I disagree that the fishing and the boat lore distract from the body of the work. It occurred to me that the "passion" that Hemingway extended to his fishing and his boat was exactly the "passion" that he Searched for all of his life and in every Woman he met. It is the passion we should have for our pets, our spouses, and our children but so many of us are debilitated. Through his fishing and "Pilar" was the only wholeness he could feel....the only tip of sanity he could conjure. This book resonates with the pain, anguish and despair that follows those with "depression" and other emotional declivities.