I cannot review classics. I cannot, I cannot, yet I will. 
 Mainly to say that Ernest Hemingway is becoming a new favorite of mine. I took out this book in the Kristiansand library (yes, I got a temporary library card for my trip to Norway... that's not weird at all,) where they have a decent English section. 
 I read the short, 99 page novella in about two hours, and was fairly rooted to the spot- I only stopped because I had to have middag (the midday meal here in Norway, it's around three o'clock, so it kind of takes over as lunch and supper.) 
 The fact that I could be so engrossed in a story about an old man fishing a great, huge fish is kind of astonishing. I don't care much for fishing; I've only ever gone once, and the fish I caught was so small that we threw it back. Yet, somehow I could enjoy this story about this man's struggle. Maybe because it was so, so hard, and I think that his fight with the fish is similar to many of our struggles in life with other things that are less physical, and perhaps more smelly. 
 I was struck by the old man's determination to kill that fish, and yet his love of the fish too. He admired the fish, he felt he was the a brother, and yet he stubbornly set out to kill him. He risked his life to kill this fish. This (his words) noble, wonderful fish. 
 And, yet, even as we catch our fish, and win our battles things are rarely over. Success is rarely ever true success, as Hemingway makes clear in the last third of the book. 
 To be fair, I can see why some wouldn't like this book. It's mostly about an old man and a fish (and the old mans aging, and the struggles, and, and, and...) It can seem slow, and possibly boring to many people. I, however, found Hemingway's simple, precise style is refreshing and easy to read. He shows very clearly, and has such a clean way of writing. I will definitely be picking up more of his books. Perhaps the next one will be For Whom the Bells Toll.