Book Review: The Old Man And The Sea

It is said that there are 10 top famous literature piece,
And Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man And The Sea" was one of them.
I am still searching for the other nine;
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy,
The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne,
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain,
Jane Eyre by Bronte,
Great Expectations by Dickens,
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee,
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald,
and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Well,
I am not ashamed to say I've read "To Kill A Mockingbird" twice,
Once when I was in high school,
And once when we were doing literature in IPG KDRI.
And Jane Eyre once (I really, really despise Mr. Rochester. Seriously, the man was a douchebag.)

And I've watched movie adaptation of "Pride And Prejudice", "The Great Gatsby",
And "Great Expectation".
I develop an affection towards Keira Knightly from "Pride and Prejudice",
And intense hate towards Gwyneth Paltrow from "Great Expectations".
Yes,
I've watched the 1998 version,
Not the 2012.
I mean,
Ew,
Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham?

Well,
Actually Helena Bonham Carter would make ABSOLUTELY AWESOME Miss Havisham rather than Anne Bancroft.

But I am out of topic here.
I want to review about my latest finding,
Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man And The Sea".

At first glance,
the book depicts of the old man's struggle with the Marlin and the sea,
A typical story about fishermen.
But then I found out it wasn't about just that at all.
The old man's intense relationship with the boy kept me thinking about the level of friendliness involved.
The boy doesn't just assist him,
He holds something as clear as mentor-worshipping and as a close kin.
But the old man also treats Manolin (the boy) as his equal,
"As fishermen", he said.
Then, 
About his struggle with the Marlin that ensued the pain in his hands.
What remains a mystery is the connection between his faith and DiMaggio..

WHY IS HE FREQUENTLY MONOLOGUING OUT LOUD WHEN HE WAS LOST AT THE SEA?
WAS IT SO THAT HE WOULD KEEP HIS SANITY INTACT?
MAN,
TALKING TO YOURSELF OUT LOUD IS KINDA CRAZY.
"well you're one to talk."
SHUT UP, NO ONE ASKED YOU.
THEN,
SANTIAGO (THE OLD MAN) SAID THERE ARE THREE THINGS THAT ARE BROTHERS.
IT IS THE FISH AND HIS TWO HANDS.
WHY ARE THEY BROTHERS?
YOU CAN'T LIVE WITH THEM,
AND YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM.
IS THAT IT?

I seriously cracked half of my brain reading this. And I should be saving it for practicum, KKPs, and finals. Yeesh.

Book Review: Midwinterblood

Marcus Sedgwick always portrays the life in many different definitions.
I was wrong when I purchased the book,
Thinking it was a gore, dark-themed piece of literature,
As the cover told me.

It was the story of sacrifice.

I was already lost when the second chapter strikes.

It was always about Eric and Merle.

It is their story.

Love that transcends in many forms.

Father and daughter.

King and queen.

Brother and sister.

It was always about them.

The seven lives they live,

Dance around each other,

And none place other than Blessed Island.

I was searching for the blood bath,

Spine-chilling story lines that makes my skin trembles.

Instead I found love.

And most of all;

Sacrifice.

****

    "I will live seven times, and I will look for you in each one. We will always be together."

Gunnar raises the knife, and the moonlight gleams from its edge.

   

   "I will look for you and love you in each. Will you follow?"

Suddenly Gunnar sweeps the knife across Eirikr's throat, in single long arc of silver.

   

   He makes no sound now. There is no air to make the sound. There are only the lips moving on Eirikr's face, but Melle sees what the words are.

  "Will you follow?"

 ****

Knowing her time was at an end, she lay down on the table. 

    

    People gathered round, but she still saw no one but the face in front of her, the face of Eirikr, her king. 

   She shut her eyes, and as the life sighed gently away from her, she finally answered his question.

  "Yes," she whispered, "I will follow you."

****

And so, their journeys begin.

"The Fault In Our Stars" Book Review. Among Others.

"I fell in love with Augustus Waters."

I would say it out loud,
I really do.

He is an epitome of perfection for what literature nerd-girl would say.

He has a good quality of wittiness when talking about the generality or specification view about practically... EVERYTHING.

He talks with good quotes from the book "An Imperial Affliction",
He loves listening to Hazel Grace reading poems,
He has no qualms of being who he really is,
He has a weird obsession of saving pixel-graphic children in video games,
He is too straightforward for his own good,
He can make people in awe with what comes out from his mouth,
He can make Hazel Grace laughs without even trying,
And his view of world is different from others as he already struggled from the side effect of dying.

I guess cancer survivors really DO live their lives to the fullest.
And I would be telling a lie when I say I didn't cry at the end of the book.
Spoiler alert: He dies.

But then I would be a hypocrite if I say it out loud.

I would be a walking cliché like I always view of other Malay girls who sighs at the novelty of perfect protagonists in stereotype Malay novels.

Because it was like falling in love with "An Idea of a Perfect Guy."

It is always easy to fall in love with a fictional character in books because the author always has a good impression what a PERFECT PROTAGONIST is.

For example,
Captain Abraham Griswold of "Dearly, Departed". 
The author, Lia Habel drilled her readers' thoughts to fall in love with zombies instead of being terrified of them.
Girls started that conception from the movie "Warm Bodies",
But my sister and I loved them long before that.
Like I said,
A walking cliche.

Then,
We have Will of the "Firelight Trilogy".
Girls are trained to love something that the stars aligned "impossible".
In the books,
Will and Jacinda are stars-crossed lovers.
It is easier to say that they are the "dragon and hunter" version of Twilight Saga.
It is an impossible love,
And girls sighs longingly at the idea of the challenging adventure of having a star-crossed relationship.

Speaking of Twilight Saga,
I have a joke about that pathetic movie/books.

"Who will Bella choose? Whether it is bestiality or Necrophilia."

I will marry the guy who laughs at this joke. No. Seriously.

Putting those two books aside,
Yes,
"The Fault In Our Stars" book review.
It was supposed to be a literature teen novel,
Not a love-centered chick flick novels.

Because it teaches us to snatch whatever small hope we have,
And to live.
Live.

"I'm in love with you, and I am not in business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things." - Augustus Waters