Ernest Hemingway | Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Old Man and the Sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Publication date: 1952
Length: 128 pages
Rating:

“A beautiful tale, awash in the seasalt and sweat, bait and beer of the Havana coast. It tells a fundamental human truth: in a volatile world, from our first breath to our last wish, through triumphs and pitfalls both trivial and profound, what sustains us, ultimately, is hope.” —The Guardian

The last of his novels Ernest Hemingway saw published, The Old Man and the Sea has proved itself to be one of the most enduring works of American fiction. The story of a down-on-his-luck Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal—a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream—has been cherished by generations of readers.

Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of adversity and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic. First published in 1952, this hugely popular tale confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Old Man and the Sea is only sort-of my Classics Club spin book…

For the summer spin, my book ended up being My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. And I was happy about it! It sounded charming, it had been on my to-read list for a while, and I’d been thinking about watching the PBS adaptation (The Durrells in Corfu), so starting with the book seemed like a great idea.

And then I read the first 25% or so… and it just wasn’t for me. I enjoyed the anecdotes about the family, but thought I’d tear my hair out if I had to spend any more time contemplating the insects in the garden and the misadventures of a tortoise. I know people love this book — but not me.

Onward. Rather than give up on the latest spin book entirely, I decided to sub in a book from the same decade that had been on my backup list… and that’s how I ended up with The Old Man and the Sea. Is this breaking the Spin rules? Maybe (probably)… but I figured “my challenge, my rules” and decided that I was okay with this outcome.

It feels a little funny to talk about a Hemingway book based on the plot alone, since there’s such a cult of personality built up around the author — even to the extent of annual competitions such as The International Imitation Hemingway Competition, also known as the Bad Hemingway Contest (which Wikipedia warns us not to confuse with the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest).

I’ve only read one Hemingway novel (A Farewell to Arms, which I thought was wonderful) and have little knowledge or experience with his other works. Of course, I was already aware of the general storyline of The Old Man and the Sea, and I believe we even watched a film version way back in my school days, so I knew how the book would end.

And still, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this short novel and thought the writing was pitch-perfect. It’s spare and tense, and captures the feeling of being old, the struggle of man against nature, and the relentlessness of time as the world passes someone by.

In a nutshell, the plot is about the old fisherman Santiago, once considered the greatest of the great, who has had a streak of bad luck and has come back empty-handed from his fishing excursions for over 80 straight days. His faithful companion, a younger boy, has been forced by his family to work on a different boat because Santiago has become unlucky.

Santiago sets out alone to see if his luck will change, and he hooks the biggest fish of his life, then spends three days at sea fighting with his body and spirit to land the fish and bring it back with him.

I found the story quite powerful and engaging, and highlighted passage after passage. As I’ve said, I’m no expert and can’t comment more generally on Hemingway as a writer — but I did love the way he expresses Santiago’s struggles, and the vividness with which he portrays both the old fisherman’s battle and his love for the sea and its creatures.

Here are a few of the lines and passages that stood out for me:

Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle’s heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs.

I wish I could show him what sort of man I am. But then he would see the cramped hand. Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.

“Fish,” the old man said. “Fish, you are going to have to die anyway. Do you have to kill me too?”

You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.

And my favorite:

“If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy,” he said aloud. “But since I am not crazy, I do not care.”

I’m really pleased that I made the decision to switch books, and I’m happy to have read The Old Man and the Sea. It’s a short book, but one that held me in its spell from start to finish.