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Title: The Old Man and the Boy
ISBN: 080502669X
Author:
Robert Ruark
Publicate Date: 1993-08-15
Publish: 1993-08-15
List Price: $17.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.56
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1: Men & boys, women & girls: This one deserves 6 Stars!
I've meant to review this classic for years: Today's the day. My first copy of this book was a well-worn recycled paperback version, from my mother having purchased it as a gift for my granddad to her getting it back after his death in 1968, to her giving it to me sometime in the 1990s. It's the kind of read that makes you long for the hardcover edition, for all the times you'll reread it in the future.
Buy the paperback versions for gifts (buy several; those you gift with this book will thank you for it vociferously!), but latch onto a hardcover for yourself.
A treasure, I note that several reviews lean toward recommending it for men & boys, but girls, don't let that fool you! There's so much to be learned from this gem -- plus you can share it with others!
Many folks today haven't yet had the fire lit under them to read -- more's the pity. Read this book to those you love that don't read and I'm certain they'll come out the other side understanding why you love to read!
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2: A Magical Glimpse Back to a Simpler Time
The setting for this book is Southport, NC, a quaint, sleepy fishing village of old clapboard cottages with inviting front porches shrouded by beautiful live oak trees. Located at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and the intracoastal waterway, Southport's history is rich with tales of pirates, daring civil war blockade runners, and the perils and tragedies of life on the sea.
After becoming enchanted with this magical place that is rapidly being discovered and developed, I was advised to read the Old Man and the Boy to get a clearer idea of what life was like in Southport historically. This book did that-giving me a wonderful glimpse of a simple life built around the sea, and of a grandfather who passed along invaluable life lessons to his grandson. We all would benefit from the wisdom and gentle guidance of the "old Man."
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3: Something of a classic
I've read this book - and also the 'sequel' The Old Man's Boy Grows Older - several times. So I'll treat this review as for both books.
I think they're worthy to be minor American classics (although only minor). Both books deal with themes such as conservation and protecting our planet, child raising and growing up, the value of moderation in one's life, race, progress in society, etc etc...
Its good to see that of about 40 reviews here, the majority give the book 5 stars.
Now, on to some criticism (which is what critiqing is all about:)...
The books have deep themes, and of the two The Old Man and the Boy is the deeper. Unfortunately, Ruark never actually gets very deep with his themes - he tends to scratch the surface and move on.
His writing is in an easy-to-read style, but this eliminates all subtlety and makes the plot (and underlying message) awfully simplistic. Nothing really wrong with that by itself; it just gives the book a juvenile flavor. That may be what Ruark intended, but I don't think so - I think he was writing for adults...Anyway, I first read it as a kid. Now as an adult, I find it to be mostly light reading and not terribly engaging. That may, however, be due to over-familiarity with it, having read them several times.
Ruark has been accused of a certain racism in his books, and there is some evidence of it; also sexism. I don't myself find it racist, but he could be said to come across as condescending to blacks and women who are treated with a veneer of respect but as 'second class'. Maybe thats a product of his time.
Ruark is largely unknown to younger generations now even though theres a Robert Ruark Society somewhere, dedicated to preserving his legacy. Today he has only a 'niche' following - a small one at that - instead of a more universal appeal. That is telling by itself. His works are not studied in schools as other classic authors are - another telling point.
Ruark was very intelligent (he graduated both high school and university early) but he was also a noted alcoholic, from an alcoholic family that moved a lot for that time. And he died somewhat young, probably from a lifestyle of self-abuse (drinking and smoking). The discerning reader can see an alcohol 'theme' in his books, although he moderates it. To know his real life unfortunately throws a shadow on the books - something of a darker meaning, maybe?. I can't quite explain it, but maybe it is that after I found out more about him I lost respect for him and his work - The Old Man and the Boy seemed to become far more of a fanciful book, or an effort to gloss over his real life....This shouldn't affect the book by itself but somehow it does to me.
I doubt seriously anyone will ever write a PhD thesis on these two books (something that true classics DO get) probably due to their simplicity. Ruark could have done far better with them, in a purely literary sense. I can recommend them, as a slice of Americana.
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4: This is what every man's boyhood should have been like
This book contains 29 quasi-biographical short stories about Ruark's youth in North Carolina during the Depression and Prohibition. These stories are about fishing and hunting and appreciating nature and, most importantly, learning life's lessons. The narrator (The Boy) describes his fishing and hunting adventures with his grandfather (The Old Man). The Old Man teaches the Boy how to shoot, how to safely handle a gun, how to maintain a boat, the habits of various types of fish and game, etc. At the same time, the Old Man is giving the boy many of the more important life's lessons about respect (for both oneself and others), the value of education, women, and a sense of responsibility. This is a great book. Each of the stories is relatively short (say 10 pages) and written with an easy prose. You could easily sit down and blow through this book in an afternoon, but after I read the first few stories, I wanted to savor every one and draw it out. As you're reading these stories, you'll smell the salt air of the ocean or the smoky aroma of game cooking over an open fire. Ruark may not satisfy the literary critics and write prose like Hemingway or Faulkner, but he is certainly one of America's greatest writers. I don't understand why he isn't more widely read, I only discovered his writing about a year ago myself. In any case, I can guarantee that you will ponder your own childhood as you read this book, and by the time you finish this book, you'll be thinking about what it is you really want to do with the rest of your life. I agree with one of the other reviewers, I would give this book 6 stars if I could. These are stories about hunting and fishing, but they are also stories about growing up and about life.
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5: A Review on The Old Man and the Boy -- by Marshall Richard
The Old man and the Boy by Robert Raurk changed my life because it taught me so much about hunting and how you should respect animals. I thought that it was very good that they called doves, ducks, and quail "gentlemen" and they didn't just treat them like slobs. He did this so that they could make hunting look better.
I thought that this book was also very good because it had rich language. Some of the chapters pulled you into the book and I could not put it down. I thought that theses chapters were extremely good were September Song, A Duck Looks Different to Another Duck, You Got to Be Crazy to Be a Duck Hunter, and Everybody Took Sick but Me. I thought that these chapters were good because they made me feel like I had done the stuff they did.
What I thought was bad about the book was some of the fishing chapters because they started so slowly and I kept on saying to myself "who cares?" I felt tired and I was about to fall asleep on these chapters because they were so boring. The chapters that I thought were bad were Thar She Blows and X plus Y to the Second Power Equals Bluefish.
What was also very good about this book was that when I read it, it felt like I was in the book doing the stuff they were doing. What the author did well in this book was that they didn't just go after one covey of quail, they only shot one or two quail from each covey and then they would look for another.
What I thought could have made this book better is that they could have made the fishing chapters more exiting with richer language.
This book could change your life just like it did to mine. I highly recommend this book to sportsmen, and people who like hunting and fishing.
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