From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway

Start date: July 4, 2015

Finish date: July 9, 2015

Discussion: . Week 18: Pulitzer Book

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. Week 18: Pulitzer Book

* Week 18: Progress Post
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 15 posts · 75 views

last updated Dec 01, 2015 04:43AM

* Week 18: Introduction
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 3 posts · 150 views

last updated Apr 23, 2015 09:35AM

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What Members Thought

Jan 04, 2017 Veena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

It was during the different kinds of work done during the Great War where the author had decided that he was going to write a story about a fisherman and a boat. He was quite fascinated with the idea but never got around to writing the story until towards the end of his writing career. This short novella won him the Pulitzer Prize and a year later Nobel prize for his career in literature. Hemingway found a lot of admiration for this short fiction which is still read decades after it was publishe It was during the different kinds of work done during the Great War where the author had decided that he was going to write a story about a fisherman and a boat. He was quite fascinated with the idea but never got around to writing the story until towards the end of his writing career. This short novella won him the Pulitzer Prize and a year later Nobel prize for his career in literature. Hemingway found a lot of admiration for this short fiction which is still read decades after it was published first.

This is a story of an old fisherman who has run out of luck. He has gone 83 days without catching a fish. The boy who used to accompany the old man was also ordered by his family to work for other fishermen. The man is all alone patiently waiting for his next capture. It is true that in old age you are always lonely. It is inevitable. But he refuses to lose hope and prepares for the next capture. The next day he sets sail again to capture a marlin and the way he does it! It is a marvelous narration. The heart goes to the fisherman for his determination. The next task is to bring the fish in and this too while he is lost in the sea. His Marlin gets eaten by the sharks on the way while he fights for the last piece of its meat.
The highlight of the story is the portrayal of the emotions. The undulations are deep. There are also psychological shadows seen during the story. The never staggering determination wins the story.
The need to talk to someone, to be one's own guide and well-wisher, the constant need to share a relationship with someone are all that makes the story worth Reading. It is also a depiction of changing faith in the face of adversity. A parallel of drawn with Jesus quite often. There is also an iron heart of a fisherman who respects his kill and does not let it go easily. A mutilated marlin is ugly to look at but it is still his kill.
This is definitely one of the best books I have read, ever. It reminds you of the simplicity of Kafka and the narration of Gabriel García Márquez. I resolved to at least read one classic a month and this is definitely a great start! ...more

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Mar 03, 2018 Indira rated it liked it

This is a book that among many other awards, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953. A context could help. I assume many English schools have this as part of their syllabus- mine didn't. It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his persistence and courage in excelling his own art. I guess it allows readers the freedom to imagine the message it holds. While some may find it as just a fisherman's feat, some can find it his courage and persistence. I found it amusing that even while fighti ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Ed Lehman added it

Shelves: 1001-list, completed-1001-list-book

Read in high school.

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Aug 20, 2014 Tina rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, nature, coonabarabran-bookclub, made-into-movie

Sad is how I felt finishing this book. I love the relationships between the boy and the man, the man and the fish, the man with the man. Though the ending is somewhat inevitable, I felt it was a real shame. A part from a lesson learnt (?), it made it all seem kind of pointless.

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