A Pérola é provavelmente de todos os livros que tenho, o que li mais vezes. É uma história comovente cheia de simbolismo. Desde o inicio da narrativa que se sente a tragédia a pairar sob as personagens. Kino e Juana não têm mais nada na vida além da canoa que utilizam para apanhar ostras. Acalentam a esperança de um dia a sorte lhes sorrir e encontrarem a pérola que lhes permita dar ao filho, Coyotito, uma vida melhor.
E precisamente quando mais precisavam encontraram. Uma pérola enorme, que num dia plantou sonhos e esperança e no outro trouxe consigo a morte.
É uma história sobre a ganância e a inveja que prevalecem acima da solidariedade. Uma parábola sobre as grandezas e as misérias do homem.
Steinbeck tem aqui uma escrita simples, bela, mas muito tensa.
Publicado em 1947, continua tão actual como se tivesse sido escrito hoje.

La perla es una de las mejores novelas cortas que he leído este año. La prosa simple pero profunda del autor logra conmover con una trama fatalista y frustrante pero nesesaria. John Steinbeck hace una reflexión sobre los anhelos de los personajes principales y sobre la codicia de los secundarios. Este trabajo tan bien logrado, lo hace en pocas páginas con específicas descripciones que llegan a crear ese ambiente familiar, de peligro y de maldad que el autor quiere transmitir. Esta corta novela del también ganador del Premio Nobel de Literatura en 1962, es una pequeña joya que todos deberíamos leer.

what can i say. i'm a steinbeck girl

Steinbeck does it again. All my experiences with his writings have been fantastic. Every word, every description, every plot point, every twist - perfect!

The Pearl is very short but very amazing. It is a tale of greed and how people around wealth or who come upon sudden wealth are affected. Many of us think our life would be perfect if we won the lottery, but I think all of us could benefit from the lessons in this story.

I picked this book now because I am on vacation in Hatteras, NC, and the locations along the sea seemed like they would blend well with my surroundings. I was correct! Many key scenes occur at or in the ocean, and reading this while my toes were in the surf added so much to the atmosphere.

Do yourself a favor and take a quiet afternoon, get away to somewhere (a beach if possible), and read The Pearl. Your literary senses will thank you!

A short parable that packs a big punch. Follows similar Steinbeck themes about the poor and downtrodden and the system that holds them down and offers no way of escape. Not quite up there with Of Mice and Men, but still worth an hour of your time, and holds more wisdom in its 90 pages than modern novels 5 times as long.

|| 2.0 stars ||

This story basically had one single message: Capitalism is bad.

The plot follows an Indian family who try to make a living by pearl-diving but when the husband finds a glorious, beautiful pearl that is worth a lot of money, it brings nothing but pain and suffering.
The rich, evil men would do anything to steal this impoverished man’s new-found wealth, and they are willing to go to immense lengths to take the pearl from him. First, the Indian family tries to fight back, but in the end they realize they do not want to own this pearl. They do not want to become wealthy. Not if it would make them dark and evil like all the other rich men. They would rather remain amongst their fellow poor people forever.

It could have been an okay story in theory, but I found the execution of it a little boring and even a bit simple. I also thought there were some problems with its message since it seems to suggests poor people should never try to move up in the world. I find that a little disheartening and discouraging, right?
Anyway, the writing was very descriptive and drawn-out, and I just didn’t feel connected to it. The characters also felt rather flat and didn’t come to life for me. Overall, I just wasn’t gripped by this story and the book left me feeling underwhelmed.


n  John Steinbeck books:n
Of Mice and Men - 4.0 stars
The Pearl - 2.0 stars

From the acclaimed American Nobel laureate John Steinbeck comes a tale of brilliance, magnitude, and preciousness - the Pearl, a symbol that simultaneously embodies both beauty and the ugliness of greed.

In short:

Kino, a poor man living in a small village, finds this incredible pearl while diving for oysters. The pearl is so big and beautiful that everyone in the village wants it. People start dreaming about what they could do with the money if they owned the pearl. A doctor who wouldn't help Kino's sick son before suddenly wants to be nice. Even the priest comes to visit Kino!

Kino thinks he can sell the pear for a lot of money and finally have a good life. But people are willing to do bad things to steal the pearl from him. Kino is scared for his family's safety, so they have to leave their village and travel to the big city.

On their journey, they are chased by bad guys who want the pearl. Sadly, things go very wrong, and Kino loses someone he loves dearly.

This story is about a world where people are more interested in money than helping others. It's a sad reminder that greed can make people do terrible things. In the end, Kino throws the pearl back into the ocean because it caused him so much trouble.

Kino's story transcends the boundaries of time, resonating with the struggles of individuals and communities across generations. It reminds us of the harsh realities faced by those without wealth and the dangers of greed.

3.5 / 5

The great parable (and tragedy) of our time.

He said, "I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god.

