Old Man and the Sea

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Heston's name is synonymous with excellence in entertainment, and he brings anew immediacy to the timeless story of the old Cuban fisherman whose idol wasJoe DiMaggio.

0 pages, Audiobook

First published September 1,1952

About the author

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Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Best known for an economical, understated style that significantly influenced later 20th-century writers, he is often romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle, and outspoken and blunt public image. Most of Hemingway's works were published between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, including seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works. His writings have become classics of American literature; he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, while three of his novels, four short-story collections and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, in mid-1961, he died of suicide.

Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 98 votes)
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98 reviews All reviews
April 16,2025
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حدوداً 20 صفحه‌ی پایانی را با نوعی از تپش قلب خواندم؛ با یک اندوه عمیق و با اشک. هر جمله که بر جانم می‌نشست، یک آه از اعماق وجود می‌کشیدم و با ترس و لرز جلو می‌رفتم.
آیا برای دوست داشتن همینگوی، برای عاشق ادبیات بودن، برای دل بستن به زندگی، و برای تحمل تمام رنج‌ها در جستجوی معنا، به چیزی بیشتر از پیرمرد و دریا نیاز است؟! اجازه بدهید پا را فراتر بگذارم و بگویم: "آیا برای زیستن، به چیزی بیشتر از پیرمرد و دریا نیاز داریم؟!"

مرور نوشتن برای این کتاب، برای من، از آن دست وظایفی است که نیازمند تمرکز، وقت، خلوص و صداقت بسیار، تسلطی وصف‌ناپذیر بر خود، کنکاش درونی‌ای دردناک، غلبه بر کمال‌گرایی و وسواس بیمارگونه‌ام (که الان دارد می‌گوید هیچ درباره‌ی این کتاب ننویس، هیچ نوشته‌ای از تو نمی‌تواند حق مطلب را ادا کند.) و خیلی چیزهای دیگر است؛ شاید یک روز بنویسمش و اگر چنین کنم، کار ارزنده‌ای کرده‌ام؛ شاید کاری شبیه رفتن به اعماق دریا و دور شدن بسیار از ساحل برای صید بزرگ‌ترین ماهی دریا.
April 16,2025
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I’ve thought long and hard on how to rate this and half of me wants to rate it well since it has a lot of interesting and powerful themes and I’m also entranced by the potential symbolism that Hemingway and Santiago are one in the same: An old man nearing the end of his career. What that looks like in the book and what actually happened in real life are two very different outcomes but incredibly powerful and poetic.
However….this book just bored me to tears. It bored me in middle school and I figured what the heck, small book, give it another go. Nah, not entirely for me.
I do love fishing! I’ve never been fishing in the Gulf Stream, but fishing for bass and sunfish has been a recent favorite of mine since my brother-in-law taught me a few years ago. I thought that would help me appreciate the story more now, but it didn’t hold as much as I hoped.
I’ll settle on 3 stars. Very poetic with strong themes. However a bit redundant and at times boring.
Final note: I may have liked this slightly more had he talked more about his travels to Africa and less about Joe DiMaggio.
April 16,2025
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"You have control over only your karma: never on its fruits. So because of [concern over] the fruits of your karma, never shirk from it."

This is most probably the most quoted, used, misused, praised and maligned verse from the Bhagavad Gita, where Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna on the Karma-yoga. It has been praised as the epitome of virtue to do your duty regardless of the consequences: it has been severely criticised as the upper caste Hindu spiritual drug to force a person to follow his caste duties without contemplation. Both views have their merits: but what they ignore is that, spirituality aside, this is what keeps most of us sane - having very little control over where we are placed as a cog in this huge machine of the universe, the best thing is to bite the bullet and press ahead, and do the best you can.

Hemingway's old fisherman, Santiago, would not have known the Gita. But he echoes its philosophy when he says:

Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.


Being born as a fisherman, his karma is to fish - it does not matter whether he manages to land anything. Everyday he keeps on returning to the sea, because

My big fish must be somewhere.


Yes, indeed.

-------------------------

This slim book is Hemingway's testament to the eternal struggle of man against nature, a dance of life and death, enacted by Santiago and the marlin against the backdrop of the sea and the sky. Even while intent on killing one another, the contest is one of love as well as antagonism.

“Fish," he said, "I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.”

You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?


