I thought the book was too long and should have been shorter. I liked the writing. I enjoyed the Hemingway short stories that we read in the Literary Club. I just wasn't into the subject matter of this book. I would have preferred more development of the relationship with the boy. Perhaps the short synopsis in the introduction ruined it for me.
I read the book twice. The first time was excruciatingly boring. I abandoned it at 35%. I just couldn't take anymore of it. Then I skimmed the rest of it until the ending. I liked the beginning and the ending which had interaction between Santiago and the boy and the community. I gave it 1 star on Goodreads. I just plain hated it.
Then I read 1 star and 5 star reviews to understand why people love or hate this book. I know nothing about sea fishing, but I do love baseball. So, I decided to research the meaning of all the baseball references to have context. Then I found information and pictures to understand the fishing information. Like others the dolphins perplexed me (that's probably about the point where I gave up!) so then I figured out they were really fish. Then I went to sleep!
Only because it was a book club read did I attempt it a second time the following day with a fresh perspective. Now that I had the extra research and context, I was able to focus more on the main themes of the book and not get distracted by the other items. I upgraded my rating to 3 stars. Anyway, I've checked the box that I read it. I wouldn't read it again. However, I would read other Hemingway novels.
My husband read
Islands in the Stream and loved it so he wanted to read more Hemingway. Then he read
The Sun Also Rises and hated it - too much love story.
From Wikipedia:
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Early in 1950 Hemingway started work on a "sea trilogy", to consist of three sections: "The Sea When Young" (set in Bimini); "The Sea When Absent" (set in Havana); and "The Sea in Being". The last was published in 1952 as The Old Man and the Sea. He also wrote an unpublished story, "Sea-Chase", which his wife and editor combined with the previous stories about the islands, renamed them as Islands in the Stream, which was published in 1970.
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