“I am not a big fan of Hemmingway or possess a brilliant brain to digest his works. Still "Old man and the sea" is a real difference to me. Perhaps I read it at the right point of time. When I was most down, lost everything, locked myself in the shadow, had no money, no joy, no social contacts, I read it and day by day, the book gradually showed me the light. I just pictured Santiago being there in the total darkness on the ocean where you can't tell days from nights, being extremely on his own, chasing a fish that seems so unreal. What is on his mind? What makes him fight for it to the extreme and more important, WHAT HE FIGHTS IT FOR when all he gets in the end is only its bone??? The questions kept popping in my mind and haunted me for quite a long time.
Somehow I figure out should only read Hemmingway's books at the time of loneliness and down, then I always feel much better and like I can love the whole world again!! Haha. I normally don't understand them very well :)) but it's the persistent and drastic fighting spirit that is hard to find in other books. Though people always say his works show the pain and disappointment of a lost generation! Don't know why I don't want to find them that way.”
posted 1 day ago