YVO’S SHORTIES #122 – The Old Man And The Sea & Stalking Jack The Ripper

Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around a classic I’ve been meaning to read for ages and a YA story that has been recommended to me multiple times. Both ended up surprising me… I wasn’t expecting to, but I actually really enjoyed my time with The Old Man And The Sea. And while I was fully expecting to love Stalking Jack The Ripper, the romance put a damper on things.

Title: The Old Man And The Sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Genre: Classics, Fiction
First published: September 1952
Publisher: Scribner
Finished reading: August 23rd 2019
Pages: 132

“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”

Confession: I don’t think I’ve ever read Ernest Hemingway‘s books before. *hides in a corner* I’ve been meaning to pick up The Old Man And The Sea for quite some time now, and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m glad I thought of this title when I was browsing for short reads to fit one of the prompts for #NEWTsReadathon2019, because I ended up enjoying it so much more than I thought I would. The plot of this classic is very simple: basically it’s a very old man struggling to catch and bring home a huge fish. Not very interesting unless you love fishing, you might say, but I think the power of this story might just be in its simplicity. There are no distractions, just the man, the boat, the sea and the huge fish. The description of the struggle of the old man is thorough and detailed, and it was interesting to see his character evolve over time. You might wonder why on earth he would keep up the struggle for that long. You might wonder why he doesn’t just give up when the sharks come visiting, as he is basically risking his life to bring in some fish meat. Still, there was just something about this short classic that made me enjoyed the ride. And while I’ve heard that The Old Man And The Sea is by far the most entertaining of his books, I’ll be looking forward to try more of Ernest Hemingway‘s books in the future.

Title: Stalking Jack The Ripper
(Stalking Jack The Ripper #1)
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Thriller
First published: September 20th 2016
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Finished reading: August 24th 2019
Pages: 336

“Corpses kept him company most nights, like intriguing textbooks; he cherished dissecting them and discovering the secrets held between the pages of their skin and bones.”

Warning: it’s unpopular opinion time again!

As soon as I first heard about this book I was completely intrigued. I mean, a Jack The Ripper inspired story set in the same time period and place? There was just no way on earth I was going to be resisting that. A lot of people have been recommending Stalking Jack The Ripper to me over the years, and I was really excited to finally get to it. The story started out strong for me and I had high hopes it would be a winner for me as well… But I guess it wasn’t ment to be in the end. First things first, and I have to say I loved the historical setting and how many historical references to the Jack The Ripper case are incorporated into the plot. Descriptions are thorough and I really felt like I was right there in 1888 along with the main characters. I can also appreciate the twist on the original Jack The Ripper case and his new identity. While I did guess the identity quite early on, it did bring an interesting twist to the story. The forensic medicine element is likewise an interesting touch. BUT. I didn’t see coming that there would be so much romance involved AT ALL. The whole enemy to lovers trope and the constant bantering really took away the attention from what was happening and as things continued I started to struggle to keep focused on the story. The fact that main character Audrey Rose REALLY wants you to know she is an empowering and intelligent young woman and deserves to be working with her Uncle really got on my nerves as well. Her superiority complex and arrogance made me enjoy the story considerably less than I thought I would, and I’m still not sure what to think of Thomas and his behavior either. In short, the characters and romance made me enjoy this story a lot less than I thought I would… That said, with the sequel having Vlad The Impaler references, I will most likely still give the sequel a go some time in the future.