Review: The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I heard first time about this book when my close friend Danish Gondal talked about it. He said he read it as a child, in Urdu, and it devastated him. Since then I was curious about it.

As it's a short book, and I am lagging behind my reading goal this year, so I picked up to finish it quickly. While I was reading, I was constantly telling myself to get too emotionally attached as any dark twist could come and devastate me too (Danish is a lot stronger mentally and emotionally than I am). No dark twist came. Hemingway doesn't play cheap-shots. It's not a thriller, but every bit as gripping.

It's a tale about an Old man who goes fishing. The old man is smart and humble, and poor, and skilled at fishing. And he's self-aware. He knows his weaknesses too.

I think it's a book about we we try our best to succeed in our missions, and in life, and we do too. Without giving much thoughts to the missions themselves. I think it's a novel about you have to be wise too, in addition to being clever.

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