Should you buy this book? Not unless you reread books.
Should you borrow this book? Sure.
“The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway is a novella (it’s labelled as a novel, but I think it’s far too short to be called one) about an old man’s struggle with the largest fish he has ever caught, and what he learns about his own life from several days of hunting the fish. It was published in 1952, but still holds up well in today’s context.
I read “The Old Man and the Sea” when I was in secondary school, and back then I thought it was about a boring old man doing a boring old activity (fishing) and having boring old thoughts. I think I did a write up or some such on it from the perspective of the fish being caught, and got really good grades for it. I never thought much about it though, but I’m pretty sure I went to eat fish and chips after that. Actually, I think I’m going to eat steamed fish after this.
Now, many years later, I realise the depth of the book, and how much it connects with me. I guess that’s what a few extra years of living does to your appreciation of literature. In any case, there are plenty of free legal PDFs if you want to save the trees, but I’m sure Amazon or Kinokuniya would appreciate your business too.
So on to “The Old Man and the Sea” and all its good qualities!
The story to relatable to any situation, but it doesn’t prescribe any specific parallels to you
There’s a pervasive sense of loss throughout the book, and a key theme of this is regret. The old man constantly regrets not treasuring what he had, when he had it. He doesn’t fall into despair though, and it’s not that he takes this things for granted, but he doesn’t appreciate the present as much as he believes he should.
Regardless of whatever background you come from (even if you’re not a fisherman), this is a situation that every person has been through before. Yet it refrains from preaching or coming across as some didactic moral. It is what it is, and that’s how the old man comes across as a touching parallel of ourselves.
The old man was (and in a way, still is) awesome
Although he comes across as a failure in life when the story opens (he hasn’t caught a fish in almost three months), you learn that he was actually quite a formidable man in his youth. He’s an undefeated arm wrestler, he can survive without much food and water, and he can withstand a fish dragging him and his boat for days. It’s important for characters to come across as competent and admirable, especially protagonists, and the old man has this in spades.
Really, the crowning moment of awesome comes when he fights and defeats multiple sharks by himself. It’s not him that gives way – it’s his weapon.
It’s a quick read
You can finish the book in one sitting, and even read it on your iPad in one night without hurting your eyes (that’s what I did) with time to spare for a review. But the themes stay with you long after, and you’ll be pondering what exactly the greater meaning of the book is. I think that’s what great literature does – it doesn’t have to be long, but it sets you thinking.
Still, as I was reading, I wished the book could have been improved in some ways.
The rambling style
It might reflect the stream of consciousness of the characters, but events sometimes pass you by without you noticing it. There are precious few names, which again give a sense of anonymity and thus puts you and the old man in the position of the Everyman, but few names mean that it’s difficult to put a finger on what’s happening.
It’s not boring, far from it, but it does give a sense of dreariness. Then again, it does add to the sense of melancholy that suffuses the book, so it works in that sense.
The lack of any dividing sections
It might be a novella – but it’s a 37 page novella. There are no chapters, no breaks, no form of splitting up the book into more manageable portions. This makes it a little tiring sometimes, since you practically only have page breaks to stop your reading with, and that might not be the best place to pause the story.
Still, these are minor quibbles in what is overall a fairly thought-provoking read.
“The Old Man and the Sea” leaves you reflecting on your own life and wondering if there are some things that you hold on too tightly to (like the giant fish) or if there are some people that you should have appreciated more (like the boy). But beyond that, you grow from yawning at the doddering, aged protagonist, to truly feeling a sense of victory for him at the climax. And that’s all that matters to you and him really – nobody else has to know that he won, except you, the old man, and the sea.
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