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OLD MAN AND THE SEA

OLD MAN AND THE SEA

List Price: $10.00
Your Price: $7.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simplistic, powerful, emotional, essential
Review: The Old Man and the Sea got me hooked on reading again after I abandoned books for other less intrigueing passtimes. The style with which Hemingway writes is simple; there are no words that are too complicated for even young readers to understand. That the book is so lush with detail and full of emotion despite its simplicity is credit to Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea captivates not with physical action but with mental and emotional combat.

For the first 1/3 of the book the reader is introduced to Santiago, the unlucky fisherman whose only friend is a "boy" who has jumped ship to fish with a luckier crew of fishermen. Also, Santiago sets off to find his catch and the reader is fixated, along with Santiago, on finding a fish and changing his luck. The reader sticks by Santiago because he is us: not always perfect, not always the best, but the better for his dedication to his goals.
When Santiago hooks the Marlin the joy is short lived as the reader questions whether this old man has the stamina left for such a battle. When the fish is finally subdued the question is whether Santiago can make it back to land since the fish has towed him so far away. The sharks come and ravage the fish and Santiago returns to port with nothing but bones and a story. Though his catch is destroyed, Santiago is a hero to the other fishermen in the village and he goes on dreaming about the lions on the beach.

Santiago's struggle is our struggle: with life, death, faith, lonliness, and the demons within. We identify with Santiago because we struggele with these beasts too. Sometimes they are too big, but the only way to defeat them is to face them. Hemingway created an enduring work of great depth, but it is wrapped up in a nice little package.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great Book
Review: The Old Man and the Sea, by Earnest Hemingway was a good book overall. The things I liked about this book was that the whole book was exciting. Basically every part of the story wants to make you continue reading it. The author describes the characters in great detail in this book. In describing the "Old man", he says, "his eyes were as blue as the sky and his face was as pale as a ghost.

Some of the dislikes I had in this book was that for basically the whole story the old man is in the boat. Also, when the old man sees the big fish he keeps trying to catch it for a long time. Another dislike is that the old man almost dies trying to catch the fish. Overall, this book is excellent and I would recommend it to any type of reader.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: READ THIS BOOK
Review: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was a great book. I liked this book because it had a lot of drama. I also liked it because I was amazed that Ernest could make a good book out of catching a fish.

This book was about an old man's desire to catch the biggest fish in the sea. He goes through many obstacles through the story to delay him from possibly catching the fish. His line almost breaks, and he needs to somehow get food for his long journey.

I would encourage everybody to read this book. If you like drama and excitement, you will like this book. I would recommend the book for all reader's except for beginners.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: overview
Review: In this story, the old mans characters background isnt written so much. Hemingway treated their character like anonymous by not using their proper names. It has effects such as appearing to be a fairy tale, abstracting or symbolizing characters, and focusing on his current thinking and acts. The author especially seemed to want to focus on his character present being.
The old man is written as the figure, which barely balance the erosion of the sea with inner aging. The old mans features are aged, patient, being wounded. In his experience endurance had similar meaning of victory. It is showed by the arm wrestling scene (p.69-71).
The fish might be a symbol of the sea, nature, luck, absurdity, life, death, shadow of the old man. I feel the last one is rather good, because I dont remember the scene of the old mans shadow reflected on the surface of the sea. Ordinary it is natural there is that kind of scene.
Also, the environment is a big component of this story. The environment suggests and allures characters into a new feeling. For example, His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises(13). In this case, the environment is the breeze. It made the old man relax and refresh, so the old man brought himself into new feelings. In addition, the environment in the old mans memory is wholly crystallized. For example, in the arm wrestling scene, There was much betting and people went in and out of the room under the kerosene lights and he had looked at the arm and at the negros face. They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees every four sleep. Blood came out from under the fingernails of both his and the negros hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands an forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched(69). It has a symmetrical structure. I feel as if it expressed the bars shape itself: from the wall bettors lean through the wrestlers, referees, to the other wall. It is circular and closed structure. It is highly crystallized, and I feel also that is because this scene has already been taken in the old mans memory and cherished for long time by him. The environment in this story has very important role. I think it is as if it was one of the main characters.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Man vs. Fish
Review: The Old Man and the Sea is actually the first Hemingway book that I have ever read. I enjoyed reading about the killer sharks, and the main character, who seemed to be more unlucky than I am. Though the book does not give names, until the end, it does not bother me because during this book there is no need for names. It is a simple old fisherman verses a 1 and 1/2 ton marlin who drags him out to sea.

