I had read this back in high school when it was mandated. I vaguely remembered the story when I started reading it, many, many, many moons later and it is without a doubt a great classic tale.

the book that made me fall in love with steinbeck's prose.

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

This is a book of characters who aspire to go places, but never quite get there. It is the only book that brought me to tears when I finished the last pages. You feel for both Lennie and George throughout, and while it's hard to read of the abuse towards the former, it allows you to see the depth and strength of the bond that both men have with each other. Companionship and loneliness are two recurring themes throughout this simple, yet impactful story.

I remember reading this at school at being completely uninterested in the story. I remember the teacher droning on about basic plot allegories before we read each section; she would tell us what certain things “meant” before we had even seen them. She would explain how this portrays a vital part of American culture and a vital element of human nature. All in all we were told what to see in the book before we even began reading.

Perhaps she should have just let us read it first, and see what we took from it before being told how to read it. I hated it at the time. I hated being told that passages meant certain things when clearly criticism is just speculation. This wasn’t effective teaching: it was being told how to think. She should have prized open our minds and made us engage with it more. When I approached it again years later I did so with more of an open mind, I was determined to find more in the book than I’d been taught to see.

And I did. Lenny and George naively dream of the farm; they dream of a retreat where they can reside in friendship without having to answer to any master. They wouldn’t have to go to work; they can simply work for themselves. Running their own farm would mean that they are self-sustainable. They could grow crops for themselves and choose when they laboured: they would be free. Well George wants this. Lenny just wants a few rabbits to pet. The attractiveness of the dream draws in Candy, who is very old and very lonely. He doesn’t want to end up like his dog: put down because of his years. He wants someone to protect him and care for him in his advanced years. The three become united by this shared dream but it is nothing but fancy.

“Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”



Indeed, the American dream doesn’t exist in this book. Only harsh cold reality awaits the protagonists. Crooks, for all his cruel and understandable bitterness, was right in the end. The farm is just a dream. It is evocative of the loneliness within the human soul, and how we will always long for the impossible. It’s impossible because there is no sunset over the rainbow. Life doesn’t quite work like that. People don’t always get what they want. The world is a cruel unforgiving place here. This is embodied by Lenny; he is vulnerable and emotionally weak. He is completely unaware of the vicious strength he possesses. He never truly understands the situation. He almost walks through the world blind. The world he sees is different to that of everyone else’s.

So this is a story about the outsiders, about the unloved and misunderstood. This a story about those that long for an alternative to the drudgery of standard human existence, but have their expectations cut short. This is a story about how we judge people based upon their appearance and how we label them unjustly. This is a story that Mary Shelley would have loved, a story where a character with an innocent heart is destroyed by the world he should have been accepted by.

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Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, John Steinbeck's second of three books that would focus on the working and laboring agricultural itinerant class of California during the Great Depression, the third being The Grapes of Wrath published in 1939. Of Mice and Men is the story of loyalty and friendship between two men rooted in kindness and hope and their dreams. In the Introduction by Susan Shillinglaw to the copy I read, it is asserted that "Steinbeck's greatness as a writer lies in his empathy for common people--their loneliness, joy, anger, and strength, their connection to places and their craving for land." John Steinbeck's title of the book was taken from a poem by Robert Burns suggesting the transitory quality of even the best laid schemes as it tells of an unfortunate field mouse whose home is flattened by a plow:

n  

"But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
For promised joy."

n
Of Mice and Men is the story of the friendship between Lennie and George. As they are making their way to the next agricultural job they are described in the opening chapter in this way:

n  

"Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. The first man was small and quick, dark of face with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely."

n

As the novella unfolds, we learn of the depth of the friendship between George and Lennie and their shared dream of having their own place, earning a stake to contribute toward realizing their dream of their own little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs "an' live off the fatta the lan'." As we come to know more about George and Lennie, there is a heavy and ominous feel to this heartbreaking book making it clear why John Steinbeck is such a beloved author.

