The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea

by Ernest Hemingway

One of a series of top-quality fiction for schools, this is Hemingway's Nobel Prize-winning story of a Cuban fisherman's struggle with a great fish - a struggle between man and the elements, the hunter and the hunted.

Reviewed by Michael @ Knowledge Lost on

2 of 5 stars

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Ernest Hemingway is a very descriptive writer and yet he manages to do this with very few adjectives or adverbs. I just finished The Old Man and The Sea, which I thought was really well written, though the topic wasn’t something I would normally enjoy or relate to. Hemingway really perfected the art of writing and it was a joy to read. Hemingway painted a literary picture which felt like I was right there with the Man and the giant marlin. This technique made this a more emotional story. The old man,Santiago, was considered an unlucky fisherman and the story follows his journey into catching a big fish. I think Hemingway described the book best when he said; “No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in. … I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks. But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things”.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 May, 2010: Finished reading
  • 24 May, 2010: Reviewed