The Old Man and the Sea

Great book. I love my books that use clear fonts on white paper and are slim enough to offer easy reading. This book clicks on all fronts

The packaging was nice but the front cover is slightly bend

Very short story about an old man who lives near sea shore. It's very short book like pocket sized book you can carry anywhere you go. Old man loneliness and patience teaches a boy.

One of the best reads in a long time

Good 👍

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA…………………………………………………………Everyone talks about it.But no one does anything about it.This is the expression attributed to ‘weather’It applies to ‘classics’ also.Everyone talks about it.No one reads it.…………………………………………………….The book by the title of the article fits exactly into CLASSIC.I have heard about it.I have heard about the author.I have read one of his novels in Tamil.………………………………………………………………………Particularly after undergoing a surgeryI am instantly connected to the novel.The hero of the novel has a name .But it finds mention only in a couple of instances.The old man has a friend ,a boy, too young to be called a friend.………………………………………………..The old man entertains a guilty feelingthat he had not got anything worth in the last 84 days in the sea.He ventures alone.He talks to his own self.When he catches a marlin (big fish) he talks to the fish.And yet he is conscious that in sea he should not talk .……………………………………………………….The marlin entangles in the hook of the old man.But does not reach his hands before taking the old man for ride.For long hours the marlin (of the size larger than the boat)draws the boat (skiff) into the deep sea at great speed.Two nights and a day.The old man is not tired.His spirits are intact.……………………………………………………………….Ultimately when the old man is successful in killing it ,he finds it extremely difficult to tow the big fish ashore.Trade winds are his polestars at night.The return with the marlin is greatly disturbed by the attacks by sharks.The sharks eat half the catch.With several survivals he reaches the shoreto fall into the arms of the boyin a semiconscious state.…………………………………………………..Like the hero I was also sanguine about the surgery.I had rosy feelings that a new lease of life is given to me.But the post operative care in ICU was the most difficult one.Convalesing at home is also difficult.……………………………………………….Now from the OLD MAN AND THE SEA“I am not religious,”he said.“But I will say ten OUR FATHERS and ten HAIL MARYSthat I should catch this fish,and I promise to make a pilgrimageto the Virgin of Cobre if I catch him.That is a promise.”Like the hero I prayed within my mind hundred timesI was chanting my favourite slogan many timesI vowed in my heart to undertake pilgrimageto many of my favourite Gods and goddessesExactly like the hero.…………………………………………..“I could not fail myself and die on a fish like this,”he said.“Now that I have him coming so beautifully,God help me endure.I’ll say a hundred OUR FATHERSand a hundred HAIL MARYS. But I cannot say them now.”Hemingway, Ernest. Old Man and the Sea (p. 56).Scribner. Kindle Edition.Hemingway said that it was "the best I can write ever for all of my life".I say that “this is the best I can READ for all my life.”…………………………………………………………………………………………..Susan Beegel had very correctly pointed out that“ he tells the truth about human fear, guilt,betrayal, violence, cruelty, drunkenness,hunger, greed, apathy, ecstasy,tenderness, love and lust.”…………………………………………………………………..To the extent that the title could have beenTHE OLD MAN AND THE MARLIN,the marlin plays most part of the novel than sea.

“A beautifully crafted tragedy, students will appreciate its symbolism and emotional depth;light and portable book”.

Good book

The cover claims that the book is Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea," but when I opened it up, the actual contents is "Revelations of Divine Love" by Julian of Norwich - a Christian text. I guess Benediction Classics is running some sort of religious scam, trying to trick people into reading Christian texts by any means necessary.

I’ve read the majority of Hemingway’s works, almost all of them when I was in my teen’s and 20’s. I am now in the process of re-reading a number of them, including this finely crafted novella, which was a contributing factor in Hemingway being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Particularly this work, after almost a half a century, resonate all the more, now that you can feel some of the old man’s pains, and you are much more conscious how you have to use your knowledge and experience to overcome the declining strength of one’s body. A high school student really cannot truly understand.The “old man” is Cuban, whose wife has died, and he lives in a shack, alone, along the beach, still practicing the only real profession he has ever known: being a fisherman. A young boy has “adopted” him, and provides moral and physical support to alleviate his poverty. The “old man” has had his “glory days,” sailing as far away as Africa, where he saw the lions on the beach. He also had immense strength in his youth, beating an opponent in a hand-wrestling contest that lasted all night.The heart of the novella is when the Old Man “grabbed the Brass Ring,” hooking the largest fish ever, a marlin that is two feet longer that his 16 foot skiff. It is truly an epic struggle to reel the marlin in – and the old man fishing experience allows him to “think like a fish,” knowing instinctively the most likely tactics the fish will use. The old man also instinctively knows – long before the days of GPS and weather forecasts, where he is, and what weather will be forthcoming. Even with all his experience, he rues how unprepared he is, in terms of the omission of certain equipment from his boat, for such a multi-day struggle with The Big One of his life. He can still summon forth some of his youth’s strength, along with his cunning, in order to prevail.Victory though is bittersweet, as it so often is. On more than one occasion I’ve thought that the bleak outcome of this work might have foreshadowed Hemingway’s decision to commit suicide, at the young age of 61, when so many possibilities still remained.In terms of “high school assignment books,” this is one that I fully advocate still being assigned, for many a student should appreciate the straightforward narrative, and the clean-cut epic struggle, even though today they might never have heard of Joe DiMaggio, or known that the Dodgers were once in Brooklyn. But if you read it in high school today, please make a modest commitment to read it a half century later, and undertake the steps to improve your chances of making it that half century. For your understanding of it, the second time around, might easily be “3 x” that of your youth. 5-stars.

Great prose. The writer sort of almost inconsiderately seems to use so many fishing related words but it works.

leuk kado

Yet another Amazon find!