IN DEPTH BOOK REVIEW The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 

Santiago did not said "I am sorry" to little boy because he had not caught anything that day. It was because he had woken him up early in the morning and the boy was still sleepy. Santiago was never sorry for not catching fishes because he knew he was a great fisherman in his days and he still believed that his dry spell was going to end someday.

Tristan! You've articulated this beautifully! Admittedly, we haven't delved much into Hemingway but perhaps we should remedy this soon. Your videos are not simply book reviews, but pearls of wisdom---you teach not only what to read, but more importantly, how to read. Carry on good sir!

Amazing! As a 19 year old in the philippines i was struggling to see why this book was considered a classic as Ive always tagged it as somewhat dry. Having no reading community around me, thanks for opening up the otherside of the conversation. I'll plan revisiting this book in the future :)

The metaphor about holding onto the Marlin despite not yet having seen him, because you know it is something important but you can't quite articulate why yet. Wow. This is so true. Joseph Campbell calls this 'following your bliss"

I have The Old Man and The Sea but haven’t read it yet. It’s one of those books I picked up because it was free, classic and I felt like I “should” read it. Thanks to your video, I’m now looking forward to reading it! I’m old enough now to appreciate people even older than me. I know they are walking treasure chests of information and experience. When they go, so goes all the life they’ve lived. I want to glean what I can from them and pass on the lessons. I don’t want to be a “tourist” in this life.

I thought one of the most beautiful things about this book was that despite his suffering and ultimate failure, he simply learn from his mistakes and intend to go through it all again. Showing that to live means never giving up till the day you die.

This video was so introspective. Your explanation was amazing.

"Papa" Hemingway lived twenty years at Finca Vigía (Lookout Farm) on the outskirts of Havana. While living there he fished and he especially loved to fish for marlin.

I've loved this story since childhood, but your video makes me want to reread it and better absorb these themes. Great analysis!

What an amazing book review you have made. You're truly an inspiration as well as this book to me. Thank you.

Excellent review, I will watch it over and over again

Truly excellent! Although I've read widely all my life ( I'm 55 ), I've only come to Hemingway recently - and read 'The Old Man and the Sea' for the first time only yesterday. It's an amazingly profound novella and its apparent 'banality' belies its depth of profundity. Your video really opens up some of those 'layers'. I find it deeply poignant that, at the end, the skeletal remains of the marlin are floating in the garbage: for me, signifying that it is not the physical 'marlin' but the effort and quest that is important. Thanks for making this!

Amazing. More people need to watch your videos! As an artist this hits home for me. Thank you!

This is one of my favorite books . Loved hearing you explaining it . Read it first time when I was 30 years old. Just read it again 2 months ago I am 86 years old and you brought up many points I did not see mostly the woman’s comment at the end .👍😃

By far the best review of anything I've ever seen or read. I enjoyed nearly as much as I did reading the book. Thank you.

The great review aside, your eloquence in speech and extended vocabulary is quite the satisfaction to listen to. Good job!

I am currently teaching this novella, and your explanation proves quite useful . Thank you

Goodness me! I've read this thing twice and how many things did I miss!?! Great talk, I learnt such a lot🧠👍🧠

Fantastic analysis. Thank you so much!

An excellent book. An excellent review. Won my subscription.

Thank you for uploading this. I've just finished reading this book. and I as well, thought that the sea was a grand metaphor of life. it's a great novella that one should re-read over and over again, just to remember, that we must appreciate everything and the beauty around us, including hardships.

Wow! What great insightful comments you have made about this book, and with such passion. I am so grateful. You opened my eyes, and have really made it shine for me. Thank you so much. I will watch more of your videos. Bless you

That was very good, very enjoyable. Thanks for the analysis

Perfekt analysis😊

This was an incredible review. I made the right choice of sticking around till the very end even though I haven't read the book, and now I can't wait to pick it up someday, hopefully sooner rather than later. I can't believe I've only just now found your channel, your videos are amazing. I loved this! 🍂

Simply perfect!!!👏👏

You did a great job with your analysis. Really enjoyed it.

I just listened to novella. Loved it. A "tear your heart out" kind of story. I tried to think of some of the themes you might talk about and my guess was man vs nature. This story reminded me of some of Jack London's stories where man is pitted against nature in a brutal way. Loved your commentary!!!!

