"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
- The first line of Cannery Row

I always enjoy Steinbeck. I don’t think I have read a single one that is not 5 stars. I am glad to finally read Cannery Row and discover that it is not an exception to the 5-star rule.

Cannery Row is one main storyline interspersed with slightly related anecdotes every other chapter. Each story is a snapshot into part of the life of a citizen of Cannery Row. The writing is perfect and drew me in and held me. Some parts felt like a little bit of filler, but they really are not. They all serve to enrich the story and the atmosphere. Every second of this story was an absolute treat!

Characters! I want to meet them all: the good, the bad, the silly, the sweet, the criminal, the questionably moral, and the seemingly righteous. Every time I read Steinbeck, I love getting to know the people he creates. And, I figure based on how he writes and what he writes about he probably knew someone just like every one of his characters. While with some of his other stories there have been obvious villains, this is a book you will leave loving very character you meet no matter what they are like.

If you have been wanting to try Steinbeck but are not ready to commit to a larger tome like East of Eden or Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row would be a great place to start!

As a longtime fan of Steinbeck, boy oh boy did he not disappoint! Unlike the other works of his I've read, this novel is set on the coast of California in the Monterey Bay area. One of my favorite parts of reading this was the lengthy descriptions of the wildlife and nature inherent to the area. I've always had a science-y part of myself in addition to my bookish tendencies, and in fact I'm completing a biology minor in school. Resultantly, I really enjoyed the marine biology focus of this work, but at the same time it was not over the top. I think Steinbeck did a wonderful job of showcasing his knowledge about the nature of Monterey Bay, while still keeping it approachable for all readers. I also found the relationships between the odd-ball inhabitants of Cannery Row to be incredibly endearing, and despite the short length of the novel, I felt like I knew them all so well by the end of the novel. I love Steinbeck's writing, and he did not disappoint with this one. I completely recommend to readers of all levels - I think this is the perfect introduction to Steinbeck for anyone who hasn't read him before. Absolutely loved it: 4.5/5 stars.

I'm just really enjoying going back and reading the Steinbeck I missed, now that I realize what a beautiful writer he is. I ended up reading this because I read Monterey Bay from the Tournament of Books longlist, where the author took Steinbeck's research, characters, place and time and wrote her own novel. It made me want to read the original, which I wasn't even sure was a novel at first. One of the characters is based on Ed Ricketts, who Steinbeck writes about taking a journey with in The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and dedicates this book to.

The language! Such language.

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

And the characters! Here's an example:

"Mack and the boys, too, spinning in their orbits. They are the Virtues, the Graces, the Beauties of the hurried mangled craziness of Monterey and the cosmic Monterey where men in fear and hunger destroy their stomachs in the fight to secure certain food, where men hungering for love destroy everything lovable about them."

And here's one for the road, maybe a bit applicable in 2017:

"'It has always seemed strange to me,' said Doc. 'The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

‌
‌
جان یه رفیقی داشت به نام اِد ریکِتس که یه زیست‌شناس دریایی بود. ایشون یه آزمایشگاه داشت توی ساحل مونتری و کارش جمع‌آوری نمونه‌های موجودات آبزی و دریایی برای مدارس و دانشگاهها بود. جان و اِد دوستای صمیمی شده بودن و حتی همسر جان توی آزمایشگاه اِد مشغول به کار شده بود یه دوره‌ای. اِد تاثیر زیادی روی جان میزاره و فلسفه و زیست‌شناسی رو بهش آموزش میده.
‌
این کتاب یه جور ادای دین به ریکتس بوده و بس. برشهایی از زندگی ریکتس و خاطراتش، خرده روایت‌هایی از ایشون به همراه آدمای دور و برش که جان نتونسته بود منسجم ارائه‌شون کنه و باعث شده بود کتاب اصلا دلنشین نباشه. من اگر بودم این خرده روایتها رو به صورت داستان کوتاه منتشر میکردم نه یه رمان.
‌
حالا از اینم که بگذریم، ترجمه فاجعه بود!! یعنی به هیچ عنوان پیشنهاد نمیشه برید سراغش، یا زبان اصلی بخونید یا صبر کنید یه ترجمه درست حسابی ازش دربیاد. البته من ترجمه مرضیه خسروی رو خوندم از نشر روزگار !!

درضمن یه فیلم هم از روی این کتاب ساخته شده که به مراتب از کتاب بهتره چون یه خط داستانی منسجم به فیلم‌نامه اضافه کردن، چیزی که کتاب به شدت از نبودش رنج میبره.

Il caldo aroma della vita

“Le cose che ammiriamo negli uomini, la bontà, la generosità, la franchezza, l'onestà, la saggezza e la sensibilità, sono in noi elementi che portano alla rovina. E le caratteristiche che detestiamo, la furberia, la cupidigia, l'avarizia, la meschinità, l'egoismo, portano al successo. E mentre gli uomini ammirano le prime di queste qualità, amano il risultato delle seconde”.

