There is nothing wrong with anyone reading Hemingway’s classic at a young age. Dying is a part of life. The book a fable in many ways and not nearly as darkor tragic as some of our classic nursery rhymes. (Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary is about Queen Mary’s murderous ways.) That said, the mystery of the Old Man is one of the reasons the book lingers with the reader far after you are done. It’s the mastery of Hemingway. I speak from study, as the writer-in-residence for two years at the Hemingway Birthplace Home in Oak Park, Illinois, where high school and middle school students came to study his life and works.