Lovely and thought provoking review. It is now on my list.

Hello Tris, Many thanks for such enlightening remarks of this, my favorite novel. The outstanding memory I have of this book has to do with the great, gentle love and deep understanding Manolo and Santiago share. They are two unforgettable characters that seem to grow for me with each new reading. And you're right--the slower one reads the book the better the digestion of metaphors and greater appreciation of Hemingway's word choices; small words, immense concepts. {Very much like Robert Frost, no?} I especially love the scene when Santiago goes into the boy's hut to wake him, which he does by gently holding his foot. I'm hard pressed to find comparable tenderness in any of my readings. Thank you for a beautiful review.

Thank you for your excellent analysis. Anyone who considers this story boring is indeed a tourist in life.

That was awesome Tristan, absolutely awesome and fulfilling. I am definitely goi g back to read The Old Man and the Sea again. I never saw all what u explained here before this. A definite read for 2024 for me. Thank u avain!❤❤❤😊

Very good review 👏🏻👏🏻

great analysis, so many people are just plain oblivious

I had to read this book in high school many years ago and found it very boring. Then I read it a few years ago and loved it ! After this video I’m going to read it again. Your videos are the best!!

Love listening and learning . Great review. How specific you were in interpreting words and passages.

Amazing video!!!

Hi! Thank you for everything you contribute and teach on your RU-vid channel. I follow you with great interest and look forward to each new video! Thanx!! Regarding "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway, I interpret it a bit differently. It is essential for me to know a bit about the author himself and how he was in life - marked by many marriages, alcohol, and deep depressions. In his novel "The Old Man and the Sea," I interpret it as the big fish he is waiting for - the creature that dwells in the depths, far below the surface, is his depression. The depression - the big, all-consuming, dark, strong, vague entity that just lives in the depths and strikes when least expected. The depression - the intangible and incomprehensible. To me, it's as if Hemingway is saying that it would have been easier if the depression manifested itself in something physical - something he could face man to man and perhaps physically overcome. He mentions his left hand - which was better before. Perhaps he means by this that he used to write better when he was younger, that he has something he wants to write out, but can't quite manage to. The comparison with Joe DiMaggio seems to me like he is trying to say that the life he lives with alcohol and depression is as demanding as that of a top athlete. I interpret it as Hemingway, through "The Old Man and the Sea," being afraid that the sharks will get pieces of the big fish - or as I interpret it; that journalists - and other people - will find out about his depressions and that it will live on in the media outside his control. And that would be a shame, wouldn't it... A man have to be a man, and he definitely do not talk about his problems and inner pain. I also interpret it as the young boy Manolin being the young version of Santiago - in other words, Hemingway himself. He looks back at his youth and wonders how he could have done things differently so that life wouldn't become so dark. At the end of the book, the old man lies dreaming of lions. Lions are often symbolized with strength and dominance. The Lion of Judah mentioned in Revelation 5:5 is traditionally linked to Jesus. I interpret it as the old man - and Hemingway himself, dreaming of the strength to overcome depressions and the darkness that makes life and relationships difficult, and he probably also dreams of being able to surrender to the good powers and Jesus Christ himself. Someone who can carry all the burden for him because he is so tired. Hemingway also takes his own life in 1961. It doesn't matter to him who of them dies; Santiago - the fish, here symbolized for Hemingway and the depression, all he knew was that they could no longer live life together.

Really excellent. I like this guy.

That’s a wonderful and really rather moving analysis Tristan - thank you. I have just re-read ‘The old man and the sea’ after a gap of about 40 years, I’m not far off being an old man myself now and It certainly resonated in a very different way this time. Your take on it is lovely I hadn’t considered the analogy with Jesus before. As I was listening to you I was very struck by the sea being life itself and the skiff our small part in it, and what of the fish - we all have something we pursue in life, what will we do when we get it? Do we inevitably kill our dream when we catch it? I’m going to read it again - right now!

Thank you!

Beautiful

your interpretación was amazing and insightful... thanks

Brilliant and Beautiful!

Very nice. Thank you

Excellent video! I’m looking forward to reading this.

Thank you

I thought it illustrated that even though you may work hard at something it’s no guarantee of success. Unexpected events happen.

