Katarína Lichá, [email protected], book review
The Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
Review by Katarína Lichá
I've never been to Cuba, but I must say that reading of this book made me feel as if I had been there in the long, hot summer when an old fisherman named Santiago went for his tragic fishing trip.
As the story begins, we find out that the poor old man hasn’t caught a single fish for eighty-four days and he feels very unlucky, because he makes all his living from the sea. A boy who used to sail with his since his age of five called Manolin - his only friend, got an order from his father to sail with someone else, more successful. But the strong bond between the boy and Santiago was never gone. Santiago strongly determined and with hope risks all and takes his skiff far out into wide ocean trying to catch a fish. He hooks a big marlin that pulls him even further from the coast, but after a mythic three-day struggle he succeeds to kill it. However, the swordfish is gigantic and it is necessary to lash it to the side of his boat. When Santiago is sailing back to his hometown he is attacked by sharks and all the marlin is eaten by them. The story ends with Santiago sleeping face down on the bed in his shack exhausted but not defeated.
