Of Mice and Men

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Rare book

1 pages, Audio CD

First published February 25,1937

This edition

Format
1 pages, Audio CD
Published
January 1, 2003 by Highbridge Audio
ISBN
9781565117709
ASIN
1565117700
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • George Milton

    George Milton

    A quick-witted man who is Lennies guardian and best friend. His friendship with Lennie helps him to sustain his dream of a better future, but it ends with the death of his friend.more...

  • Lennie Small

    Lennie Small

    A gigantic, physically strong imbecile who travels with George and is his constant companion. He dreams of "living off the fatta the lan" and being able to tend to rabbits. His love for soft things is a weakness, mostly because he does not kno...

  • Candy

    Candy

    ...

  • Curley

    Curley

    ...

  • Curley's Wife
  • Slim

    Slim

    ...

About the author

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John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
36(36%)
4 stars
30(30%)
3 stars
33(33%)
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99 reviews All reviews
March 31,2025
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به طرز عجیبی دلنشین بود. روایت سریع و جذابی که تا آخرین صفحه خواننده رو درگیر میکنه به همراه یک پایان شوک کننده.
March 31,2025
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I read Of Mice and Men decades ago when it was required reading in high school. During that time period, several U.S. states banned the book.

I listened to it on audiobook and it's narrated phenomenally by Gary Sinise. The plot focuses on two men who stick together while working and looking for migrant work during the Great Depression. George is a small, thin man and Lennie has learning disabilities. They have a shared dream to own a plot of land where they can grow their own food and be their own bosses. Lennie wants to tend rabbits because he likes petting things that are soft.

Of Mice and Men was published in 1937. The language in the book is indicative of the time that it was created and it is jarring and offensive.
March 31,2025
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A book I'd read an awfully long time ago, when pocket calculators were still the latest thing.
Such an iconic staple of American literature, wherein George and Lennie, migrant labourers in the Cali dustbowl, form an unlikely bond in a tale of brutality and tenderness.
Typical of Steinbeck, his 'no-fucking-about' narrative fast-tracks his examination of human morality, culminating in a story that has since been immortalised on film and stage.
Steinbeck strived for gritty realism and wrote about a time and a place, with all of its triumphs and evils. Hidden messages shadow the narrative, chiefly one of morality. He depicted an America that existed, not the one that he would have liked.
March 31,2025
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"Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."

Oscar Wilde's prison poem came to mind not only for its literal truth in the context of Lenny and George, but also because it evokes the brutal isolation of the whole cast of characters, each one of them stuck in their separate reality and unable to connect with each other. The young lonely wife has nobody to confide in, and keeps looking for trouble out of sheer isolation. The black man is so utterly alone that he is almost insane, and the barrier of his skin colour is even more impenetrable than the woman's gender. George's loneliness is connected to his responsibility for Lenny, and Lenny himself is in the brutal prison of his intellectual inferiority and herculean strength. Even the boss' son is in a no man's land between privilege and torture.

The dream of sharing a future together keeps the men's spirits alive for a while, and it is contagious. Breaking out of the isolation, enjoying freedom and partnership - those are powerful ideas.

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."

The domino effect of Lenny's inability to control his strength or his craving for softness and love makes all dreamers wake up to a nightmare without end. The only solace is finding another human being who understands enough of the pain of killing what one loves to offer a sign of support or friendship in the misery of reality.

Lenny broke my heart, and yet I had to smile at his limited vision over and over again. When I first read this novel, I was a busy teenager, bored and frustrated that school picked my reading materials for me, not willing to enter into the confused minds of men with whom I had seemingly nothing in common. With hindsight, I see myself in a cloud of ignorance, not fully grasping what happened around me, missing a masterpiece in the process - I was very much like Lenny myself, unaware of the bigger picture of what was going on around me. Reading Of Mice and Men now, to prepare a teaching unit for a new generation of fifteen-year-olds, I find myself more in the role of George, gently coaxing, carefully repeating the information I consider crucial, avoiding too much detail out of fear to completely lose the attention of my students. Lenny and George live a life of their own in my head now, and they have transcended their bitter story and become part of mine.

Just what one expects of a great classic!
March 31,2025
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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is an American Literature Classic!

n  "...The best laid schemes of Mice and Men go oft awry..."~ Robert Burns 1875n

There's something about an American Literature Classic that's at once cautious and gritty, pure and raw, brilliant and dark. When it's a story that packs a punch with a glimpses at life during the Great Depression written by John Steinbeck, you're sure to be glued to every word.

George Milton and Lennie Small are two itinerant ranch hands traveling together, from place to place.

One is protecting and smarter than the other. One is larger and stronger than the other.

Lenny is misunderstood for his awkwardness and George is destined to explain and make excuses for him when things don't go quite right.

Some days are good and other days are bad. Time after time it goes like this until that one day when things went very, very bad...

Of Mice and Men is a short read/listen that's an emotional journey for the reader. The dire circumstances of living during a time in history when most have nothing, these two men have each other. Yet their relationship is a struggle for both of them and for very different reasons.

Then there's the ending... Yes, there's that, so be prepared for it...

How did Steinbeck do this? How was he able to dig so deep into the human experience and nail it with so few words?

The audiobook is narrated by Gary Sinise. I'll never tire of listening to the voice of this award winning American actor and humanitarian. He also narrates Steinbeck's Travels with Charley which I read in 2021. My review for Travels with Charley

Of Mice and Men is the perfect Classic to add to your reading schedule anytime. Just pop it in...it's short, it's real, it's a snapshot in time, and it's a masterpiece that I highly recommend!

5⭐
March 31,2025
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n  “Me an’ you.”
“You  . . . an’ me."
n

First published in 1937, I am glad I finally read and listened to this unforgettable story of dreams and beautiful friendship.

Set during the Great Depression in Soledad, California this is a story of George and Lennie two migrant workers traveling from job to job working on ranches in the Salinas Valley.

The audio read by Gary Sinise was perfect giving the characters their personalities. I know there's a film with the same name which Sinise also starred in and directed. Without reading the synopsis, I didn't know the basis of this story nor did I expect it to be an emotional journey.

A ReadAlong group with Lisa of Troy. Thank you Lisa!
March 31,2025
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A small book with a big heart; actually it was George and Lennie with the big hearts. Two friends, migrant workers in California during the Depression, looking out for one another, trying to scrap by and save enough money for a place of their own. Their big dream can't overcome their human frailty or the harsh and unforgiving time they lived in. If not for the The Grapes of Wrath this would be Steinbeck's masterpiece.

4.5 stars
March 31,2025
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Una historia terriblemente triste que narra muy bien la pobreza, precariedad y racismo existente durante la gran depresión en Estados Unidos.
Me ha gustado muchísimo como está escrito porque consigue ser crudo y evocador al mismo tiempo. Luego el tema de que este sea el segundo libro que lea de Steinbeck y sea el segundo en el que la mujer es el mal de males... pues uf.
De todas maneras eso no ha impedido que disfrutara muchísimo de esta novela corta y que haya perdonado al autor tras "Al este del Edén" por fin xD
No me puedo quedar sin hablar de esta IMPRESIONANTE edición de Edelvives con las ilustraciones de Rebecca Dautremer, una de mis ilustradoras preferidas desde tiempos inmemoriales, y que aquí realiza un trabajo para caerse del asiento. Estamos ante una auténtica obra de arte en todos los sentidos y creo que el hecho de haber leído el libro en esta edición ha conseguido que me gustara aún muchísimo más. Recomendadísimo queda.
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