The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
An aging Cuban fisherman struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream, isolated from the world and from human help. For days, he fights the marlin alone, admiring its strength, dignity, and faithfulness to its identity—its destiny is as true as his as a fisherman. He finally kills the marlin, but sharks attack and devour it before he can return to the shore. The fisherman returns home empty-handed but remains undefeated, having proven his abilities to himself.
The 81st greatest book of all time
- Published
- 1952
- Nationality
- American
- Type
- Fiction
- Pages
- 120-140
- Words
- 27,000
- Original Language
- English
If you're interested in seeing the ranking details on this book go here
This book is on the following lists:
- 3rd on Quintessential American Fiction, According to the Rest of the World (Literary Hub)
- 6th on Biblioteca (Argentina)
- 8th on The Celebrity Reading List (Gardiner Public Library)
- 20th on Big Read (Hungarian) (Hungaria)
- 28th on The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians (Bookman.com)
- 32nd on Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels (Radcliffe Publishing Course)
- 38th on Our Users' Favorite Books of All Time (The Greatest Books Users)
- 50th on The Complete 500: OCLC (OCLC)
- 55th on Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century (themodernnovel.com)
- 82nd on The 500 best books of all time from Culture Café users (Culture Café)
- 173rd on The Big Read (BBC)
- Top 100 Works in World Literature (Norwegian Book Clubs, with the Norwegian Nobel Institute)
- Select 100 (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
- 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.com (UK))
- ZEIT-Bibliothek der 100 Bücher (Die Zeit)
- The 75 Best Books of the Past 75 Years (Parade Magazine)
- Inteliquest's World's 100 Greatest Books of All-Time (InteliQuest)
- The Modern Library: The Two Hundred Best Novels in English Since 1950 (The Modern Library (Book))
- 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (The Guardian)
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Pulitzer Prize)
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
- Världsbiblioteket (The World Library) (Tidningen Boken)
- Masterpieces of World Literature (Frank N. Magill)
- The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics (Book)
- How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Reading List (Thomas C. Foster)