ADDENDUM: A few nights ago we watched the film adaptation Of Mice and Men when I realized that the dialogue was identical to that of the book. Then I remembered that John Steinbeck had written this novel in such a way that it could be adapted to the stage as written. In the Introduction it talks of a letter to his agents in April 1936, where Steinbeck said Of Mice and Men, "is neither a novel nor a play but it is kind of a playable novel. Written in novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands."

This is a story about George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States. George Milton is intelligent but uneducated and Lennie Small is extremely physically strong but mentally disabled.

After being hired at a farm, the pair are confronted by the Boss's son who dislikes Lennie. Another worker on the farm offers to help pay to buy a farm with George and Lennie. However, the next day Lennie accidentally kills his puppy while stroking it. After finding out about Lennie's habit, the farmer's wife offers to let him stroke her hair. When she starts to panic and scream Lennie becomes nervous and breaks her neck… This leads to a very tragic ending...

Of course, when reading a classic novel I have to research the author and find out "more."
This book was based on Steinbeck's own experiences as a bindlestiff in the 1920s. He got the title from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse," which read: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men." (The best laid schemes of mice and men)

I suggest this book to anyone that enjoys short classics that don't have happy endings.

I think it's tradition for me to finish a classic and think, "That was good, but I wonder what insights and symbolism I missed out on since I didn't read this for class and have a professor telling me about it." It's also just really hard to review classics in general, because whereas "normal" books I can pick apart the plot, characters, pace, etc., there's something different about these. I feel like I always expect classics to be deep and mindblowing with huge world-shifting themes, but in reality, it's totally normal to be disappointed by them. In this case, I spent most of this book wondering what the point was. I wondered if I was just not connecting to this because it was too short, or because of the very slang dialogue, but by the end of this everything just clicked into place and I actually went into my mom's room to discuss. Touching, tragic, and just..... wow.

4.5 stars

As expected, this book was gorgeously written, intelligent and touching.
The foreshadowing was perfectly executed (not the only thing perfectly executed, if you catch my drift) and held everything together beautifully.

The only criticism I have is the treatment of the only female character: She is essentially the Evil Whore who makes a Good Man do bad things, and everyone blames her and is sorry for the guy, even though she clearly gets the short end of the stick.

But yeah, definitely a classic for a reason.

(Book 608 from 1001 books) - Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men is a novella written by author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937.

Of Mice and Men tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «موشها و آدمها»؛ نویسنده: جان استاین‌بک (اشتاین بک)؛ انتشاراتیهای: (اساطیر، امیرکبیر، کانون معرفت، زرین، مدبر، علی فرهنگی، سعیدی، چکاوک، گلبرگ برزین، جنگل، در دانش، گلمهر، گویش نو، ماهی، و ...)؛ ادبیات؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1974میلادی

عنوان: موشها و آدمها؛ نویسنده: جان استاین‌بک (اشتاین بک)؛ مترجم پرویز داریوش؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، چاپ دوم 1340، در 104ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1356، چاپ چهارم 1362؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، کانون معرفت، 1345، در 184ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، زرین، 1362، در 202ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، اساطیر، 1366، در 137ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1389، در 136ص؛ شابک 9789643314675؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، مدبر، 1370، در 167ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1388، در 172ص، شابک 9789646631670؛ چاپ دیگر انتشارات علمی فرهنگی، 1394، در 139ص؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20م

مترجم: ولی الله ابراهیمی؛ تهران، سعیدی، 1348، در 175ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1363، در 203ص؛

مترجم: مهدی خوانساری؛ تهران، چکاوک، 1362، در 195ص؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، پگاه، 1369، در 195ص؛

مترجم: گلبرگ برزین؛ تهران، گلمهر، 1381، در 137ص؛ شابک 9647438060؛ در 137ص؛

مترجم: الهام تابع احمدی؛ اصفهان، جنگل، 1382، در 79ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک 9646089857؛

مترجم: محمدصادق شریعتی؛ تهران، گویش نو، 1387، در 87ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک 9789649616841؛

مترجم: پریسا محمدی؛ کرج، در دانش، 1387، در 102ص؛ شابک 9789641740940؛

مترجم: سروش حبیبی؛ تهران، ماهی، 1388، در 154ص؛ شابک 9789642090594؛ چاپ دوم 1392؛ چاپ پنجم 1395؛ شابک 9789642091522؛ در 160ص؛

