The Old Man and The Sea | Ernest Hemingway | Required Reading- A Classic

The Old Man and The Sea | Ernest Hemingway | Hemingway's masterpiece!

books:

The Old Man and Th...

	The Old Man and The Sea Ernest Hemingway Scribner, 1995 - 128 pages average customer review:based on 687 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Required Reading- A Classic

I remember reading other Hemingway works when I was in school, and I also remember feeling truly satisfied after I read the last pages of those books. I felt as if I had just learned something of value, and believe it or not, those lessons have stayed with me through the years. Somehow, I missed out on reading The Old Man And The Sea, or else I read it and don't remember doing so (which could very well be), so I recently bought it and I read it in about three sittings. Again, Hemingway didn't disappoint me. Santiago, the main character, reminded me of a few friends and family members, who are on the downside of...let's say fifty ;-), and who are not ready to throw in the towel and fade away into oblivion just yet, despite the unbeatable odds against them. I actually felt as if I was sitting out there in the boat with poor old Santiago, or better yet, I felt like I was the man himself, which is a little tricky since I'm a woman. Hemingway has a truly unique style of writing, which defies a lot of the "rules", but he knows how to tell a tale and he knows how to get into the brains and minds of his characters. If you've never read Hemingway, perhaps it's time. God rest his blessed soul.
Joyce Marie Taylor-Author and Poet

for more information click here

Hemingway's masterpiece!

What a beauty! What else can be said?

Hemingway's best writing, in this tiny little book...

A Continuing Saga--The Old Man and the Sea

One line says it all: "It is he that has the hook in his mouth..."

But the question remains, after all these years, "Who has hooked whom?" Does the old man have the fish or does the fish have the old man?

Yes, in our grown and mature understanding, we now understand that the Old Man has hooked the fish and the great fish has hooked the Old Man. They need each other. Like much of life, most of life really, there is a "Yin/Yang" effect,two opposing forces that combine to make us who we are and what we are.

No matter how many times you have read it, it is always worth reading again..and again, and again...

One suggestion: To really enjoy reading it, for the first time or for the umpteenth time, read it by the ocean or on the ocean, with the sights, sounds and aromas of the the sea, all around you. Still, after all these years, a moving experience. Perhaps more moving as we age.

An often overlooked, but the saddest, most touching line of the book: "Did they look for me..."

for more information click here

A quick and rewarding read

I hadn't read a Hemingway novel since I tackled "A Farewell to Arms" during my freshman year in college. And granted, to call this one a novel is a bit generous, but it won the Pulitzer (1953), so it has to be at least considered in that company.

I read "The Old Man and the Sea" last week simply because I never had before. Somehow I escaped reading it during high school and read Dickens instead. I think that had I read this in high school, I would have found it kind of boring. Now that I have almost 20 years under my belt since high school, it's a much more meaningful book than it would have been then. What's the point of explaining symbolism to bored students? Once you're old enough, you can see the symbolism right there, because you've lived through some of the same things that the protagonist has.

A great book, and well worth the 1-2 hours you'll only need to spend reading it. Santiago is an everyman, and his struggles on the sea during a 72 hour time period mirror the struggles that we all face in our lives.

for more information click here