Book thoughts: The Old Man and the Sea

I was traveling a couple of weeks ago and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was in the room. I picked it up and read it in a single setting, something I haven't done in a long time. It was an excellent afternoon read.

Before reading the book, I had the sense that Old Man and the Sea was off peak Hemingway and that perhaps it was a bit self indulgent. It was much more enjoyable than its reputation led me to believe. I had a sense for where it had to be going and I still enjoyed the journey.

Just like The Road is actually a book about parenting, this book is about aging and not going quietly into the night. One's own courage is it's own reward.

A bonus is that it’s short. I finished in about 90 minutes, which makes it much more immersive.

While reading it, I realized that I've unintentionally read more of Hemingway's corpus more intently than any other author. The only other author that potentially comes close is Shakespeare and I've definitely read a smaller percentage of his work... although I hope to get to all of it in time.

2026-10-26