4 1/2 stars! I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. I picked it up for 99 cents because it was 99 cents and it involved my favorite genre...post apocalyptic. Since I've never read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea I also found a copy of that and read it first. Like The Old Man and the Sea, the Old Man and the Wasteland was a short, easy to read book told in the vernacular and simple words of the book's protaganist. Also like the previous book, much of the dialogue was between the main character and himself...he was at times both the protagonist and the antagonist...among the things the old man had to overcome was his own mind and his own old body. Cole's book first started off mirroring much of Hemingway's book, i.e. you have harsh and hard times; an old man who has been unlucky on his last so many times out to either fish or salvage; an adoring younger generation person who is the only one to believe in the old man. At first I thought there was too much coincidence, too much mirroring. But then only a short way into Cole's book, it took off on its own, this Old Man found his own voice...a nice compliment and extension to Hemingway's Old Man. The only small gripe I had is that I thought the very end was a little abrupt and confusing. All in all though, Cole's book was a very well written, well done yarn and well worth the money (and more). I will definitely be looking for more from this author.