Duan Qirui has known about Zhuang Yan's new book for a long time, and he has been paying attention to it some time ago, but he didn't expect to miss the time of the first day of release.

clicked on "The Old Man and the Sea" on the Internet, Duan Qirui unconsciously pursed his lips, "This Zhuangzi Yan doesn't even have a brief introduction and preface." ”

There is no introduction, no preface and no preface, and it is the main text, which makes people feel very strange when they read it.

But this is not the first time, his first two books are like that, and this is almost becoming his style.

Up to now, the only one in his book that has a brief introduction to these things is "Alive", and the preface at that time was still written by Cai Yuanpei, and the weight was very heavy.

Today's Zhuang Yan can find anyone who wants to preface him, but he doesn't find any of them.

Yu Hai and Wang Lijian had also talked to Zhuang Yan about this matter before, after all, from the perspective of book sales, these things are essential. However, Zhuang Yan refused at that time, and only said that if there are other circumstances in the future, he can consider adding a preface, but it can only be a self-preface.

Although it is a little weird that there is no introduction, it does not affect the reading.

"He is an old man who fishes alone in a small boat in the Gulf Stream, and he has been there for eighty-four days and has not caught a single fish......"

In one sentence, the protagonist and the identity of the protagonist are pointed out, as well as his situation.

In the next paragraph, the appearance of the old man is described, which is a very representative image of a fisherman.

Duan Qirui nodded, and the concise and clear narrative style reminded him of "Alive", and both books have a feeling that "the author doesn't know many words".

And the narrative style of the book is a little stronger, making people read it like watching the news.

Duan Qirui didn't know that his feeling was very right, Hemingway was originally a news reporter, and this kind of writing technique is news-style writing, not seeking beauty, only accuracy and conciseness.

A large part of the reason why Zhuang Yan's "Alive" was popular before was Zhuang Yan's concise narrative style. It is completely different from the exaggerated and restless literary atmosphere of today's literary world.

Of course, the conciseness of a book's narrative is not the reason why the book is good, the most important thing is to see whether the author can write a moving story in concise language.

Obviously, "Alive" did it, and this "The Old Man and the Sea" has to be read to know.

Continuing on, the story goes to some of the interactions between the old man and the little boy ashore, and some things about the baseball league. Seeing this, a third of the way through the book, there really is nothing wonderful about it.

However, when a fish was hooked later, Duan Qirui was a little interested, but it was only interested in this fish.

He wished the fish was big, and he hoped that the old man would get him.

But this hope was cast out by him in the subsequent reading, because he saw the old man's struggle.

The fight against a big fish and a group of sharks is not very exciting, and it can even be said that it is a little boring.

There are no earth-shattering battle scenes, most of them are just old men's self-talk and inner monologues, and more of a war of attrition with these fish.

There were even some places where Duan Qirui felt that this old man's sanity was a little abnormal, because his self-talk was indeed a bit much, compared to a taciturn old man like him, his words were really a lot.

But although he talks a lot, every sentence of his is not too long, he is an old man with concise language, an old man with many words but concise, and a contradictory existence.

However, Duan Qirui learned more from the old man's self-talk, that is, the fear of failure.

Or "fear" is not very accurate, but it should be a worry.

The old man had not caught a fish for more than 80 days, and he would not be able to guarantee even the most basic livelihood if he continued like this. Now that he has suddenly taken the bait of such a big fish, his heart is complicated, and this complex emotion, expressed by these inner monologues and self-talk, is just right.

The big fish takes the bait, which represents the hope of life, but this big fish can be lost at any time. As long as you are a normal person, you will show the emotions of gaining and losing at this time.

Undoubtedly, the old man is also a normal person, he is brave and persevering, but he is also afraid of failure. He would think "I wish that child was here" when he had nothing to do.

Does he simply need a helper? Of course not, he needs a companion to share his feelings, whether they are looking forward to or worried.

No matter how strong a person's heart is, he can't hold all his emotions, and if he has to pretend, he will explode one day.

Seeing this paragraph, Duan Qirui thought of his own thing.

When he was only a teenager, he put on a military uniform and followed the troops to the south and north, and fought countless battles of all kinds large and small.

In the army, what I am most afraid of is not life and death, but the feeling of having nowhere to vent after watching life and death. If there was no squad leader and company commander to pat him on the shoulder and tell him to be strong at that time, maybe he would really go crazy.

And when Duan Chery saw the sentence "People can be destroyed, but they cannot be defeated", his pupils suddenly shrank, and he burst out with a strange brilliance.

This sentence really hit his heart, can people really not be defeated? Of course it is impossible, no matter for whom, failure is the norm. But not being defeated is a kind of fighting mentality, just like a soldier can be killed but not humiliated.

But compared to the fact that soldiers can be killed but not humiliated, they can be destroyed, but they cannot be defeated, and there are some other things. It's not just about honor, it's about destiny as well.

Duan Qirui thought in his heart that the definition of failure is not fixed, and some failures do not hinder success.

At the end of the story, the old man fails and only drags back a white bone.

But he was successful again because he didn't give up on himself.

He is an ordinary person, like ordinary people, afraid of failure, eager to succeed, but he is different from ordinary people, like a hero. He is resilient and will not give up in the face of difficulties, and he will shout "Man can be destroyed, but not defeated." ”

To describe him as a hero, Duan Qirui didn't think it was appropriate, and he preferred to call him a veteran.

In Duan Qirui's view, this temperament on the old man is exactly the quality that a veteran should have.

It is precisely because there are so many veterans with this temperament that they inspire countless soldiers who may be confused in the war, and support them to continue to move forward without falling, so that they can finally achieve victory.