Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal—a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream, on the water for months without a catch, but refusing to stop trying.

Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the timeless theme of courage and commitment in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his talent and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Old Man and the Sea

eryc

“Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.

It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought.

Now is no time to think of what you do not have.

Think of what you can do with that there is

“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

Old Man and the Sea

Sanne

‘I’d like to buy some [luck] if there's any place they sell it,’ he said.

The punishment of the hook is nothing. The punishment of hunger, and that he is against something that he does not comprehend, is everything.

Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.

He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.

MOST LOVED. MOST RED. Ten must-read modern classics. '"But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."' In the baking sun, in a small village off the coast of Havana, lives an old fisherman named Santiago. It has been eighty-four days since he last caught a fish. The locals call it bad luck. Refusing to accept defeat, Santiago sets off in his tiny skiff alone, fishing further out than ever before. It is here, over a number of days, that he, his will and his character are tested beyond imagination. Faced with bad weather, hunger and thirst, the old man finds himself in battle with a giant marlin, a fish bigger than any to have been caught before. Nature is not kind and gentle in this fable, nor is Hemingway. You hold in your hands one of the very best pieces of writing to have ever been created.

Patricia Melova

Peculiar book that's incredibly boring but so page turning too. 

The sea is such a cruel mistress and man is not meant to tame it. 

Hemingway says absolutely nothing with this book and I find myself perplexed about what it makes me want to say, if anything at all. 

Liam Richardson

Peculiar book that's incredibly boring but so page turning too. 

The sea is such a cruel mistress and man is not meant to tame it. 

Hemingway says absolutely nothing with this book and I find myself perplexed about what it makes me want to say, if anything at all. 

A different reading experience.

Yeah there was some suffering but it’s not like he had to juggle unemployment and Fortnite in the same day. Smh this mf overreacting for clout. 

Miles Silverstein

El viejo y el mar

Rocío de la Hera

lo leí en una hora, me rompió y arregló el alma en 160 páginas. Libro sobre la soledad y el no rendirse ante la adversidad, por más difícil que sea y por más vencido que te sientas. Hemingway poeta perdido te amo

Evan

My first Hemingway, it's pretty amazing the man can get a lot of story out of so few elements. An old man, his small boat at sea, and a big fish. It's nothing super exciting and yet he makes this short read a pretty high-stakes thrill.
 I recommend the book to everyone, I think it's a fun journey that despite the boring sound of being mostly a man's inner contemplations of his current situation and life. I enjoyed it a lot and intend to give it as a gift.

Itzel

We had to read this for school this year.

I didn't like it.

I almost never like books that we have to read for school.

But I just found this one boooring. Like, really, an entire book to describe how long it took to fish a damn fish.

I understand that it's supposed to illustrate about, idk, perseverance, and stuff like that, but it was WAY too SLOW for my taste. So thank you.

It was weird how he kept talking to his hands.

It was like Gollum.

The Old Man and the Sea is much more than the story of a fisherman or an American-style hero. It is a fable about the process of individuation, with the wise old man, the ego fish, the sea mind and the divine child.

Hygor Zorak

I have the softest spot for stories like this

Clay Carey

Christine

read at 12am on sunday night 
class was literally the next morning

in which a book can drag on for ages... and ages... and people go crazy and feesh and santa mango and a U h

video!
much better.

Vicky  Nuñez 

I loved this book. I thought it was brilliant. This is the first book I ever read of Hemingway and I am truly impressed and can't wait to read more of him.

about time i read this piece of hemingway’s. it’s so him and oh boy do i love that old man.  

lily taggart

lily

The Old Man and The Sea is meant to be simple and straightforward, devoid of any real symbolism; however, that doesn't mean there aren't underlying thoughts to be had with each chapter. The mundaneness allows for clear dynamicism in the characters, how they think and interact with each other. It would be foolish to expect a full blown novel with explicit detail from Hemingway. He expects you to muse and digest the simplicity.

Natalie

My opinion of this book is more of a testament to Hemingway's significant influence on American literature: it reads like an archetypical American fiction. An engaging read, nevertheless, as the struggle between the old man and the obstacles he faces at sea and the old man's musings on aging are well described.

Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway's magnificent fable is the story of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. In a perfectly crafted story, which won for Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature, is a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of man's challenge to the elements in which he lives.

Ryan 

so i just read 128 pages about an old man...fishing for 3 days straight. that was so pointless, i would say.

Der alte Mann und das Meer

Leon Beckert

Charles Scribner Jr. single handedly turns a five star book into a horrible experience by putting a spoiler that disclose the entire story in the foreword. I would love to give five but given the circumstances, I can‘t.

you should never go to the sea by yourself (yes, even though you're introvert and love to speak to yourself).

(to the introverts out there, recommend this book to your extrovert friends)

Hooman Rostami

I get it is metaphor, I get it inspired a generation of American writers, I get it got Pulitzer Prize, but it is bad! I don’t agree with the message and I don’t get his obsession with the DiMaggio guy! It got some good prose, and that’s it!

iamazoo

the first 3/4 of the book was a real slog and not my vibe at all - i was just continuously losing steam (not unlike the old man himself!). but the last little bit really SLAPS. overall i guess it’s worth the hype. excellent if you want to learn some boat / fishing vocabulary.

Laura Mauler

Stories about old people make my heart sad.

Aamna

Very vivid but a little too slow for my taste

Lila R E

** spoiler alert **
           i can’t believe he killed the fish.

Lao Tzu

Revised and re-translated, Red Pine's best-selling and authoritative translation of Taoteching is now--vitally--available once again.

Lao-Tzu's Taoteching

Michael Bauer

Shape Mismatch

No story could better define one's character in lesser words. This was the first of Hemingway's short story I read, but only the first of many to come.

Laozi

The original mindfulness book, in a landmark new translation that presents it as a guide to living a better, kinder, gentler life The most translated book in the world after the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, or 'Book of the Way', is the essential text of Taoism, one of the three great religions of China. Through aphorisms and parable, it guides its readers toward the Tao, or the 'Way': living in harmony with the life force of the universe. Traditionally attributed to Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who was a contemporary of Confucius, it offers a practical model for living based on modesty, self-restraint and balance and is an insightful guide for anyone seeking to open their minds, free their thoughts, and attain greater self-awareness.

The Tao and the Power

Tao Te Ching (Daodejing)

rumbledethumps

I thought this translation was excellent, but I didn’t care for the commentary after each section. While the commentary itself was generally insightful, placing it after each section was a bit jarring. Reading the commentary, usually longer than the text itself, kept me in analytical mode, making it difficult to switch back to the intuitive mode often required for the text.

The Old Man and the Sea

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