi-spoiler alert But the book was enjoyable. I spent half the book a bit annoyed that THE veteran fisherman was so terrible with risk management. He set out to catch a large fish, was warned that he might be in trouble if he did, made no adjustments to his plan, then caught the fish. In doing so, he gained very little and nearly lost everything. It did not make a lot of sense. Someone told me this book is about resilience. I respect his resilience, but it could have been mitigated and equally profitable.

I like the way Hemingway writes about fish and trials catching them. I'm looking forward to his next short story.

I’ve read the majority of Hemingway’s works, almost all of them when I was in my teen’s and 20’s. I am now in the process of re-reading a number of them, including this finely crafted novella, which was a contributing factor in Hemingway being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Particularly this work, after almost a half a century, resonate all the more, now that you can feel some of the old man’s pains, and you are much more conscious how you have to use your knowledge and experience to overcome the declining strength of one’s body. A high school student really cannot truly understand. The “old man” is Cuban, whose wife has died, and he lives in a shack, alone, along the beach, still practicing the only real profession he has ever known: being a fisherman. A young boy has “adopted” him, and provides moral and physical support to alleviate his poverty. The “old man” has had his “glory days,” sailing as far away as Africa, where he saw the lions on the beach. He also had immense strength in his youth, beating an opponent in a hand-wrestling contest that lasted all night. The heart of the novella is when the Old Man “grabbed the Brass Ring,” hooking the largest fish ever, a marlin that is two feet longer that his 16 foot skiff. It is truly an epic struggle to reel the marlin in – and the old man fishing experience allows him to “think like a fish,” knowing instinctively the most likely tactics the fish will use. The old man also instinctively knows – long before the days of GPS and weather forecasts, where he is, and what weather will be forthcoming. Even with all his experience, he rues how unprepared he is, in terms of the omission of certain equipment from his boat, for such a multi-day struggle with The Big One of his life. He can still summon forth some of his youth’s strength, along with his cunning, in order to prevail. Victory though is bittersweet, as it so often is. On more than one occasion I’ve thought that the bleak outcome of this work might have foreshadowed Hemingway’s decision to commit suicide, at the young age of 61, when so many possibilities still remained. In terms of “high school assignment books,” this is one that I fully advocate still being assigned, for many a student should appreciate the straightforward narrative, and the clean-cut epic struggle, even though today they might never have heard of Joe DiMaggio, or known that the Dodgers were once in Brooklyn. But if you read it in high school today, please make a modest commitment to read it a half century later, and undertake the steps to improve your chances of making it that half century. For your understanding of it, the second time around, might easily be “3 x” that of your youth. 5-stars.

As always Hemingway number one!!!!thanks!!!

This is an amazing (and short) novel, written by one of America's greatest authors. Recieving the Pulitzer prize, The Old Man and The Sea is similar in theme to some of Hemmingway's other well known novels (The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms) and as such will probably leave you in a morose, contemplative mood Describing the relationship between an old man and a young boy, both of them fishers, the story takes place over a couple of days, describing a harrowing fishing adventure by the old man in his small skiff. After 84 days of not catching a single fish, Santiago sets out, alone, once more to do what he was born to do - fish. What's left to describe of the story is better done by Hemingway, and at under 100 pages the novella is accesible to almost anyone, at least on some level. Short and terse, Hemingway's style is in full swing - writing only the so called "tip of the iceberg" it is many times what Hemingway understates or doesn't say at all that is most moving and important. Dealing with issues common to the 'lost generation' Hemingway considers a the role of man in relation to nature, presenting a very different yet relatable understanding to previous generations of American writers. Human accomplishment, missfortune, and aging are all dealt with in this deeply critical novel. Indeed, one could even imagine the themes and ideas represented in this work to be as the Marlin, swimming, powerfully under the surface of the endless ocean. The publication (for the Kindle) is acceptable, but interspersed are several poorly done, and hardly acceptably drawings. These interrupt a serious and engaging text, are little more than childish illustrations and - because of the Kindle display - they interrupt the text, offsetting it with their poorly recognizable 4 gray tone lines and coloring. I'd recommend getting a paperback version, or simply being prepared to skip over these. (This is the reason for the four star rating of an otherwise 5 star novel)

How dare I? How dare I criticize one of the greatest works by the Nobel laureate, Hemingway, a literary giant of the last century? How dare I criticize a great American writer who showed that the U.S.of A is more than than a land of gun-toting, tobacco chewing, spitting cowpokes? How? Because Hemingway himself would expect me to do so. If The Old and the Sea has something to teach us, then as every great teacher knows, it is to teach the next generation to be better writers. Hemingway's sentences are often long, convoluted and confusing. Take one at random "Each line, as thick around as a big pencil; was looped onto a green-sapped stick so that any pull or touch on the bait would make the stick dip and each line had two forty-fathom coils which could be made fast to the other spare coils so that, if it were necessary, a fish could take out over a hundred fathoms of line." Take a breath. First this is 'telling', it is not 'showing'. Maybe 50 years ago readers were content to be told, but they no longer are. Second it has words that are as sin in contemporary writing - 'was'. Third it has redundancies that add nothing to the story ', if it was necessary,' These errors detract from the story. The greatest writing error is such complex sentences shove too much information into the reader's mind in one breath. The reader is forced to read again, to check he has understood. Good writing should slip effortlessly into the readers mind creating scenes, characters and emotions, like a good wine intoxicates. Writing is not to be read , it is to be seen and felt. We all know readers will forgive all manner of errors for a gripping story. Hemingway's writing is powerful. He engages the reader's empathy for the protagonist and skillfuly plots, building the pace up and down like the waves of the setting. These are the true story telling skills but Hemingway uses them to excess. Long before the story turns the corner, the ending is predictable. For the literati, The Old Man and the Sea is a classic retelling of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph snatched from the jaws of loss. But lets be candid. We can imagine Hemingway sitting in at a bar in his tropical escape, gradually getting bored by visiting tourists' stories of the fish, this big, that got away. So he told the most incredible story of the biggest one to get away, a story to end all such fishing exaggerations. Let's not be distracted by Hemingway's failure to edit, his failure to recognize darlings and kill them. Let's pay homage to one of the greatest writers and personalities of his time. Let's pay homage as Hemingway would have wanted, by emulating his skills and learning not to repeat his failings.

Read it in a day, mainly sitting by the water’s edge in Mexico- so not far from where it is set. Such a simple story but so beautifully and powerfully written - you can almost taste the salt on your lips, and the rope burning across your hands. A classic for a reason. And timeless.

The cover claims that the book is Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea," but when I opened it up, the actual contents is "Revelations of Divine Love" by Julian of Norwich - a Christian text. I guess Benediction Classics is running some sort of religious scam, trying to trick people into reading Christian texts by any means necessary.

Esse livro é simplesmente maravilhoso! A história é excelente e a relação do velho com o menino me fez refletir demais. Fala sobre as idas e vindas da vida, é uma metáfora sobre viver uma vida com riscos, uma história de redenção. Além disso, é uma leitura perfeita para quem quer aprender inglês, as palavras "diferentes" possuem um índice explicando o que elas significam e se você clica em cima delas, há um dicionário. É muito bem ilustrado e há no final dele umas perguntas excelentes para fazer com crianças.

Es un libro muy corto y se me ha hecho todavía más corto. Leerlo ha sido una delicia. He disfrutado muchísimo. Me ha encantado como de una historia tan sencilla Hemingway ha creado una novela tan atrayente e íntima.

leuk kado