Apostrophe S

This is another book which I really doubt I have much to say about that hasn’t already been said. So I’ll keep it short. Truth be told, I finished it before the beginning of the year. Actually, I finished it on Jan. 1. But anyway, I didn’t get around to writing about it until now.

The information page on the book doesn’t list a publication date for the edition that I read, but after some research, I’m going to guess that it is a 1965 edition, about 13 years after the books was first published. I picked it up at a secondhand book shop somewhere in high school or college, I can’t really remember.

Now, the story itself is great. An old fisherman, past his prime, is able to hook and finally catch an enormous Marlin, only to have it torn to shreds and eaten by sharks. Hemingway could assemble a deeply metaphorical tale using very simple language, this book is no exception. But the real kicker for me was the presence of the markings of a young John Hunerjager, whose name was inscribed on the first page. Probably for a school book report, John highlighted sentences and wrote helpful notes in the margins, and at the very end, provided this brief summary, which I very much agree with:

Not whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game. It’s connection with baseball. Yankees lost but it didn’t matter because DiMaggio was himself. Man vs. nature.

I’ve sent an email to a John Hunerjager that I found with a quick Web search. I thanked him for his insightful notes, even though he probably wrote them many years ago. Perhaps he’ll respond.