The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, 3/5

This short novel is deceptively simple…I assume.  At face value, it seemed to me a rather straightforward and bland story, pleasingly written but almost completely innocuous.  Perhaps other people feel some sort of immediate personal connection to this book, but I felt that the characters were archetypal, the plot slow-moving and the moments of profundity scarce.  During the middle section, I started to grow annoyed that the sole narrative voice was the Old Man talking to himself.

Reading it wasn’t a bad experience and I didn’t hate it, but the main question I’m left with is why is this so famous?  Did everyone have to read it in school because it’s important, or is it important because everyone read it in school?  I just feel like I missed the point somehow.  I guess it’s off to the Wikipedia article to see what the deal is.