The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Book Review/Summary:

“I am giving this to you, because it if fine literature and you will appreciate it.” That is how I received this book.  While not a Hemingway fan when required to read it in school, this book was better than others of his I was forced to read.

A story of struggle, facing hardship and overcoming it, and loss.  Hemingway did a great job at expressing the emotions that Santiago faced during his struggle, his victory, his continued struggle, and his defeat.  But, was it really a defeat?  Doesn’t defeat give you meaning and help you value your victories? All of those might be true, but there was defeat and you felt it.  The Unseen marlin that finally surfaces and is larger than the skiff and Santiago has to fend off sharks until there is nothing left of the fish that took him so far away from Havana.  The struggle both to get the fish and then get back home was powerful in such a short story.

I was pleasantly surprised how reading Hemingway can be, at least this book was for me, after being required to read and analyze his books in school and not finding them that enjoyable to read (maybe it was the forced reading and essays that followed?).  While this book will not make me go and grab any other of his novels to read with a fury I can now appreciate his work more than I did in school.  I thank the person who gave me this book, because I can now see why so many people do like Hemingway’s works.

Characters:

Santiago = The Old Man

Manolin = The Boy

Rogelio = helped the old man a few times when he went out fishing

Pedrico = boy at the bodega

Martin = Owner of the Terrace