مترجم: مینا فراهانی؛ تهران، فرهنگ زبان، 1389، در 84ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک 9789648794670؛

مترجم: ایمان قادری؛ تهران، ابرسفید، 1391، در 227ص؛ شابک 9786009254507؛

مترجم: احسان قادری؛ تهران، ابرسفید، چاپ دوم 1393، در 216ص؛ شابک 9786009254507؛

مترجم: مهدی افشار؛ تهران، به سخن، 1394، در 160ص؛ شابک 9786007987018؛

مترجم: فرزام حبیبی اصفهانی؛ تهران، زاویه، 1395، در 154ص؛ شابک 9789649562032؛ چاپ دیگر، نشر هرم، 1395؛ شابک 9789648882674؛

هشدار: اگر این کتاب خود میخواهید بخوانید، از خوانش ریویو خودداری فرمائید؛

در این داستان «جرج میلتون»، و «لنی اسمال»، دو دوست هستند، که روزگار خویش را در اسبداری‌ها، می‌گذرانند؛ آرزوی دیرین آنها این است، که روزی جایی را بخرند، و در آنجا «خرگوش» پرورش دهند؛ «لنی» از کودکی، از نوازش چیزهای نرم، خوشش میآید، و زور بازوی بسیار دارد؛ او چندان باهوش نیست؛ دچار دردسر میشود، به ویژه هنگامی که زن پسر ارباب، «کرلی»، از او میخواهد تا موهایش را نوازش کند؛ «لنی» ناخواسته زن بیچاره را می‌کشد، و از ترس می‌گریزد؛ «کرلی» خشمگین، با مردانش، در پی یافتن و از پای درآوردن «لنی»، راهی میشوند؛ «جرج» هم، به رغم سوگندش، برای پشتیبانی از «لنی»، به گروه میپیوندد؛ و ...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 28/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 09/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

“In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme. try to understand men, if you understand each other, you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love”

A timeless work of fiction that embraces universal themes of racism, poverty, mental disorder, and friendship that brings with it loyalty and misguided loyalty as Steinbeck delivers yet another powerful story, this time of two men struggling to find work, during the Great Depression in the US. One a gentle giant who ‘kills with kindness’ and the other, George, who takes control of his friend who possesses the mental age of a child, in a bid to find work alongside a migrant workforce who are also in need, flawed and with their own back stories.

The two central characters, George and Lennie, have arrived at a farm in search of work having fled from their previous job because of some minor transgression by Lennie. Conscious of his friend’s mental competence, George becomes Lennie’s voice and with very tightly controlled conversations with others, he encourages his friend to say nothing to anyone they meet. The promise for this compliance is work and the pledge that they will both find a place where rabbits run free!!!.

Words are offered to protect Lennie, “If you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush… “ and yet Lennie does get into trouble again as the story takes on a sad twist that will test friendship and expose all the inequalities of a world portrayed by Steinbeck.

Powerful in its message but simple in its storytelling, evocative in its themes and sentimental in its portrayal of all that is wrong at that time in history as people struggled to find work and their next meal. The characterisation is intriguing and the small group of people central to the story is indictive of a society in need, with prejudices, ambitions, with an underlying mistrust of people around them.

Simple and powerful and one of those books everyone should read in their lifetime.

A small warning first folks!
Do you know?
Your skin is the largest stuff in your body, if you spread it flat, it can cover two meters on your most expensive marble floor. No matter even if it is Lux TOUCH!
And what do you think about the TOUCH? A ten or twenty seconds gentle stroking or even a small rub anywhere on this two-meter wide hull of your living ship can trigger Oxytocin (a social bonding hormone).
But too much secretion of it may scupper the ship. So be careful!

Now the book ….What a crazy book! A build-out for me ….. And a heart-rending too!

