The Old Man and the Sea By Ernest Hemingway
Short Books, 1
I recently completed a mini series of book reviews about communism/totalitarianism.
The first book was about individualism over collectivism. Although I consider Ayn Rand and her philosophy as extreme( with some good ideas of course), there are many fans for her works. The second and third books were from one of the famous authors in the genre, George Orwell. The second book was an political allegory about the prevailing conditions in a communist state of that era i.e Soviet union. It is considered to be about Stalin's regime(where Stalin and Lenin are characterized as pigs Napoleon and Snowball respectively). The third book is also about communist/totalitarian regime but was a dystopian novel. Many of the terms introduced in the book are popular even today(big brother, thought crime etc. ). I wanted to club books that I thought were similar in theme so that it will be easy for the readers to choose the books they are interested in.
I thought I would review other books which I hope will be helpful to others. I will start with short books (less than say 200 pages maybe). The first short book I will write about is The Old Man and the Sea. The book is around a hundred pages long.
The first book was about individualism over collectivism. Although I consider Ayn Rand and her philosophy as extreme( with some good ideas of course), there are many fans for her works. The second and third books were from one of the famous authors in the genre, George Orwell. The second book was an political allegory about the prevailing conditions in a communist state of that era i.e Soviet union. It is considered to be about Stalin's regime(where Stalin and Lenin are characterized as pigs Napoleon and Snowball respectively). The third book is also about communist/totalitarian regime but was a dystopian novel. Many of the terms introduced in the book are popular even today(big brother, thought crime etc. ). I wanted to club books that I thought were similar in theme so that it will be easy for the readers to choose the books they are interested in.
I thought I would review other books which I hope will be helpful to others. I will start with short books (less than say 200 pages maybe). The first short book I will write about is The Old Man and the Sea. The book is around a hundred pages long.
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| The Old man and the Sea cover |
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Many consider this one novel fetched the author the Nobel Prize in literature, although I believe collective contribution to literature rather than a single work is what deserved a Nobel prize. As the author himself has said in some interviews, this story doesn't have any symbolism.
The story is about a Old fisherman who is a now a shadow what he was in his youth. The old man who has gone without catching a fish for a long time is now considered to have lost his charm. The boy who was working for him was also forced to change jobs by his parents who lost hope of old man finding a catch. The old man was under a tremendous pressure to save his reputation and prove them wrong.
The old man set sail to find a catch at any cost. He sailed unusually deep into the sea. After a long time he finally found a big fish and somehow after much struggle managed to catch it as well. The old man tied the big fish to side of the boat. The old man had never seen a fish as big as this one.
He thought he had finally accomplished what he set out for. But the sharks had other plans. At night, the smell of dead fish attacted sharks which started eating the fish. The old man tried to defend his catch using knife, harpoon, oar etc. but he was outnumbered and tired by that time. Finally when he got to the shore only head and tail of the big fish he had caught remained.
This is such a simple story, written with simple characters but there is so much takeaway from it.
Conclusion
This book is about human endurance and persistence. A good short book to read.
My ratings on goodreads.
The old man set sail to find a catch at any cost. He sailed unusually deep into the sea. After a long time he finally found a big fish and somehow after much struggle managed to catch it as well. The old man tied the big fish to side of the boat. The old man had never seen a fish as big as this one.
He thought he had finally accomplished what he set out for. But the sharks had other plans. At night, the smell of dead fish attacted sharks which started eating the fish. The old man tried to defend his catch using knife, harpoon, oar etc. but he was outnumbered and tired by that time. Finally when he got to the shore only head and tail of the big fish he had caught remained.
This is such a simple story, written with simple characters but there is so much takeaway from it.
Conclusion
This book is about human endurance and persistence. A good short book to read.
My ratings on goodreads.
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