Reviews

El Viejo Y El Mar by Ernest Hemingway

surdiablo's review against another edition

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

4.0

So it's my first Hemingway work and while it was really enjoyable and profound, I also found it a bit 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, he said the below quote in one of his letters:

Spoiler

"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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood

magnolia_crescent's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

maddy16's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

4.5

toadrunner's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

amstandley's review against another edition

5.0

So satisfying. Clearly influenced Life of Pi.

dealingdreams's review against another edition

3.0

I found this personally...extremely boring.

annebrooke's review against another edition

4.0

This is a dark and gripping story of one man's fight against the natural world. It's bleak and dangerous and violent, though the ending is a quiet and rather moving tour de force. Very dense prose but a very powerful story.

motivoslobos's review against another edition

4.0

Un libro corto pero con grandes significados e interpretaciones.

El autor demuestra perfectamente que no necesita tantas letras para transmitir lo que desea.

Una buena alternativa para leer una tarde, noche o día como yo en mis vacaciones a la orilla del mar creo que fue algo que potenció más la parte descriptiva que en cierto momento me cansó, hice la pausa necesaria y continué hasta finalizar.

Es cierto que no hay tantos momentos de tanta tensión ni un desenlace tan dramático pero luego de la mitad se vuelve bastante llamativo y logras comprender mejor el propósito de todo.

sara_evaney's review against another edition

4.0

This was such a quick and relaxing read! There wasn't much of a story and basically only one character, but it was still exciting enough to keep reading. What made this also so quick was, that there weren't any chapters. It was just one big chapter, so I didn't give you any reason to stop. I really didn't expect to like this this much, but it surprised me.

jaimc's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0