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Summary: A novel of elegant writing and true feeling
Review: The Old Man and The Sea is a wonderful book that tells a story of an old man and his art of fishing. The author Earnest Hemingway uses intricate symbolism and a great story line to draw readers into this story. With these techniques he protraies a livable story that applies to many abroad./One aspect of this book I enjoyed was the old man, Santiago. His character, to me, helped me to become involved in the story. Earlier in the book , the old man was struggling with a large Marlin. Even with his body beaten and broken, he continued to fight the fish. The old man's strength and persistence helped me to appreciate his art of fishing./This is definitely a good book to read, not only once but many times over. It is a story that truly was one of Hemingway's greatest novels. Within it is contained beautiful writing and a meaning close to life.
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Summary: A very special story
Review: This is one of those rare stories that is so far above and beyond other novels that it can only be regarded as the work of a genius. Regarded, rightfully, as a classic, Hemingway's story has also been heavily criticised for its obvious parallels with biblical events and also for being overly-autobiographical. Of course, it's easy to pick apart any work of art. I cannot bring myself to criticise the book on any level as I enjoyed it so much. I realised early in the book that Hemingway had written alot of his own personality (and then-personal circumstances) into the lead character, Santiago, an old fisherman who longs to catch that one big fish before it is too late. What makes the story so wonderful is the way Hemingway involves the reader in Santiago's struggle. Rarely have I felt so excited while reading a book - the author makes the reader feel as if it is they who are in the small boat, dragged out to sea by a huge marlin, and eager to return home safe with the prize catch. I would recommend this book to children, as an easy to read adventure, and to adults as a multi-faceted, must-read classic.
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Summary: grant yansura's review
Review: The Old Man And The Sea was a great book that took me on a long journey through out the struggles of Santiago a Cuban fisherman that has naught had a catch in 84 days. The old man seemed to be very wise and would not give up. The old man had a friend named Manolin. Their friendship stays strong throughout the story.
Santiago is a good man and Manolin is forbidden by his parents to work further with Santiago because he is bad luck. Their friendship goes on though and Manolin helps providing Santiago with food clothes and bait. The old man seems to have had a successful past with fishing this is told with his badly scarred hands and many wrinkles. Santiago is optimistic and does not give up on fishing and instead decides to go deeper into the ocean to catch fish.
Santiago sets out early in the morning and sets out towards the deep sea to catch tuna. Hemingway describes the ocean with sensory details, telling how the ocean smells as Santiago leaves the land, how the ocean looked filled with see weed and how the fish sounded as they flew out of the water. I had a very good picture in my head of the ocean that Santiago was sailing into. Santiago seems very peaceful and respectful as he waits for the fish to bite, referring to the ocean as a female unlike most fisherman that would think of the ocean as masculine and capable of destruction.
The old mans wait is over as he feels a fish nibble on his line. Santiago waits awhile as the fish keeps nibbling. This part of the book was boring because Santiago was just thinking about his friendship with Manolin and Joe Dimaggio. The struggle of catching this Marlin goes on through the night and into the next day. Santiago starts experiencing more problems that made me think he was going to give up. Hunger, sleep deprivation and pain in his hand had all made me think his struggle would soon be over and he would give up on this large fish. Santiago had finally won the battle and had caught the marlin. This made me feel like the struggle was all over but he still had not won.
Santiago had started his journey back to land. Many sharks had attempted to eat the fish and the first one was successful in taking much of Santiago's catch. I showed he really wanted this catch because he had tried everything to catch this fish and to defend it against sharks. Santiago was a good man and felt sorry for the fish and was regretting that he had ventured out so far into the ocean. I felt frustrated for Santiago in the end because he was such a hard working old man and had some bad luck.
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Summary: Why Read?
Review: Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, has the battle of his life with a ferocious marlin in the book, The Old Man and the Sea. He is a very poor man and is very unlucky with fishing but with the help of the little boy, Manolin, he gets through the days of his life. Santiago's adventure with the giant fish begins eighty five days after his last catch. The Old Man and the Sea is an appealing and an enjoyable book because Ernest Hemingway is an excellent writer.The events and actions of this book create interest for the readers. For example, Santiago was not angry with the other fishermen when they made fun of him. He is a good man and is so wise that being made fun of does not bother him. A good protagonist is always a good character to read about. Moreover, the characters and their actions can be related to real life situations. For instance, the old man ignores all the laughing made by the younger fishermen because he cannot catch any fish. This is like a student dealing with bullies and humiliation at school. These are some points that Ernest Hemingway made to arouse interest to readers. Hemingway has a very unique writing style. For example, in the book it says, "Most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars." He has a very soothing way of writing. This is also easy enough for kids to understand. Also, Hemingway does not use clutter in his sentences which makes him different from the rest. For instance, he writes sentences like, "Only I have no luck anymore;" which is very direct. Many writers tend to use clutter to sound professional or important. Hemingway's style and voice is calming and intense in all the right places. I think The Old Man and the Sea is a great book to read. My favorite part of the book was the climax when Santiago defeats the antagonist. If I could change something in this book, I would change some of the rising action so it is more gripping. I would recommend this book to adults and teenagers. Although a grade school student could read and understand this book, they would not value the moral of the story. Hemingway's original style and the characters in this book make it an interesting and wonderful book to read.
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Summary: The Old Man and the Sea
Review: Molly Jones
English, Delgado
March 11,2002 The Old Man and the Sea The Old man and the Sea was a very adventurous and exciting novel. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and also the Noble Prize in literature in 1954. I'd say that this is Ernest Hemingway's greatest novel yet. There are also many amazing features that await hungry readers. Hemingway's style for The Old Man and the Sea has very desirable qualities.
