Review of The Old Man and the Sea

I personally think "The Old Man and the Sea" was an okay book. There were things that I enjoyed and things that I did not. One of the few things that I liked about the book was the length. It made me very happy when I first picked up the book. A great thing about smaller books, is that they are easier to understand, since the story is not crazy long, and they are very convenient for a busy reader, like myself, because I am able to finish the book in fewer sittings. Another thing I liked about "The Old Man and the Sea" were the characters. I did not particularly like that there were so few characters and no female characters, but the characters that were used portrayed admirable traits. Santiago was a well written character I thought because of his characterisitcs. I liked the fact that he was pretty much the definition of determination. Examples of this would be how he fought for three days trying to reel in the marlin, and that he fought off the sharks with all his strength until there was nothing left to fight for. A trait I particularly admired from Manolin was his loyalty. Manolin was loyal to Santiago throughout the entire story. Even though he did not know if Santiago would be back or ever come back, he still visited his shack every morning in wait for his return. I also admired that he genuinely cared and loved Santiago, which he demonstrated through his actions. One thing that I did not enjoy so much about the book "The Old Man and the Sea" was how slow the beginning was. To me, the introduction and first part of the story was very boring and uneventful. Once it got to the meat of the book, however, I did enjoy the rest of the plot and how it ended. Overall, I think "The Old Man and the Sea" was pretty good and I do not think reading it was a waste of time.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.