Hey my bookish friend, I couldn’t fin your new channel link

Thanks for this video, I am intrigued by this novella. I must confess that I have never read any Hemingway. Please can you recommend me which novel/ novella to start with.

David Goggins ancestor lol

Amazing

how many pages does that book has, i found a version online it has 100 pages let me know if it's the right one (i am just getting into reading)

Yes when I read him carrying his mast and falling, but getting up again, I saw Jesus, and I was crying.

I didn't understand much after listening to an audiobook. Didn't find anything special. So there is an old man. And he goes fishing. He catches a big one and fights sharks for several days. So what?... Is it worth a Nobel Prize.... well sometime later it hit me. He didn't give up. He kept going even when there was no fish left, only a skeleton. Well, that's a good lesson. And also the moment when he was wondering if he is dead or not and pain reminded him that he is actually alive. That is what life is about. "If you feel pain, that means you are still alive."

Enjoyed this review. However, here is another, perhaps more obvious perspective. The novella can be seen as an illustration of existential nihilism. Hemmingway builds up the hardships that the protagonist faces in order to make his livelihood and to survive. He uses his strength as well as a lifetime of knowledge and skill to catch the marlin, only to have his prize consumed by rapacious, mindless, wandering sharks. The author might be trying to tell us that all our efforts are meaningless in the great scheme of things just as Albert Camus did in The Outsider/Stranger. It was shortly after the publication of The Old Man and The Sea that the author committed suicide.

I suppose it can't be all bad, to be the person who looks upon the rotting and torn corpse of a fish, and sees the beauty of its tail.

How many are tourists in life - remarkable life in unexceptional covering

I want to write my master's thesis on this book. Can anyone help me, please?

What is mean Qu va

Thx for your thoughts. Most of them has slipped through my finger as i decide to live like they suggest and couldn‘t recognize it as sign it wants to be. So it is good, and can‘t suggest it as audiobook.

This is hands down my favorite book, and to answer your question at the end of the video --- I'm both. Sometimes I am a Santiago, but I've also gone through a lot of my life as a clueless tourist. BTW, my take on the end of the book has always been that the point of the book was to describe what it means to be a man, and the end makes the point that women will get that meaning profoundly wrong nor will they even care.

I’m envious that you enjoyed it, I really wanted to. I felt it was clearly written by a drunk who tried to convey basic and obvious aspects of daily life in a very impressive manner. Not a worthless read, but an aging classic that has lost the latter aspect.

I don’t usually comment but I am tired of misinterpretations of this book. Hemingway wrote this book as an allegory on the evils of Capitalism. The old man dreams of catching a big fish believing that his problems will end. Just as most people dream of getting rich. When he hooks the fish the fish drags him out to sea and he has to spend all his energy to secure it. Just as most people spend all their energy trying to get rich. When he finally secures the fish his problems don’t end as he has to spend all his energy protecting it from the sharks. Just as the rich spend their lives protecting their wealth. At the end of his efforts, all he is left with is a skeleton. Hemingway is pointing out the pointlessness of materialism.

The old man didnt have a B plan. And in life you gotta always have a B even C plan. He was stuck in his old ways, didn’t learn anything else in life. We don’t want to be like him. Sometimes you gotta change your career plans, and that doesn’t mean giving up. Everybody else in the book was catching fish, maybe fishing wasn’t for him. Good he didn’t complain about his condition, but that also means that he was used to be a loser. The way he comes back to his house and sleeps like a baby after that huge defeat without making plans for a better future was so miserable.

"The prose is magnificent"? Have we read the same book? Are you only looking at the story? The prose is full of mistakes. I liked the story very much when I read the book the first time in high school, but reading the book a second time many years later with more knowledge of the English language annoyed me. I stopped about halfway into the book (just as I stopped watching your video after that comment of yours), because my reading was constantly interrupted by errors in the book. Why is Hemingway considered a great writer? Because of critics like you who can't or don't want to see the errors?

I don't know why everyone on RU-vid keeps recommending this god awful book. It's full of horrible, painful cruel deaths of animals and not even particularly well written. There are a million books that use analogy to describe human struggle, so why not read more widely and stop listening to RU-vid recommendations!? All anyone on RU-vid does, is watch other reviews and copy each other's recommendations. Go read books for yourself! And if you are a reviewer, at least put trigger warnings in your old, outdated book recs!

Thank you