This One Had Me HookedSet in Cuba, The Old Man and The Sea is about an old fisherman named Santiago. He has not been lucky lately with his fishing, and he is all alone in the world save one little boy. Will Santiago’s luck turn?This book had me hooked from the beginning (sorry I couldn’t resist). But seriously, this book gripped me from the beginning. It is definitely a tearjerker. The Old Man and The Sea is deeply moving and filled with symbolism. This is a perfect example of an author showing ...

On July 2, 1961, Heaven and the world fell silent.When a just man diesLamentation and praiseSorrow and joyAre one.And some suicides, as Scobie’s in The Heart of the Matter, are - no matter what dour theologians May say - Trophies of Heaven.Such, surely, was Hemingway’s.That sunny, windy summer morning we all got the news, even my preteen friends and I were taciturn and sullen. Ernest Hemingway had been a Hero in our world. Life and Time magazines said so, and they were the gospel truth for our p...

"But man is not made for defeat" he said. "A man can be destroyed, but not defeated." The Old Man and the Sea ~~~ Ernest Hemingway I first encountered Hemingway in college while taking a humanities class; the professor had us read Hemingway’s The Nick Adams Stories . I fell in love with Hemingway’s short stories. I wrote an impassioned paper on the character of Nick and received an “A” for my efforts. Throughout the years, I have returned to Hemingway’s short stories, and novellas, and I ...

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, b...

It is intimidating to offer a truly critical look at such a classic, so we will ease into it with a few images. The GOP has offered us a ready-made item to begin this list, and yes, I know that John Stewart already snagged this one and threw it back. I turned up a visual art concept that fits in, for a restaurant based on EH themes:Although I did not sit for this photo, the resemblance is indeed strikingAnd, of courseThe Old Man and the Cee Lo.I suppose am certain there are plenty more images on...

My very first time reading Papa and I absolutely LOVED IT. Sometimes the experience you have with a book can be effected by many things beyond the narrative itself, and I think that is certainly the case here. While I believe I would have loved this story regardless, there is no doubt that the stars aligned themselves perfectly to make this a singularly special read for me.Let me explain...Last year, I was in Napa with my wife and two of our best friends celebrating my (oh shit!!) 40th birt...

I read this as a young man and was disappointed. It didn't work for me. I thought it was about a crazy old man gone off the reservation, picking a fight with an innocent fish while ranting about the New York Yankees ("I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing. They say his father was a fisherman...").I picked it up again, after the passage of some years, and found it incredibly poignant. It's a simple story. There's an old man, Santiago, who is a fisherman fallen on hard times. He is cared...

Oh, my good lord in heaven. Cut your line, land your boat and go to McDonald's! Just as in the case of The Great Gatsby, I understand the book. Yes, I know it changed the way American writers write. I also understand that it celebrates the ridiculous American idea that you're only a REAL man if you've done something entirely purposeless, but really dangerous, in pursuit of making yourself look like the bull with the biggest sexual equipment. Get over it, already! Go home and clean out the refrig...

Worst book ever.

Just throw the fucking fish back in. Fuck.

"There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The sharks are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know."

-Ernest Hemingway