This novella is certainly a triumph. It is a feat which anticipates Papa's Old Man and the Sea. I expected bleak but this lumbered past my expectations.

Steinbeck understood fury. He preferred to drape it in righteousness but understood it was foundational, a default code.

This was my first Steinbeck in close to 25 years. I was moved more by the tidal poetry than the spherical songs of Kino's imagination. Steinbeck is generous with his gestures. He understood our unspoken nature. Kino felt success was literacy, an ability to parse the codes. The novelist knows better. I would have enjoyed more tension, more detail and certainly more developed characters. If a parable was the goal then The Pearl was a success, however dire and defeated.

اللؤلؤة رواية قصيرة للكاتب الأمريكي جون شتاينبك الذي فاز بجائزة نوبل عام ١٩٦٢ وتعتبر وهذه القصة واحدة من كتب ستاينبك الأكثر شعبية واستخدمت على نطاق واسع في صفوف المدرسة الثانوية..

تدور الأحداث حول صياد فقير يعثر علي لؤلؤة نادرة وكبيرة الحجم ولكنّه بدلاً من أن يصبح غنيا وسعيدا، يفقد السعادة، ويكاد يفقد كلّ شيء..
الرواية فكرتها حلوة وهي عن ضياع الأحلام وتحولها إلي كوابيس و إن ساعات ما نحلم بيه ما هو إلا وهم وممكن جداً يكون سبب تعاستنا و تخلي الأخرين عننا..
الرواية أيضاً تلقي الضوء علي حب المال اللي بسببه ممكن يخلي الإنسان يلجأ للعنف ويبعده عن إنسانيته..

رواية متوسطة المستوي..ترجمتها ممتازة و معرفش ليه مكتوب علي الغلاف أدب ناشئين..ممكن عشان كانت تدرس لطلاب المدارس بس أنا محسيتهاش موجهة للناشئين بالعكس هي رواية مناسبة لكل الأعمار...

رمانى كوتاه (با ترجمه اى خوب از جناب سروش حبيبى)و مثل ديگر آثار جان اشتاين بك خواندنى وفوق العاده .
روايتى از يك افسانه كهن متعلق به مردم و سرزمين مكزيك كه اتفاقات وسير داستان با تناسب حجم كوتاه رمان،بسيار تند و سريع اتفاق مى افتد وخواننده بدون خواندن توضيحات اضافى و جزئيات بيهوده همراه با شخصيت اصلى داستان غرق در اين قصه و فرجام مرواريد مى شود.
كينو ماهيگير كه زندگى او به دو بخش قبل وبعد از يافتن مرواريد تقسيم و با همه رشادت ها وجنگيدن ومقاومت ها ى او با تلخى هاى زندگى سرانجام تسليم جبر روزگار وسرنوشت مى شود.

قسمتى از متن كتاب؛
-يه تفنگ،…بله شايد به تفنگم بخرم!
و همين تفنگ بود كه همه سدها راشكست.تفنگ از محالات بود واگر مى توانست فكرِ داشتن يك تفنگ را به ذهن خود راه بدهد همه مرزها در هم مى ريخت و حدى براى اميالش وجود نمى داشت.زيرا گفته اند كه آدميزاد هرگز سير نخواهد شد. يك چيز كه به او دادى چيز ديگرى مى خواهد.البته اين گفته رنگ مذمت داشت،حال آنكه اين كيفيت يكى از خصايص بشر برجسته بشر بود وهمين خصيصه او را بر حيوانات،كه به آنچه دارند راضى اند برترى مى بخشيد.

Read it and philosophize while you read it and weep.

Sometimes I have to wonder what the people who write the back blurbs of these books are thinking (or smoking). The back says "THE PEARL is a book to be read many times and cherished forever." What they're talking about, I can't imagine. If you choose to get pissed over and over again, then by all means keep reading this tragic story.

I get what Steinbeck is saying in his beautiful writing voice - to be content with what is had and to not let the lure of greed drift you too far out, lest you lose everything. It's kind of like the principle of this ridiculous short story we had to read in elementary school - I can't remember it's name, but the point of the story that the teacher and book taught irritated me then too. I get what he's saying, I just don't agree with his perspective.

What I take from this fable is that a man gets a break in luck in fortune, something he hopes for in order to save his child's life and better the life of him and his wife. People try to steal and rip from him his fortune with THEIR greed, and he stands strong and tries to fight back, refusing to bow to the injustice of thievery, deceit, and people trying to suck out the joy in others lives. It's a matter of principle to try and protect fortune that comes your way, whether through blessing or hard work or that rare stroke of genius. There is no shame in fighting back against the tides of unfairness to protect what is yours and to work toward something better.

I can't bring myself to rate something higher than 3 stars if it pissed me off with its ending, but I can respect this book because it's John freaking Steinbeck, it's a fable that's so well done it may as well define the word 'fable' in the dictionary, and because it wasn't only the alluring pull of the pearl that kept drawing me further in.