The story begins with the Old man and the "boy", whom helps hiim fish. The old man has been very unlucky, in fishing, lately and decides that since he has gone for 84 days without catching a simgle fish he will go out and try one last time, which ends up to be the best time of his life. After he cannot see the lights of his city anymore he gets this huge grab, but what he doesn't realize is that the grab is almost 2 tons. I admit that this story is boring at times mainly because he is alone and he talks to himself, maybe that is why it is so short. It really does pick up after he finally kills that marlin. That is where sharks come and feed of the fish. Though I would like to say more, it would ruin the end of the book.

I think that if you read a lot of books where the main character goes nuts by being alone with himsel, and not being prepared, this is the book for you. Though if you get woozy from reading about half eaten fish or eating fish raw, you should probably stay away. I know I enjoyed this book, and I didn't even know what the tools he used to kill the fish were called. But don't take my word for it read it yourself and see how a classic, noble peice winning book effecs you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It was nothing to complain about
Review: From what people have told me, this book has given them chills when reading it. Hey, it was an alright book, but it didn't have me dying to turn the next page. I have always believed that if you are a good person good things will come to you. That old man was a good person, look what happened to him! If I didn't want to be excited, i would go read William Shatner's new autobiography. But as for this book i expected a bit more.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not very impressive
Review: Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea has been given A LOT of praise since it was written. Given the task of reading a book by an American author for a high school english class, I decided to give it a whirl, with such publicity it must be worth the read, right? After about 50 pages I came to the conclusion that it was one of the most boring books I had ever read. I guess I'm just a sucker for rich detail, which Hemingway completely overlooks. addcaptivating...it was just plain dull. Why the world calls this novella an essential work of American Literature I'll never know.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who's the victim ?
Review: When Santiago, the old fisherman, finally decides to try his luck far away from the shore, he probably did'nt realise he would meet his destiny both as a fisherman and a human being. As a human being because after all his troubles he comes home empty handed, a fate most of us humans will find at the end of our live; we will ask if this is all we have done. But it seems to me that the story has a second meaning. When a huge sword-fish takes the bait an epic battle starts between the two. The fish swims away, forcing the old man to taut the cord for almost two days. During this moments one could ask who's the hunter and who's the hunted.
In my point of view it's this duality that makes the story a masterpiece.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Old Man And the Sea
Review: The Old man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway

Sometimes people take for granted how closely we're connected to nature; In "The Old Man and the Sea," by ernest Hemingway, a titanic struggle reveals the humanity in nature and the nature in man. "The Old man and the Sea" is the story of an old fisherman who is down on his luck. He goes out on what is interpreted as his last quest for a fish and the end of his bad luck. Far out at sea and all alone, he lands a great fish larger than his skiff. The rest of the story is the hopeless struggle between the old man, sharks , the great fish, and the sea.

Hemingway uses the motif that the old fisherman and the great fish are the same or parallel each other. Hemingway gives examples by comparing the two during the struggle back to land. Neither the old man nor the fish give up. The two characters parallel each other through the book one above in the skiff, and one below in the deep sea. By examining beginning and the ending situations of the old man and the fish, readers see the similarities in the two characters and their lives.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Old Man And The Sea
Review: A True Classic. I have read this book many times and each time I get the same feeling of being there. Great descriptions and most of all great story.


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