Noyal Sojan Sojan itibaren Herman, NE, Birleşik Devletler itibaren Herman, NE, Birleşik Devletler

La poesía de Berceo no es de mis favoritas. Tiene pulso y algunas originalidades, pero a veces se arrastra y fuerza la resolución.

How This Book Should Have Gone (Went?) Santiago, this old Cuban man, hasn't been able to catch a fish in months. Despite this and the little faith his fellow fishermen seem to have in him, Santiago remains determined. One day he goes out really far out to sea in order to have a better chance of catching a fish. And, eventually he gets all lucky and catches a gigantic marlin. Yippee. The only thing is, he's alone (there's no Manolin to help him) so he can't lift the marlin onto the boat. So he just lets the still-alive marlin lead him wherever. For days. Eventually, Santiago gets tired of this and kills the fish. The marlin leaves a trail of blood and sharks catch on. Despite his efforts, Santiago is unable to get rid of them. The sharks eat all of the marlin, almost capsize the boat, and bites Santiago mortally. Somehow, Santiago gets his boat and the marlin skeleton back to shore and dies at the feet of the fishermen (and Manolin) whom had doubted him. The End :) Now doesn't that sound interesting? (And if it doesn't, oh well) Too bad this didn't happen. My teacher told us that Hemingway is known for his simple writing. I should have known then that I wouldn't like this book. I like fluffy stuff. I like drama and intense dialogue. This novella (eww) didn't have any of that. It sucked, to be honest. The story above is about half realistic. Santiago. Old fisherman. Manolin. Old man's 'friend' (Ashley insists that there's a secret pedophile relationship going on). Stupid. Santiago. Goes out far to sea. Catches stupid marlin. Doesn't let go of stupid marlin. Marlin is killed. Blah. Blah. BLAH I just couldn't stand it. It was almost as bad, if not worse, than the Scarlet Letter. Which is saying a lot. The title was wrong. It should have been called "The Old Man and the Marlin". Sorry Hemingway. Santiago was so random and I couldn't relate to him at all. Like I said before, the language was too basic. All of the sentences were like this: The old man was at sea. He urinated out of the boat. He wondered about baseball. He thought about the boy. He urinated out of the boat. He loved the marlin. I will kill the marlin, he thought. I didn't like any of the characters, I didn't like the plot and I didn't like the writing style. Now that I think about it I'm not sure why I gave it two stars. I think I feel like being generous. I don't know, maybe I'll change it when I'm feeling crappy or something. BLAH!

Not quite as funny as the original Tacky the Penguin, but fun nonetheless.

The premise was interesting enough and it was good filler to read between two "heavier" books. There were a few situations and characters that had the promise of being intriguing, but were never really expanded upon or explored. I did really enjoyed the bits of Hungarian folklore and the kind of random paint information. The inside flap mentions the luscious details about the food...yes, plenty of deserts are mentioned by name but no description. I am a total food-geek so that was a bit disappointing. To the authors credit, she did provide me with further interest in some of the topics and I will be checking out the titles listed in the acknowledgements.

Shawls, Stoles and Scarves (Costume Accessories Series) by Alice MacKrell (1986)