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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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…

Worst book ever.

Just throw the fucking fish back in. Fuck.

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!

The most popular review on goodreads for this book reads,"Just throw the fucking fish back in.Fuck."Sums it up nicely,couldn't have been expressed better.

I happened to watch the movie.I don't remember being so bored by a movie in a long,long while.

Thankfully,it wasn't required reading for me at school.

" وأجال بصره الى البحر وأستشعر مدى الوحدة التي تكتنفه،، ولكنه ظل قادراً على أن يرى مواشير الضياء في الاعماق المظلمة،، والخيط مندفعاً الى الامام،، وتموجات الماء الساجي العجيبة،،
وأدرك الشيخ أن المرء لا يمكن أن يكون وحيداً.. وحدة كاملة،، في (عـــرض الــبحــر) . "




حياة الصياد عبارة عن حياة شاقة مليئة بالتحديات في كل لحظة، مليئة بالفشل والخيبة والعجز، يصارع الصياد البحر والسمكة والطقس والخوف والمجهول والصبر، هذه الحياة التي ينقلها همنغواي إلى قارئه بكل تفصيلاتها الملحمية، بكل ما فيها تجربة إنسانية خالصة لأجل الصراع ولأجل البقاء على قيد الحياة ولأجل سمكة يصارعها بكل من أوتي من قوة وصبر وتحمل، الرذاذ المتطاير من البحر كالشلال، السنارة التي ترتجف وكأنها في حالة صرع دائم، الجوع والعطش والتعب والسهر ، الخيوط التي تأكل اليد ، والسمكة العنيدة التي تقامر على حياتها بكل ما أوتيت من قوة، صراع يحدده الطرف الأكثر صبراً، الأكثر ثباتاً، صراع ملحمي مع كل سمكة، سحب البكرة والحفاظ على الخطاف عالقاً في فم السمكة، والبحر الهائج يتقيء شلالات من الماء والعدم..

تمثل هذه الرواية الصراع الأكثر جمالاً بين الإنسان والطبيعة، يتجول همنغواي بحرية وطلاقة في النفس البشرية ليستخرج النفسية المحمومة في هذا الصراع الدائر، لحظات الخوف والضعف والانهزام، لحظات الاشتباك أو التراجع، هذه الثغرة النفسية التي تتولد في أماكن صعبة كهذه، يحاور الصياد نفسه بلغة يفهمها هو والسمك والبحر، يصبح صديقاً للسمك والبحر، يحاول أن يقتنص الحياة من فوهة الخطر، بعد أربعة وثمانين يوماً من عقم الصيد، يخرج في صباح إحدى الأيام وكله أمل بالتقاط سمكة ووضعها على القارب، سمكة مجنونة وصراع طويل ومحنة الإنسان المتصاعدة والتفكير بالفشل والتراجع، ثم صراع سمكات القرش الأكثر وحشية في هذه الرواية، همنغواي أفضل من أقتنص حياة البحارة والصيادين وعالمهم المظلم ونفسياتهم وظلالهم الداخلية والمصاعب والتحدي المستمر الذي يعيشون فيه..


أحب حكايات البحارة والصيادين، أحب البحر وكل ما يتعلق به، وأقدر ما يقوم به هؤلاء الرجال من تعب وتضحية في سبيل كل سمكة، والقتال من أجل لقمة عيشهم، حكايات البحر هي من أجمل ما يحكى لغرابتها وعنفوانها ولطبيعتها التي تشبه السحر..

In my opinion, only two other novels match The Old Man and the Sea for its brilliance, its brevity and its literary contribution: John Steinbeck's The Pearl and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. All three are quiet, skinny novels, which capture the human condition in just slightly over 100 pages and then leave you quite doubled over in pain.

With the exception of The Sun Also Rises, I can't even be said to be much of a Hemingway fan, but this re-read was powerful for me. By page 112, I was sobbing audibly and resisting the urge to shout, "Leave him alone, God damn it!" Now, that is no passive read.

Do not be fooled by the silence, the lack of characters or the slower pace. This is an American classic, worthy of a read or re-read, and it has earned its distinction in literature by lines like these:

He had sailed for two hours, resting in the stern and sometimes chewing a bit of the meat from the marlin, trying to rest and to be strong, when he saw the first of the two sharks.
"Ay," he said aloud.
There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.

So, reading this book was my personal penance for reading a rather silly YA fantasy freebie, Obsidian. If I read something particularly shallow and brainless, I try to balance it out with a classic or something that makes me actually use my brain cells.

At first Hemingway's typical simple, spare prose and his testosterone-fueled values were getting on my nerves. Digression here: one of the funnier things I've read was a piece on McSweeney's titled "Toto's 'Africa' by Ernest Hemingway". If you know 80s pop music you'll enjoy this. It reads in part:

His head spun from whiskey and soda. She was a damned nice woman. It would take a lot to drag him away from her. It was unlikely that a hundred men or more could ever do such a thing. The air, now thick and moist, seemed to carry rain again. He blessed the rains of Africa. They were the only thing left to bless in this forsaken place, he thought—at least until she set foot on the continent. They were going to take some time to do the things they never had.

He stood on the tarmac and watched as the plane came in for its landing. He heard the sound of wild dogs crying out into the night. The man thought the dogs sounded desperate, perhaps having grown restless and longing for some company. He knew the feeling.

Anyway, I'm reading sentences in this book like "They sat on the Terrace and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry," and I'm thinking, I'm just going to have to make myself power through this. But gradually this story sucked me in, and I could feel the nobility in both the old man and the immense fish. I had sympathy for old Santiago and his physically and mentally excruciating battle against the marlin and then the heartbreak of the hopeless fight against the sharks.

The Christ imagery toward the end was interesting, if not subtle. For example:

He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. He tried to get up. But it was too difficult and he sat there with the mast on his shoulder and looked at the road.

There's a lot more (his poor hands!), and it was moving even if I'm not completely buying everything Hemingway is selling. It's clear that the old man has gone through a shattering experience and has come through it, if not having defeated the forces of death, still with a huge personal victory.

I'm going to digress a little here again, and get a bit personal, but I'm reminded as well of an old poem, "Gethsemane" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, that ends:

All paths that have been, or shall be,
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane.
All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden’s gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say,
“Not mine but thine,” who only say,
“Let this cup pass,” and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane.

We all have our personal hardships, whether they be giant fish, sharks (I've met a few in my life, mostly human), jobs, physical problems, relationships, or any number of other trials in our lives. Not giving up, enduring with dignity, doing your best, reeling in that fish, battling those relentless sharks -- how we handle our troubles makes a huge difference, both to those around us and, perhaps mostly, to ourselves.