The Old Man And The Sea

I've been worrying about too many things recently so I decided I should take my mind off things by doing some light reading. So I borrowed the Old Man and the Sea from a friend and it looked like a very small and easy book. IT WAS ANYTHING BUT EASY AND LIGHT. I really wonder whether I was in the right mindset to appreciate the whole book, but I did like it and learned some interesting things. Like for example

'Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.'
'I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland'
'Be careful or you will fear even the Reds of Cincinnati and the White Sox of Chicago'

I realise now how close I was to fearing the Reds and the White Sox.

Depression

Some made the long drop from the apartment or office window; some took it quietly in two-car garages with the motor running; some used the native tradition of the Colt or Smith & Wesson; those well-constructed implements that end insomnia, terminate remorse, cure cancer, avoid bankruptcy, and blast an exit from intolerable positions by the pressure of a finger; those admirable american instruments so easily carried, so sure of effect, so well designed to end the american dream when it becomes a nightmare, their only drawback is the mess they leave for relatives to clean up

These are from 'To have and have not' by Ernest Hemingway, I guess it is to be expected from an author who later does the same thing, but this time uses a shotgun. I was trying to figure out which was the most depressing literature I've read, I guess it has to be 'Love' by Toni Morrisson (even though there were quite a few close contenders like 'Mrs. Dolloway', 'Catcher in the rye' and it even beat 'Desperation' by Stephen King). 'Love' is about a dying resort town and the two women who live there, but really the book is about depression.