His writing style and choice of words are remarkably incredible. For example, "He had come from the deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea" (100). I have never read something so edging in my life. His choice of words and sentence style is so amazingly unspeakable. For instance, "The flow was less strong and as he rubbed the side of his hand against the planking of the skiff, particles of phosphorous floating off and drifted slowly astern" (79).
This describes exactly what is happening and he uses specific words to explain it more. Some authors say the same words redundantly which leaves the reader bored and miserable, but not Hemingway. Hemingway's style in unforgettable and exciting with loads of detail and well fitted word choices.
With some of the characters they are either alike or different (which makes it rather intriguing). For example, "The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck" (9). His description for the characters is breathless. He makes sure that everyone knows exactly what they look like and how they act. For instance, "It racked back and as the fish swam just below the surface the old man could see his huge bulk and purple stripes that banded him" (90). This describes what he saw as the fish swam below the surface of the water. It gives an incredible amount of detail with his own touches of vision. No one has ever described characters like Ernest Hemingway, it's like he knows everything about them, like he already knew them in life.
Ernest Hemingway is very talented in writing action packed novels. His word choices are extremely well thought out which makes it very interesting. I know that I have enjoyed reading The Old Man and the Sea and hope to read more of his novels before my life reaches an end.
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Summary: The good old days
Review: Thank goodness that this book is still around after all these years--it's true what they say: "They don't make 'em like this anymore." The story can be read on several different levels. First, just as the simple, yet gripping tale that it is. Secondly, it can be viewed as one large metaphor. Whether or not Hemingway meant this is open for discussion, but knowing the great writer he was, I'm sure he factored this in. There are only a handful of books that are this complete and satisfying in which the author has expertly crafted a story that actually has a beginning, a middle, and an end. They are these: The Old Man and the Sea
East of Eden
The Bark of the Dogwood
To Kill a Mockingbird
As I Lay Dying All of these are great, but Hemingway's seems to be the most concise and complete--a sort of encapsulation of life.
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Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: This is one of my absolute favorite books. Hemingway's writing is beautiful and very unique. As you follow the fisherman on his journey to catch the fish, you feel like you are there with him, and you really feel like you get to know him. As Santiago, the fisherman, thinks and talks to himself, you learn how remarkable he is and how an old man like him could stay with a fish that large. There have been some comparisons to Moby Dick, but while that is about a derranged captain's search for revenge, this is about an old man's quest for one more victory against a formidable foe. In three days you witness defeat and triumph, and in the end you wonder if the fisherman has ended his bad luck, or is in fact still salao (the worst form of unlucky). This book is short, beautiful, and emotional. It is the only book I have read more than once - and I know I will be reading it again and again in the future. If you haven't yet read this, you should definately give it a try.
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Summary: A Classic Sea Tale
Review: "The Old Man And The Sea" is a classic tale of man versus nature. Set in Cuba during the age of "The Great DiMaggio", the Old Man's quest after the fish is reminiscent of Captain Ahab's pursuit of the whale. The epic struggle between the great fish, the sea and the Old Man inspires our imagination. Hemingway entertains the reader with vivid descriptions and streams of consciousness which pain mental pictures of the Old Man's world. The reader is placed right in the skiff where he can see the Old Man struggle with the lines, smell the sea, hear the waves, feel the swells and share his respect for the foe. Throughout this book we savor the images, enjoy the action and admire the courage. This is truly a classic masterpiece by a word magician.
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Summary: The Old Man and the Sea
Review: I gave this book, The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway, four stars because I thought it was a pretty good book for us to read in school. At first I thought it might have been boring because it is all about one man and 3 days of his life trying to catch a fish, but it was very intense and exciting mostly the whole book. Hemmingway did an excellent job making a fishing trip exciting. His writing was extremely detailed throughout the whole book which made it very easy to read. He shows this when he is describing the old man in the beginning of the book and says "The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea where on his cheeks" (9-10).
Not only was the description very detailed, the characters were developed very well. I really liked how there was only two main characters in this book because that is all he needed to get the message across to his readers. He shows how developed the characters are when the boy, Manolin, say to Santiago "You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything" (126). This shows what the boy's relationship with the old man is like; they are close and really respect each other. He also showed the character development of Santiago when he says "I can do it as long as he can...", the he he is talking about is the marlin shark that he is trying to reel in (53). He is showing how devoted he really is to what he does for a living and how he feels about life in general. Originally I thought that the plot was going to be kind-of boring because it was just about one fishing trip over three days but it ended up being very exciting. I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wanted to read a well written, exciting, short book.
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Summary: The Old Man and the Sea
Review: I gave the book The Old Man and the Sea four stars. I gave it four stars because though I enjoyed the book, I found it boring at times and sometimes hard to follow. Although the book was sometimes boring it had great detail that made you feel as though you were right there with the old man trying to pull in the huge marlin fish. In using such vivid description he put you into the story feeling the sorrow the same sorrow for the old man that the boy felt.
I suppose I found the book boring at times because I sometimes felt as though I was reading about things that had no relevance to the story. Which in turn also made it hard to follow and I would get confused. But, I kept reading because the determination of the man to catch a fish kept my interest to see if he really would get that big one he was waiting for. Hemmingway makes you become emotionally invested in the story. "No one should be alone in their old age....But it is unavoidable" (pg. 48) When the old man says this you feel bad for him and you hope never to become that way.
The old man possess much determination he shows this by never giving up. "Fish...I'll stay with you until I am dead." (pg.52) The old man says this during his chase of the big marlin. When he says this you can hear the determination in his voice and you know he will get this fish or die.
I would recommend this book for others because although there were some parts that were boring are hard to follow it was a good book and I thought it had a great lesson behind it. Never give up. I think this lesson is proved when Hemmingway writes " But man is not made for defeat... a man can be destroyed but not defeated" (pg. 103).
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