La prima cosa è il luogo: Cannery Row, Monterey, California, l'abitato quartiere dove hanno sede gli stabilimenti per la produzione di sardine in scatola, la bottega di alimentari e liquori, il bar di dubbia fama, la casa di piacere frequentata da operai, marinai e soldati, uno strano Istituto di Biologia, il magazzino occupato dagli hobos, i vagabondi che hanno così poco da chiedere all'esistere. E così il traduttore, Aldo Camerino, rese quel “row” con Vicolo, per consonanza con questo ambiente di umili, di piccole cose, di ultimi resti di umanità. Steinbeck ha penna agile e lirica nel descrivere le azioni e i personaggi che, in quegli anni Trenta, riempiono questa scena scanzonata: un commerciante cinese, una maitresse di intensa esperienza, le giovani e flessuose ospiti del bordello, coppie che vivono in caldaie dismesse o altre che offrono un the inglese a una massa di gatti, i reietti che cercano di sopravvivere e di godere di ciò che è a portata, il Dottore biologo, saggio e misterioso e generoso, che si avventura ovunque per sentieri marini e sacri e si presta a fare da punto cardinale di una comunità dispersa, fragile, frammentata e, diremmo oggi, molto liquida (in ogni senso). Quest'ultimo personaggio è calco di un grande amico di Steinbeck, che qui e altrove volle omaggiarlo. E quindi l'autore di Salinas ci narra la marea delle vicende: la caccia alle rane, i debiti, le ubriacature, il furgone “modello T” simbolo culturale, le gentilezze e i piaceri del corpo offerte ai viandanti, gli stenti, la miseria, le feste, le risse, le disillusioni e i fattacci di questi umili e imbranati e fallimentari antieroi del vivere. Così i semplici cittadini di vicolo Cannery assumono un'aristocratica sprezzatura verso il destino del mondo, la loro anima è libera, tornano a guardare le cose ogni mattino con occhi nuovi. A colpire in questo testo è l'applicazione di due princìpi di leggerezza, l'umorismo e la fantasia, che con meraviglia e atmosfera creano in chi legge una aggraziata sospensione del senso morale.

“La prima mattina è tempo di magia nel Vicolo Cannery. Nell’ora grigia, dopo l’apparire della luce e prima che il sole si sia levato, pare che il Vicolo penda sospeso fuori del tempo in una luce d’argento. I fanali si spengono e l’erba è d’un verde lucente. Il ferro ondulato brilla della lucentezza del platino o degli antichi peltri. Non passano automobili, allora. La strada è silenziosa di movimento e di faccende. E si odono l’impeto e il fragore delle onde, mentre il mare urta contro i piloni degli stabilimenti. È un tempo di grande pace, un tempo abbandonato, una piccola era di riposo”.

خلاصه که دوستان داگ آخرشن

OMG! This party I can’t even turn the page again

Три пъти започвам "Улица "Консервна" и три пъти я зарязвам. Добре, че беше чудесният прочит на Николай Николов в Сторител, та да й дам шанс. И какво се оказа - изненадващо умилителна, малко тъжна и много весела история е сътворил Стайнбек. А сред всички уж разпилени, преплетени и небрежно подхвърлени житейски разкази насред Улица Консервна - чувство на топлина, човещина, чистосърдечност, добронамерена дяволитост и не малко мъдрост.

It is a wondrous and magnificent thing that a necessarily great writer (because not all writers do this) can sit alone in his room emitting explosions of love for his characters and, being free and technically astute, he can channel this ineffable love into the energy of his words so that a reader, half a century after his death, can feel it viscerally as if she were in the room with him at the time of the explosion.

Without a doubt one of the best novels I've ever read, plot is almost no existent, the enjoyment of wonderful characters, weaving through each others lives. I liked it even more then Of Mice and Men which I also loved. I'm going to read a lot more Steinbeck this year.

A tale or tales of nothingness, that imparts an unintentional smile into your lips, and transports us into a sweet, soporific reflective mood.

The book has made an indelible impression in my mind as he, Steinbeck, had built a mansion of beauty and intelligence out of nothing, like a magician. As Steinbeck says, "the stories crawl in themselves as you open the book".

It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

Oh how much I admire John Steinbeck and his writing. The more works I read of his, the more I fall in love with him. His crystal clear prose with no hiding, no secrets. The whiplash of the words but not that harsh. His tone almost always has a sad ring to it. His brutally honest and cruel portrayal are written in such a way that they leave a feeling of helplessness behind which keeps digging in reader's mind for a long time and that's what makes him such an influential writer of all time.


Now coming to cannery row, it was one difficult read at the start. To be honest it's haphazardly written which makes it challenging read. At one point, I thought he wanted to write either a short story or big novel and couldn't do either. So the result is cannery row. But In all that confusion, he couldn't do justice to these beautiful characters. It should have been a proper novel.

So anyways I loved the characters be it the doc or the boys. John wrote tragedies mostly of mice and men, East of Eden or grapes of wrath but this one, this one showed he was capable of writing good humour too.

In all honesty, Anyone who loves John should read this one too. It's different but yet his style keeps peaking up in between.


One of my favorite now and in the reread list too.