Friday, September 30, 2011

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
112 pages
Originally published in 1937, republished in 1993 by Penguin Group
Source: bought it

Of Mice And Men is the story of an unlikely friendship between two men, migrant workers who endlessly dream of a better life. George Milton and Lennie Small have traveled from job to job, always hoping to be able to earn enough money to buy a small piece of land.

George, wise and patient, dreams of being able to live off of the land, to work only for himself. Lennie, large, strong and mentally slow, dreams only of being able to care and pet a hutch of rabbits.
Lennie is a hard worker, but because of his slowness, his tendency to overly love things, and his reaction when he becomes frightened, the pair are constantly having to move on before they can get the money together to make their dream come true.

In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are starting work at a new place with high hopes once again. George does everything he can to try to keep things calm but there is trouble brewing at this ranch. A lonely, lovely wife and her very jealous husband, who also happens to be the boss, make George nervous from the beginning...with good reason.

Banned Books Week crept up on me stealthily, on all-fours and I couldn't figure out how I was going to squeeze in one more book in order to rebel against those who want to tell us what we can and cannot read. Then last Monday I was in that store I hate to shop in and there sat this little bit of banned wonder. I'm not sure why, but I've never read Of Mice and Men before, never even watched one of the movie versions. In the end, once again I found myself wondering why I had waited so long to read something that so many have spoken so highly of for so long.

When I was pulling up the publication information for this book, I saw this in a review:
"I was not very impressed by this book. The story was simple, the characters sympathetic and, but for a few exceptions, well drawn out, and the final twist of events was emotionaly impactive [sic]. But that's about all I can say that's good about this book."
Really? "The characters were sympathetic, the story was well drawn out and the final twist was emotionaly impactive" [sic]--and that's not enough to make a book good? No? Well, that's definitely not all I can say that's good about this book.

In only 112 pages, Steinbeck manages to craft a marvelously touching friendship, surround his lead characters with a fully drawn supporting cast, and build a feeling of tension all while creating a landscaping and settings that come to life.
"A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave. The sycamore leaves turned up their silver sides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet. And row on row of tiny wind waves flowed up the pool's green surface."
The reviewer I quoted above had a problem with the fact that most of the ambiance of the book comes at the beginning of each chapter after which Steinbeck focuses on the story itself. I hadn't even realized that was the case until I read this review; I was so taken with the both the descriptions of the settings and the story of the men on that ranch. It didn't matter to me than one took precedence over another at any one time.In researching this book, I found that Steinbeck had intentionally done this to make the book something that could be read as a novella or as a play. Which may account for why this book came alive for me.

11 comments:

  1. Whoever wrote that first review and said the ending is only "emotionally impactive", they must be a sociopath. Of Mice and Men has, in my opinion, one of the saddest endings in a story I have ever experienced. I know a lot of people who agree with me.

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  2. I love this book, but have never noticed the chapters are structured in that way! Going to pull it off the shelf now and take another look...

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  3. Sandy and I listened to this one on our way home from SIBA, and while the storytelling was lush and resonant, I found it to be an incredibly sad and dark book. I had a lot of trouble not crying when listening to all the heartbreak and vulnerability of the characters, and a few plot points had me very ill at ease. Like I said, it was a beautiful book, just extremely sad for me.

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  4. Emotionaly impactive . . . nice! That had me giggling. I actually love reading reviews like that because it just shows that the reviewer has no idea what they're talking about!

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  5. My high school English teacher "forgot" we were supposed to read Of Mice and Men, so we ended up watching the movie version (along with The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun, also "forgotten"...yeah, she was not my favorite teacher!) at the end of the year. I've never read the book, but I definitely want to at some point.

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  6. I read this in high school and I still remember the impactive [sic] ending. Lennie sticks with ya.

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  7. I need to read this again. I read it in high school and remember enjoying it but I don't remember much else. I need to see how it affects me now. Great review and it makes me want to pick up again soon!

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  8. Ok, in that reviewer's defense, Steinbeck did write this book and a few others in a much more sparse manner than, say, Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. I think he was trying to eliminate all but the essential and also gives us a sense of desolation, and for the reader who is used to elaboration it could - at first glance - come across as a little devoid of color. Now, I"m a reader who adds a lot of embellishment of my own imagining as I read (LOL) but maybe that reviewer is kind of literal-minded when reading and needs the author to draw them a picture.

    Good discussion here!

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  9. I started reading this book a couple of months ago but had to put it aside. I was enjoying it after only a couple of chapters, so I really need to make time for it again, especially since it's so short!

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  10. I really should read this one as it's short and sitting on my coffee table. For whatever reason Scott asked me if we could go to HPB about a month ago (gasp!) and then picked up this book (double gasp). He devoured it so it must have some interest!

    I've only read his Travels with Charley but really love Steinbeck's descriptions.

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  11. I almost got entirely turned off to Steinbeck because of "Of Mice and Men"! It wasn't until I read Travels with Charley and Cannery Row that I came to really appreciate Steinbeck. I've been traveling along the California Coast writing about him: http://stephanienikolopoulos.com/tag/john-steinbeck/

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