I remember the mention of the Salinas River in the East of Eden. When I opened this book, its mention appeared at once again on the very first line,

n  “A few miles south of the Soledad, The Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank……” n

This river seems to be of high substance in the life of the author. Rivers infuse into you a sense of spread and proliferation, and in my case dread too. When I saw a river the first time from very near, I was weeping, my parents said. I don’t remember, I would have been as small as a 15 kg cement bag, clung to the shoulder of my mum then perhaps! I might have become skeptical about the dubious intention of its approaching billow towards me, but when I grew up and saw the sea first time, I felt the opposite; I wanted to hug it 'in whole'. I felt no fear. The dread was gone.

Gentlemen! Note that by the time I first saw the blue vast sea in front of my eyes, I had neither read the “old man and the sea” nor the John Steinbeck mention of any Salinas river. But now I perceive that sea and rivers are great natural infusing agents that prompt a sense of penmanship even in a common mortal. Forget about the geniuses like Steinbeck or Hemingway!

As I imagined, two lads, George and Lennie, appearing from the brush, through the undergrowth on the first few pages, talking blamelessly in a very engaging manner in their typical dialect, on the bank of a river, lighting their fire pile from dry leaves, warming their cans of beans in the flame cracking up from those twigs, I at once felt the river has yet again achieved its purpose, a tale is born!t

John Steinbeck, whose miraculous narration I had come across with, the first time in his multi-generational saga East of Eden. That time I was pressed to the core…Utterly impressed. Here in this book, he took me this time from the bank of the river to the nomad sort of lives, settling and unsettling into the vast ranches near California, those barley barns, where I found these young fellas, on their respective bunks in a bunkhouse. Someone lay still in the bed, the others playing solitaire flouncing the cards, another pushing his gun under the bunk after cleaning it, and a lazy one sleeping facing the wall drawing up his knees to his chest.

n  “Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world they got no family they don't belong no place. They come to a ranch and work up stake and they go into town and blow their stake”n

Their way of talking was naïve, that dialect. Those unprocessed sentences coming out of their mouth. Just awesome!

n  “He ain’t bright, hell of a good worker, though, hell of a nice fella, but he ain't bright”n

And their boss or manager talking to new recruited boys, hoping to make a sound team of workers,

n  “I gotta pair of punks on my team that don’t know a barley bag from a blue ball. You guys ever bucked any barley?”n

And those funny conversations, the swamper talking about the previous occupant of the bed,

n  "Last guy that had this bed was a blacksmith- hell of a nice fella and clean a guy as you want to meet…Used to wash his hands even after he ate.” n

Those who have read this book, don't you think guys the book is about TOUCH, The psychology of TOUCH. Those TOUCH of the mouse inside the pocket of that strong-fat-innocent fellow, Lennie, who keeps tapping its fleecy dead body in the beginning. And George throwing it away, infuriated towards his mate, saying dead mouse is of no use!

“George:-" What you want of dead mouse anyways?”
Lennie:- “ I could patted with my thumb while we walked.”

This fellow Lennie wants to TOUCH whatever is soft and whatever he likes. That's a leaning of his feeble mind. And don’t forget those repeating conversations about alfalfa, about rabbits, about puppies throughout the story. Aren’t they all fleecy fluffy kinds of stuff? Don’t you think whatever turn the story took in the last, was just because of TOUCH?

And who think the title of this book is misplaced, they did not get it right. Perhaps!
Did you not see the “OF” just before Mice and Men. Put “TOUCH” even before “OF” in the title and you may know what the book is about. Run-of-the-mill advice from me!

Were both the protagonists of this book, the sick fellows?
Or the only fellow who was sick was Lennie?
Or was the real sick George?
Was this book about mental sickness or about nomadic life?

No. I think this book was about TOUCH and about MICE… And of course about MEN too!

And while I finished this book, with much unexpected and heartbreaking end, which left me pondering over the situation for quite a long, I felt too much pity for the poor guy, who had too much faith in his mate. I felt after the completion of this novella as if I was coming out of a dense wood after getting lost for some time. And then flashed in my mind, some lines of W.B. Yeats, I read recently.

“The woods of Arcady are dead,
And over is there antique joy
Of old the world on dreaming fed
Grey truth is now her painted toy
Yet still she turns her restless head
But O, sick children of the world
Of all the many changing things
In dreary dancing past us whirled”

This book moved me to some other dimension, I am telling you guys!