The Old Man and the Sea

by Ernest Hemingway

An aging Cuban fisherman, long overdue for a catch, hooks the marlin of a lifetime far out in the Gulf Stream and holds on for days against exhaustion, sharks, and his own body giving out. Hemingway's spare, Pulitzer-winning novella is about as clean as fiction gets — a short, dignified story about endurance that earns every bit of its reputation as a classic.