The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is the story of an aged fisherman. The entire book takes place in a couple of days and almost none of the characters are ever named, although it is more about the old man’s thoughts and speculations than anything else. When the story starts out the old man hasn’t caught a fish in eighty-five days and the boy who has helped him for years has been forced to go to a different boat. But he is still hopeful and not at all discouraged. One morning he goes out to sea farther than any of the other boats in the hopes to catch “a big fish” as he puts it.
The Old Man and the Sea is a many layered and yet very small book. If just read passively without really contemplating it the book could appear overly simple and maybe even a little dull. But then if you go deeper it appears more and more intricate and becomes obvious how much the old man and the boy really care about each other, even though neither of them ever says so.
Even between the old man and the fish he strives to catch there is a sort of relationship. The old man respects the fish and in a way it seem as though the fish feels some sort of regard for the old man.
This is a thoughtful book, it may not spark a great epiphany, but at least while you’re in-between the pages you will think a little more about the world. One of the main themes of the book is that we, as humans, are not alone in the world, nor are we necessarily the most powerful; Hemingway does a very good job of getting this point across.
The Old Man and the Sea is written in third person which gives it a slightly detached feel that suits the story well. For most of the book the old man is alone in a boat so you get a very insightful view of his mind. All and all The Old Man and the Sea is a calm, deep book with occasional bursts of action. It is the sort of book that I think anyone could enjoy, seeing as it is sort enough that it won’t bore those who like more action and yet thought provoking for those who lean towards the deeper stuff.

Reader reviewed by tdub

This book is an obvious classic.  Most schools require teens to read this in High School, so I wouldn't recommend giving it as a gift after tenth or eleventh grade, because they will likely already own it, however, for young adults who maybe skimmed over it in school, this is a great gift, that can be read at any age, for either gender.

Reader reviewed by PRFW

The Old man and the Sea Review


This story is about Man's trying to capture a title or position or even a desire . As Santiago is searching for a great fish, many people today are searching for something.
I think that this book is wonderful and very appropriate for children. It is very slow and easy going and the old man is like a grand father telling his story of catching the marlin to his grandchildren who are the readers.
When the Old man sets out and hopes that he will come back with a fish, he is confident and proud. Over all I think that the book can be improved for those that want more action but it would not be the same because Hemingway wrote it to be like it is. He wrote it to explain the fishermen of Cuba and he wrote t to explain our own lives to ourselves. The book was not boring and holds intrest like a pin to a butterfly if the butterfly does not fly away first. There were good and moral characters in the book including Santiago, the Boy, Martin and of course, the marlin.
The Old Man was a strong and fine man when he was young. He had a wife and daughter. The wife is dead in the book and the daughter is rarely mentioned. It seems as if the old man knows that he has a daughter and is still friendly with her but he is starting a new life in a small fishing village with the boy as his close friend. The boy has a close friendship with the old man and Santiago was the boy's teacher when he was younger on how to fish and be a fisherman.
The Old man is seeking for something and when he finds it, he is glad and joyous; until the sharks come and swallow his dreams. Returning home he is defeated, having caught four fish with which to eat on his fishing expedition, he is still exhausted. Dawn breaks finding the village at home. This book is a look into our own minds and desires to tell us why we search to find a back bone of a marlin.

Reader reviewed by Carla

Book Review for The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

In The Old Man and the Sea, an aged fisherman living on outskirts of the Havana city decides to go fishing one day. He feels determined to bring back a big fish since he has not been having any luck lately. The old man hooks a fish that seems to have big weight. The animal takes him farther and farther away from the Cuban coast. He has the hope that the fish will get tired and give up, little did he know. Three days have passed by and the fish continues to pull the old man away from the coast. At this point the man cannot even see the great lights of the Havana night. A great conflict comes to be which shows the great determination and persistence of a man struggling against a fish the size of his boat. On the other hand, the old man is growing anxious about what will happen next and feels a great disturbance because of his loneliness and need for company.

Hemingway views the fisherman as a stubborn and determined man who, after being alone on a boat so much time and so alone begins to feel confused and apprehensive. He feels sorry for the fish but at the same time is resolute to kill him. The old man is determined to take the life of fish and show him what a man can do and what he is able to go through even if it is unjust to kill a fish.

Hemingway does a truly excellent piece of work. He truly describes the strength and desire of a man to overcome nature in a battle. Man is constantly trying to do this in many aspects of human life whether it is by trying to figure out a way to make weather or by battling with the sea during a storm.

Hemingway used his experiences as a fisherman, hunter, and lover of bullfights, in his novels. He worked in Italy during WWI driving ambulances. He was then transferred to the Italian Army where he was wounded gravely. It was then when he moved to Paris where other writers like Ezra Pound y Gertrude Stein encouraged him to write literal works. After 1927 he spent much periods of time in Key West, Spain and Africa. He returned to Spain during its Civil War and then also helped out in WWII although not as a soldier. After the war he established himself in Cuba near to La Havana. He finally shot himself to death in Ketchum, Idaho in July 2, 1961 after having faced many times the doors of death.

Reader reviewed by charlene

"The Old Man and the Sea" is a story with a morale behind it, like in a fable. The atmosphere is quite and almost graspable. ALthough a rather short book, this is one of Hemmingway's more accessible stories and one that I could read without putting it away after the first paragraph. Very good for impressing English literature teacher by the way.

Reader reviewed by Lindsay

I did not like the book The Old Man and the Sea. I thought that it was very boring at the beginning. Towards the end of the book, the book got a little more interesting. There is not very much action taking place throughtout the book which i did not like .

Reader reviewed by Zenus

I had to fead this book for my Eng 05 class. I picked it off a list of readings from my instructure.It was hard for me to read at first but someone explained the fact that the man was Cuban (How was I supposed to know?).

The old man seemed crazy to me at first but I guess the long hours he spent in the sun had something to do with it. He loved company. He talked to just about anyone or anything that would listen. In the end the fish gave him a run for his money. All in all it was a pretty good book!

Reader reviewed by Bob Sutak

The book was OK. It had a good plot and all, but it was quite boring.

Reader reviewed by L. Eustace

An age old fisherman goes out to go fishing, his job, his life. But this one day he goes out by himself, only to find out an enormous marlin stags the line and he and the fish somehow bond and have to fight for their lives. An unusual short story, that I loved.