Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Lelaki Tua dan Laut by Ernest Hemingway

29 reviews

lightningmc_logyn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I read this as part of my goal to read more classic literature. It’s not a book I would have typically enjoyed, yet I found some great lessons of storytelling in it. I really enjoyed the ending. 
Hemingway is brilliant at describing events, I often felt I was there. It was all so plain and real. It takes great detail, persistence, and clarity to make a story built upon a simple plot so rich. The novella marries the literal experience with the internal human experience. It was difficult to read, as I don’t enjoy the style of long sentences. Also, not knowing anything myself about fishing or boats made parts quite muddy to read. I respect this book for what it is, how it impacted literature, and the profound intricacies is illustrates. 
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srclary's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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kajasversion's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It was okay, I wasn’t thoroughly impressed but it was interesting to read something different I wouldn’t read it again tho. 
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kiwichill's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I love spending time on the ocean.  I loved how this book fires up my imagination and perfectly describes the beauty of the sea, through the eyes of someone who has lived his whole life there
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cait's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

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muertango's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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hgbush's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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sageysage's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Nice quick read. Did find it a bit laborious but I think that’s kind of the point. 
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surdiablo's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So it's my first Hemingway work and while it was enjoyable, I also found it somewhat underwhelming, primarily due to my own high expectations. It's a simple but well-written character-driven novella focusing on the struggles of an old fisherman down on his luck. I could discourse at great length about how this book is or could be about perseverance, about having hope no matter what, we never know what might be around the corner in life, how an artist is often their own worst critic, etc. But apparently, Hemingway said the below quote in one of his letters:

"Then there is the other secret. There isn't any symbolism [sic]. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The sharks are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know."


So I'm not gonna explain any of that and leave things to your own imagination. 😄 It's a great work for sure but I personally find Steinbeck's writing to be more appealing so far.
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sam_fielder_137's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don’t have much to say about this one. I just felt like it was far too boring. It was a 127 page book about a single man catching a single fish. If I had to summarize it in one sentence it would be: A whole book about another book’s single paragraph. Fine, but too long for the amount of story it contained.
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