Reviews

老人與海 by Ernest Hemingway

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unicornsteak's review against another edition

5.0

A painfully beautiful fable about growing old. Written so empathetically. I can't even summarise all the great things about it. I've never read such incredible narration for fishing. Every detail is exact and loaded.

My favourite quote in the entire book has to be this:

"He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin. The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface. He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy’s aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat. Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed."

That last bit, "He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed" kills me.

I love the way Hemingway sees the beasts of the sea. The respect and the characterisation. The beautiful love the boy has for the man, and that the man has for the boy.

It's just amazing, I'll be reading it again, I'm sure, especially as I grow old. There are many consolations and much empathy here.

cphyvr's review against another edition

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3.0

Read in one sitting, wasted two hours of my life. Nothing so profound about it to warrant a Pulitzer and Nobel in my humble opinion - sorry Hemingway

djamseed's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

andyblv's review against another edition

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5.0

A book to be read again in middle age. Having read it in my teens, the themes, the imagery, the plot, and the dialogue did not have the same emotional resonance then as it does now. The loneliness evoked by the old man in the middle of the sea, his apparent skill mismatched with his aging body, and his longing for companionship from his young friend all combine to create a sad, compelling narrative. Even the references to DiMaggio, bone spurs and the circling sharks work together to set a mood for the reader.