“A beautiful tale, awash in the seasalt and sweat, bait and beer of the Havana coast. It tells a fundamental human truth: in a volatile world, from our first breath to our last wish, through triumphs and pitfalls both trivial and profound, what sustains us, ultimately, is hope.”
—The Guardian 

“His masterpiece... a perfect piece of work.”
—Mario Vargas Llosa 

“The old man embodies the ambition and courage it takes to live, and the need to redeem yourself again and again in your own eyes. When at last after ntold agonies you hook the prize, the achievement of a lifetime, the biggest damn fish out there…it falls apart. The story is about the fact that life ends—a hard-to-ignore truth that we spend our days ignoring. All you have is the moment, this moment.”
—Abraham Verghese

"Here is the master technician once more at the top of his form, doing superbly what he can do better than anyone else.”
—The New York Times