The Old Man and the Sea
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Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honour to the author. In fact The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career, which was foundering under the weight of such post-war stinkers as Across the River and into the Trees. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favourite motifs of physical and moral challenge. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work:
"The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords."Hemingway's style, too, reverts to those superb snapshots of perception that won him his initial fame:
Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. He saw it first when it jumped in the air, true gold in the last of the sun and bending and flapping wildly in the air.If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935. Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator:
"The old man was dreaming about the lions."Perhaps there's some allegory of art and experience floating around in there somewhere--but The Old Man and the Sea was, in any case, the last great catch of Hemingway's career. --James Marcus --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honour to the author. In fact The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career, which was foundering under the weight of such post-war stinkers as Across the River and into the Trees. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favourite motifs of physical and moral challenge. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work:
"The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords."Hemingway's style, too, reverts to those superb snapshots of perception that won him his initial fame:
Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. He saw it first when it jumped in the air, true gold in the last of the sun and bending and flapping wildly in the air.If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935. Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator:
"The old man was dreaming about the lions."Perhaps there's some allegory of art and experience floating around in there somewhere--but The Old Man and the Sea was, in any case, the last great catch of Hemingway's career. --James Marcus --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Old Man and the Sea is a classic literary work. Hemingway was at his shining best when he wrote about the fearless old man, Santiago, and the epic personal battle with a hooked marlin. Here, unlike in Melville's Moby Dick, Hemingway's main character is both at odds with himself while seemingly being at peace with the natural world. Many time he describes the marlin as his "brother." Hemingway is also a master of unconcious symbolic gestures. Many times the old man describes his wish for a young man to help him with the tasks aboard his small skiff. There is a young male character who had fished the ocean prior to the start of the text with Santiago, but if the reader has read such books as Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and Farewell to Arms one would interprate this as another one of Hemingway's symbolic loopholes that leads us to a further understanding of the intristic nature of Santiago. In simple terms, The Old Man in the Sea examines the search for youth through the experiences of an old Cuban fisherman who examines his life while praising DiMaggio and cursing his lack of strength. But, all the while, never losing his confidence and spirit. A beautiful story.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
A 5 star book. Kindle edition - the display font for this particular book seems to be huge, even setting the kindle on the smallest of fonts, the size of the text is massive and spoils the reading, you have to flip pages every 20 words. Its impossible to read.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
The font and layout are completely messed up on a standard sized Kindle. I tried to read it for 20 pages, but eventually I gave up and got a refund. As an example, the title looked like:
T
HE
O
LD
M
AN
AND THE
S
EA
T
HE
O
LD
M
AN
AND THE
S
EA
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read, great purchase
I loved the book and now have a massive appreciation for Hemingway. The seller was communicative and helpful. Siiiiiiick. Read more
Published 28 days ago by antonion baraccas
A Beautiful Read
This is a stripped down novel: not many characters, simple thoughts and dialogue, an education in the matters of the sea. It is beautiful in its simplicity. Read more
Published 3 months ago by N S Cooke
The Old Man and the Sea...oh, And a Very Big Fish
And that's all, Folks! Really, terrifically dull.
Rather like 'The Discovery of Slowness' (Nadolny) but without the frantic pace. Read more
Rather like 'The Discovery of Slowness' (Nadolny) but without the frantic pace. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Yahshua
Uputdownable
Unputdownable. Fantastic story. Read it cover to cover in one sitting and will definitely read it again. Hemingway is a wonderful master of storytelling.
Published 4 months ago by Mary Wallace
A perfect book
I'm going to keep this review directly proportional to the size of this book. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is wonderful, brilliant, moving, profound, riveting and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by bennyben80
Beautifully Crafted Masterpiece
There are enough good reviews here, which leaves me little to add except that this book figures in my top ten favourite reads of all time. Read more
Published 4 months ago by CLINT McGAVIN
Go and buy it and see it for yourself !
This was my first encounter with Hemingway. It led me to read his other masterpieces too and I am for ever one of his fans now. Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. MOHAMADI
The Old Man and the Sea
Prior to reading this novella the only Hemingway I had read was "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn", the six-word story. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Zovija
A waste of time (not book, but story)?
Umm, very short 100 page story from Hemingway. An Old Man, whom is a fisherman in Cuba, sets out in a skiff to catch a large fish, as he is feeling lucky that particular day, the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. Kevin Lee Sparrow
A timeless classic
The Old Man and the Sea is genuinely brilliant, but it is not necessarily a book that would make one want to take up fishing. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Robin D. Lewis
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