Title: The Old Man and The Sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Published By: Jonathan Cape/Arrow Books
Release Date: 1952 and later 2004
Genre: Fiction
Format: Paperback
Length:99 pages
Synopsis
Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway’s magnificent fable is the story of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. In a perfectly crafted story, which won for Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature, is a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of a man’s challenge to the elements in which he lives.
Review
Have you ever fallen in love with someone and their story but you’ve never met them? That’s my case with Ernest Hemingway. I do not know what it is about him, but I fell in love.
Now, I am on a quest to read all his works and got started with this one. This book was actually Hemingway’s last work of fiction published while he was alive. The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.
I finished this little piece in just two days and it took me on a trip. I loved the simplicity of language used so my imagination could enjoy its journey.
The book tells the story of an old fisherman who has had an unlucky streak for months without catching any fish, to the mockery of other fishermen. He ventures out into the seas to catch a fish and catches a giant fish but his luck runs out.
So simple in its storyline and plot, yet so profound with numerous lessons. Each page taught me a valuable lesson! Some of the amazing lessons I learned from this book are:
- Think positive thoughts…always
- Hope will take you places.
- Believe in yourself even where it seems like the odds are against you.
- Your thoughts are powerful. Be careful what you feed your mind.
- Sometimes you can work so hard and have nothing to show for it. That’s part of life.
- Disappointments are a part of life.
- Stop wishing that you had more. Make do with what you have presently.
- Know your craft…to perfection.
- Man can be destroyed but not defeated.
- Never, ever, ever give up.
- Some people who play no active role in in your hard work, often attempt to reap the rewards with you.
- Certain things in life are beyond your control.
- People will always talk.
- Never make “what people say” your motivation.
- You’re so much more stronger than you think.
- Do not be afraid to get back out there and start again.
“No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in …. I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks. But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things.”
Ernest Hemingway in 1954
Verdict
Definitely a strong 8.9/10. Loved it!
