Synopsis: Santiago, the titular old man, is an aging fisherman who hasn’t landed a fish in 84 days. His young assistant has moved to another, luckier boat, and the old man must fish alone. He sets out on the 85th day and must fight for his life after catching the biggest fish of his life. 

My Thoughts: I have been a fan of Hemingway for nearly two decades, but for some reason had never read The Old Man and the Sea. A Farewell to Arms and A Moveable Feast are two personal favorites. I have always appreciated his ability to put things plainly and without unnecessary frilliness, and that ability is put on display in this book. It opens with the line, “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” Any questions as to what this book will be about? No? Good. 

The book continues in this style, plainly laying each moment out and then moving on to the next. The only interruptions in this procession are the old man discussing things with himself. In this simplicity though is a powerful message of perseverance. Near the end of the book the old man is sailing back to the harbor with the remains of his catch and he says the line, “‘But man is not made for defeat,’ he said. ‘A man can be destroyed but not defeated.’” Throughout the text the old man struggles, the story even begins with him having struggled for 84 days, but he never gives up. I can tell you that if I had failed at my job for 84 days in a row, I probably would not be going back for day 85. But that is Hemingway’s point, and the entire message of this book. No matter what is happening we can still continue on.

And it is this simple message that makes me love novellas and short stories. The Old Man and the Sea tells one story, with one message, and it does so extremely well. Nothing else needed to be added to stretch the page count. There didn’t need to be contrived conflict between two characters because the painfully real conflict of living was playing out on the page. There are many people who have called The Old Man and the Sea a terrible book, a boring book, something that just doesn’t have a point. But I’ll leave you with this quote from Ernest Hemingway in the film Midnight in Paris, “ No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.” The Old Man and the Sea achieves all of this, and that is why it has remained a classic, and will continue to inspire for many years to come.