BOOK: The old man and the sea

A book by Ernest Hemingway. An interesting confrontation between man and nature.

Santiago is an old man, a fisher who lives in very poor conditions. For 84 days he has come home without any luck of catching anything. He had hoped that his 85th day would be somewhat luckier.

The old man's companion, a boy named Manolino, loves him dearly and helps him in every way he can. He brings him breakfast, helps him carry the fishing equipment, catches baits for him and keeps him company. Unfortunately, the boys parents stopped him from going fishing on Santiago's boat because they had seen the old man's bad luck.

Finally, the 85th day comes and Santiago starts his journey. After waiting some time in the middle of the wide, blue sea, he notices a fish had caught itself in the bait. He is unable to see it but he feels that it's strong, since it pulls with enormous strength. The old man holds as tightly as he can, still careful not to break the rope.

The old man's persistance ends up with him spending days on his boat, just holding on to the rope, with pain. He felt pain but didn't want to give up. He even talked to the fish, building a special relationship with it, in the lonely, salty waters. Finally, after noticing the fish getting tired he saw it swimming on the surface. It was a beautiful silver swordfish, just as he had suspected earlier, and it was a bit longer than his boat. Santiago managed to kill the fish with his harpoun, content of being able to defeat such a worthy opponent. An opponent he respected.

Many times on his journey he had wished Manolino was there with him. But he also realized that on the sea; you can never truly be alone. He had encountered many different fish and birds surrounding him.

But just when he had thought he succeded, after tieing the fish to the boat, sharks sensed the fish's blood and started attacking their pray. The old man fought fiercly for his pride, even losing his harpoun and knife. Many sharks had attacked him but he stayed persistant in going home.

Tired from the painful and thrilling adventure, he tied his boat on the dock after finally returning. But what had left of the fish was only its bones, the skeleton. Although he had lost it, he never lost his pride or beliefs. He was simply happy to go and sleep in his bed.

And in the morning, people tried measuring the fish's skeleton.

I believe many of you read this book, and Ernest Hemingway got the Nobel piece prize for it.

Opinions? Likes? Dislikes?
I personally enjoyed it a lot and I actually wrote all of this you see myself. No copy/paste, guys.

I found it rather bland and un-interesting.

I feel Earnest Hemingway puts WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much detail into his stories.
Stuff like:
"He drove his car up the hill, he put his right foot on the break and turned the key in the ignition to stop the car. He grabbed the handle on the inside, pulled, opened the door, and got out. He put his left foot on the ground, the right quickly followed. He looked westward and took a deep breath in, moments later, he exhaled."

I didn't like it, we read it in English.
It seems to drag on and on.