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Fergus, Quondam Happy Face's Reviews > The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea
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by
On July 2, 1961, Heaven and the world fell silent.
When a just man dies
Lamentation and praise
Sorrow and joy
Are 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 parents...
That was the morning my parents had scheduled to get our hardwood flooring refinished, so all us kids had to be outa there pronto!
So, little James Deans all, my buddies and I decided grimly to ride our bikes far, far into the rural countryside.
Our chests were hollow, as happens at times when you lose someone special.
So, we thought, A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do - saddle up and ride out!
We rode for hours that day. Me, Ricky, my little brother and Peter Teal. We knew on the way back we’d be bucking the strong north wind, but we didn’t care...
Finally we arrived at an eerily abandoned farmhouse.
Obviously, no one had lived there for years. But everything - furniture, appliances, even cutlery on the table - was strangely untouched. Like the family wasn’t planning to go far...
Just like Ernest Hemingway. He just had to go and get some Fresh Air, away from all his demons for a moment!
A month later I read this book. My Mom the librarian said it was a good place to start with this great writer.
With school starting soon and the days getting shorter, I read about Santiago and his dream.
And the Great Victory he had won in that dream...
The greatest victory of all -
The victory of the immortal human Heart over Despair.
When a just man dies
Lamentation and praise
Sorrow and joy
Are 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 parents...
That was the morning my parents had scheduled to get our hardwood flooring refinished, so all us kids had to be outa there pronto!
So, little James Deans all, my buddies and I decided grimly to ride our bikes far, far into the rural countryside.
Our chests were hollow, as happens at times when you lose someone special.
So, we thought, A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do - saddle up and ride out!
We rode for hours that day. Me, Ricky, my little brother and Peter Teal. We knew on the way back we’d be bucking the strong north wind, but we didn’t care...
Finally we arrived at an eerily abandoned farmhouse.
Obviously, no one had lived there for years. But everything - furniture, appliances, even cutlery on the table - was strangely untouched. Like the family wasn’t planning to go far...
Just like Ernest Hemingway. He just had to go and get some Fresh Air, away from all his demons for a moment!
A month later I read this book. My Mom the librarian said it was a good place to start with this great writer.
With school starting soon and the days getting shorter, I read about Santiago and his dream.
And the Great Victory he had won in that dream...
The greatest victory of all -
The victory of the immortal human Heart over Despair.
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Finished Reading
December 18, 2018
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Syl
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Dec 18, 2018 09:28AM
Cool review. :)
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Thanks, Syl! Appreciate it.
Thanks so very much, Med!
Beautiful homage to a wonderful author, Fergus. Thank you for sharing your personal experience!
You’re more than welcome, Michael!
Thanks so very much, Dan!
Lovely review, I always enjoy the personal note.
I’m grateful for your note, Sara!
Lovely review of one of the greatest books in American literature, Fergus, remarkably mixed with your own reflections.
Thank you so much for your.kindness!
Thanks so much! It will resonate in people’s hearts for as long as the printed word exists. It sure echoed in mine, Nicola, a month or two after its author’s untimely death!
As per usual i throughly enjoyed your review Fergus ....you are one voracious reader that's for sure and I like that you diversify your genres ...I've learned to do that too the past few years myself...it's good for excercising a few brain cells and moving outside your comfort zone .
Oh yes, and now in my old age my reading is so variegated and desultory... a slow, plodding amble through so many wonderful lives!
Wow! You inspire ME to reread it - after 57 years... and about time.
Well, thanks, my dear newly-retired friend! Are you enjoying it? I sure do, cause now “the Road goes on Forever!”
Wonderful review, Thank you.Such a simple book, and so powerful.
Thanks so much, William! Guess I was forgetting to check my comments section… yikes.
A fine review, Fergus. It’s reminded me, again(!), that I must get to this classic one day - and the other Hemingways on my list, for that matter. Your review will help push me closer. Thanks. CB
You're welcome, Colin! Hemingway ROCKS.
It must have been so amazing to come upon a house like that! Clearly people had intended to return, but somehow did not, and not only that nobody seems to have gone back to the house to claim it or the contents. I would loved to have explored it. Having a librarian for a mother sounds incredibly interesting. It isn't something I dreamed of for myself, but if I had ever thought of it as a possibility, I definitely would have! I was born a book lover; having a librarian close to me sounds fantastic. I hope that you were also a book lover at a young age and were able to take full advantage of the situation.
What type of librarian was your mother? Did she have a PhD in library science?
What does it mean to say that suicides are trophies of heaven? I have never heard that said or quoted before.
I think my words were "some suicides", and the idea comes from the virtuous Scobie's end, in Graham Greene's Heart of the Matter. It is certainly a fine line to draw, and I don't pretend to be qualified to do it - only a fan of great writing.Mom had an MLSc and was always my idol!
And that house WAS weird - but when I related it in my young mind to Hemingway's death it sorta made sense...
Lovely review Fergus - just getting into Hemingway now and this is the first that I’ve read. Next year is a classics (for all ages and cultures) reading year for me.