There is nothing personal in it, no pleasure or pain - just the inevitability of karma. And it does not matter whether one wins or loses, whether one has the catch to show for one's victory - for the act of fishing is what is important, for a man who was born to be a fisherman.

Up the road, in his shack, the old man was sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions.


Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose. Tomorrow is always another day.

One of the real gems of world literature.
April 16,2025
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OMUL, DESTINUL, LUPTA CU VIAȚA



Puține Nobeluri au fost date pentru o singură operă și nu pentru întreaga activitate. Aici este cazul.

Un bătrân pescar, ce nu mai prinde nimic de multă vreme, iese în larg la pescuit. El reușește să prindă un pește, se lasă tras de zbaterea lui foarte departe de țărm, se luptă cu el zile întregi și se întoarce acasă cu ceva mai mult decât scheletul. Ce-i cu asta, veți spune?

Este, este totul, determinarea bătrânului se dovedește a fi exemplară, fiecare gest pe care îl face capătă o semnificație profundă. Acolo, în larg, prin lupta cu peștele, în liniștea desăvârșită a oceanului, Hemingway își definește personajul, dar definește și Omul, Destinul, lupta continuă cu viața.

În mai puțin de o sută de pagini, cu un singur personaj, Hemingway reușește ceea ce alți autori nu au reușit scriind înzecit mai mult despre zeci de personaje.
April 16,2025
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The Old Man and The Sea is a short story by Ernest Hemingway which talks about an old lonely fisherman who was being shunned as he was considered bad luck when it comes to fishing and those who live around. Except for a young boy who takes care that he sleeps, eats and carry on with his normal daily routine, the old man lives a rather lonely life who takes pleasure in talking about baseball and his old fishing adventures.

The plot revolves around two days and nights when he sets out to get hold of a big fish being unable to haul it alone and getting carried by the fish until he reaches the shore.

I enjoyed reading about this character who's symbolic of resilience, loneliness, adventurous spirit and the writing is thoroughly engaging till the end.

I feel how the book ends leaves m the readers as how to interpret the story in their own terms, mine being the main character showed what he could do inspite of all the challenges and the constant criticism he was facing.

This is my second read from the author, the first being A Farewell To Arms which I read years ago and loved it inspite of the unlikeable main character. Looking forward to read more of the author's work.

The author's life story is pretty interesting as well. Love how this book's introduction gave a short information on the author.
April 16,2025
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I believe The Old Man and the Sea reflects Ernest Hemingway’s own life crisis…
Any fishing feats, even picturesquely portrayed, don’t sound like some heroic doings…
The sun was rising for the third time since he had put to sea when the fish started to circle. He could not see by the slant of the line that the fish was circling. It was too early for that. He just felt a faint slackening of the pressure of the line and he commenced to pull on it gently with his right hand. It tightened, as always, but just when he reached the point where it would break, line began to come in. He slipped his shoulders and head from under the line and began to pull in line steadily and gently. He used both of his hands in a swinging motion and tried to do the pulling as much as he could with his body and his legs. His old legs and shoulders pivoted with the swinging of the pulling.

If the caught fish, however big, is man’s greatest achievement then his life is frittered away…
April 16,2025
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Since there’s about 20,000 reviews of The Old Man and the Sea on Goodreads and they're likely better then this one, I’m keeping it brief.

I’m surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! This is my first book by Hemingway and I’m glad I started with The Old Man and the Sea.

It’s pretty straightforward. There’s an old fisherman, he’s broke and he's had the worse luck with fishing recently. He lives in Cuba and this was written back in 1952, so the fishing is old school. I honestly can't imagine trying to fish like Santiago!

The old man goes off to find a big fish and he catches a huge one. Now it’s a battle of who will survive between the old man and the marlin.
On another note, since I talk to myself at times, reading about Santiago talking to himself didn't bother me at all. What else is he going to do while battling the marlin and trying to survive in the sea?!

I loved the tenacity of this old goat and how he would not give up. Especially when the sharks showed up!! Holy smokes, Santiago was doing all he could to make sure the marlin wasn’t eaten by the sharks. I was so mad at those sharks!! The old man does all that work, could have died while battling the marlin, and the sharks take his damn fish away.
Just goes to show you that the sea will likely always win!

I really liked the relationship between the old man and the marlin. It’s like they became kindred souls together on this epic journey.
Check out The Old Man and the Sea if you’re working on your classics, you enjoy fishing or you love the ocean!
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