Rating: 
Summary: Ha ha
Review: I respect Hemmingway in the fact that he was a very good writer, but I just didn't like this book. The plot was very boring, and all of the "deep insights" the book suposidly had ment nothing to me. I think reading it was an utter waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I recently read this book for English class. I was really affected by it. Yes the book was short and the story simple, but it was a well told story. Hemingway is a great writer using simplistic sentences that we all can understand. I feel that he wrote this book to leave us with the poignant message that "a man can be destroyed but not defeated."
Rating: 
Summary: An Average Book
Review: This book, while not particularly enjoyable to read, does raise some interesting questions about man and nature. It paints a picture of one man trying to overcome nature, who loses. The main character Santiago thinks he must kill this fish, even while he thinks that he loves the fish and the ocean it swims in. Santiago is just a drifter, who takes everything as it comes. When he fails, he takes it as a loss and continues blindly through an endless cycle of pain, loss, and weakness. Read the book if you want to look deeper into the meaning of the story, but if you want to read it for the action you'll be disappointed at the slow speed the plot drags along.
Rating:
Summary: An epic battle in the most unlikely situation
Review: Honestly, I didn't enjoy it when I forced to read it in sixth grade. But hey, at that time I found Who's the Boss interesting. Now that I've matured, and reread this book 10 years later, I realize that this book is a true epic battle between courage of a man, and the forces of nature and age. Hemingway's greatest work, this 120 page novella can be easily read in a single sitting. In fact, it's more of a challenge to put it down than to keep reading. On the surface, this book is very touching and exciting - a man struggling to win over great odds. On a deeper level, it's a representation of human courage, survival, and instinct in its greatest form. It is a true multi-dimensional book. In other words, this is greatest novella ever written.
Rating:
Summary: the reason for the Nobel?
Review: True, a rush job if there ever was one. They one-day aired the prize to him for this effort. A simple tale and a symoblic Christ figure. Not a complex or challenging work. Go elsewhere for a better narrative and a better investment of time.
Rating: 
Summary: ewwwww
Review: i had to read this for english class a few years back...yuck. this was probably one of the most boring, simple books i've ever read...i realize hemingway writes very simply but jeez....here's the plot...this old man goes out into the sea with a dinky little boat....he fishes...and fishes...and fishes...and fishes...then some sharks come..he fights them..they come again...and again...and eat what he has caught...and then....here's the climax...he goes home...Zzzzzzzz
Rating:
Summary: the old man and the sea
Review: This book is a true classic. It is the story of down-on-his-look Cuban fisherman who is the fight of life against a giant marlin. What is great about this book is that it tells exactly what the old man is thinking. This makes the story all the more real as we learn that the old man is thinking about the arm-wrestling he won in Mexico or wondering if Joe Dimaggio's bone-spurs are more painful than his rope-burn. The old man makes a great hero as he does not give up under any circumstance and he treats the the marlin he is trying to catch not as just another fish but as brother.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Hemingway
Review: THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA successfully reinstated Earnest Hemingway into literature after about a ten year absence, and what books he did have had little critical acclaim. He returns to his classic themes, the Hemingway Code (endure against all odds, conflicts being man against himself and man against nature) brilliantly enacted by an old Cuban Fisherman named Santiago. Actually, it is closer to a novella than a novel, short though still packing a powerful message of not giving up, which is the central theme is almost anything Hemingway wrote. A similar scene, if I remember correctly, also finds its way into ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, a posthumously published work wherein a boy fights for hours bring in a shark in the Gulf Stream, where this book is set. The story to THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA is simple enough. A fisherman named Santiago goes out in a little boat, attempting to bring in a giant marlin. The fisherman must go out, beyond the circle that is normally accepted, and travel in grounds (in this case waters) to a new place that would challenge his skills. The same theme is touched on in the short story "Snows of Kilimanjaro", about the leopard who was high on the mountain, out of his usual bounds. He must endure the pain, must endure everything to get that giant marlin. The book, as noted in the amazon.com review, the gun element is eliminated from this, for the fisherman Santiago has to much age to deal with that. As Hemingway deftly weaves, in his vintage style of stripped and bare stye of prose writing, a spell that will leave you entranced. Ultimately, however, the story may end in what others view as tragedy, but to me this furthers Hemingway's maturity. Earlier, his life was one of big game hunting ("Short Happy Life of Frances McComber", "Kilimanjaro"), and Hemingway's own need to bring down game and receive glory marvelously does not find itself in here. One thing that is notable is the movie follows this book to the tea, with the changing of only ONE WORD, which in itself probably resulted from a mistake. The quote about that anyone receiving the Nobel prize didn't write anything worthwhile, in this case, was true.. It is because of this work that got him the Nobel Prize, which is given as a whole for the body of work, just not a particular book. However, because of the 10 year absence, this book brought Hemingway back to the attention of the public - also the attention of the Nobel people.
Rating:
Summary: The Trivial Trade-offs in Life, Religious Allegory.
Review: Hemingway as usual deciphers a different language into English in the way it would be spoken originally... Beautifully. The story is timeless and the plot need not be retold. Hemingway explores worth in life. What is worth more; a prize or what makes one stronger in the end. What people think over what you know. Worth. The fish which leads Santiago is allegorical to faith in God. Santiago has faith but in the end, as in life, we do not always get what we want--yet we endure and become stronger because of our faith even in the event of loss. I need not even say this but--this truly is a timeless masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: What Life is All About
Review: I read this book at one go at a local bookshop. It's bad that I did it but how could one stop reading when one's heart is captured the first instance one lay one's eyes on the first sentence of the book? Pausing will only result in breaking the feel the book gives me and to continue later will not give me back the same feeling. I know that. This book is about an old Cuban fisherman, yes. But to me it is much more than that. It's about how one struggles in life just to live and also at the same time how one could appreciate what one has and treasure the pleasures that one is lucky to be bestowed from time to time. It's also about determination and perseverance, of how one should never let go without a good fight. For those who has been a warrior, this book will ring deep in the heart. The prose that Hemingway employ is extremely simple yet beautiful. Conveying beautiful messages in simple sentences is not easy but in this little novella, one can see ample demonstration on how a master of prose employs it so elegantly. Read it and feel good about it. If you're as unlucky as the old man one day, this book will surely be your best companion as it is as real and as good as it can get.
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