May 31 2007

The Old Man and the Sea

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:37 pm

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

This time Mr Hemingway did manage to capture and hold my imagination and interest. We find ourselves in Cuba, in a small fishing village. The old man of the title has been fishing a very long time, and has a apprentice/assistant who cares about the man as more than just a teacher/boss figure in his life.
The old timer goes out to sea, and carries out a long drawn out battle with a Merlin. (Think I spelt that right… a big fish basically.)
The author manages to capture the simple & difficult life the fishermen all went through, and I found myself actually caring what happened to the fisherman, a lot more than when I was reading ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’.
Although set a long time ago, the tension that is built up does a good job in captivating you, and even though I usually choose to read SciFi or Fantasy type books, I was glad I finally got around to reading this.

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May 31 2007

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 12:14 pm

For Whom The Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Again Hemingway famously volunteered to fight (this time against fascists) in the Spanish Civil war, so this book is based on his own experiences, though whether it was as close to real life as A Farewell To Arms is not known by this reviewer. I’m not entirely sure why, I just didn’t enjoy this book as much as A Farewell To Arms. I think it may have been connected to the supposed feelings Ernest held about the futility of war towards the end of the first book.
It is possible that if I had read this book, leaving a larger gap from having read the first, it would have captivated me more. Oh that, and maybe the fact that I can’t stand the Metallica tune that uses the same title. Not very professional as a reviewer perhaps, but I’m just posting my unfiltered thoughts on this…
The interplay between the Spanish mountain-dwelling freedom fighters manages to keep the story going, although it often felt quite predictable when it came to their military movements. I think part of the problem for me was that Ernest Hemingway has such a huge reputation, I was somehow expecting more…

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May 31 2007

A Farewell to Arms

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:05 pm

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

This book is at least semi-auto biographic for Hemingway. He did go and volunteer for service in Italy during WWI, and is assumed to have had a romance that inspired the other half of this book’s content. Personally, I did like the description of the futility if many types of war, but didn’t really warm to the love story/romance side of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I read it, probably more than For Whom The Bell Tolls, for example (review coming in a few days), I was just expecting something a little different I suppose. I did quite enjoy reading the portrayal of the priest as a real human being rather than simply a plot device conveniently present whenever morality needed to be raised as a subject.
The main character starts out content enough in his ambulance duties, but after being badly wounded in a battle, he starts to lose his taste for war (despite meeting his GF at the hospital), and becomes more self-centred. He eventually deserts and well, you’ll need to read the book to find out more 🙂

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