I needed a quick read because I stupidly forgot that the library would be closed yesterday for Veteran's Day. I'd exhausted my current supply, and I needed a short term fix to hold me until I could get some new product today. So I grabbed Of Mice and Men off the bookshelf last night.

And I'm glad I did because I'd somehow remembered that this was a depressing book. How wrong I was! Oh, sure there were some tense moments like when you think Lennie will accidently hurt Curley's wife in the barn. What a relief when George and Candy come in at the last minute and stop anything bad from happening! And isn't it nice that the scare changes both Curley and his wife so that they have a much better marriage and new appreciation for each other.

Plus, it leads to the great moment when Curley is so grateful that he fronts George, Lennie and Candy the money to finally buy the ranch of their dreams. Oh, and that last scene with George and Candy on the porch of their new home while Lennie tends the rabbits brought a tear to my eye.

What's that you say? I got the ending wrong? No, I'm quite certain this is what happened. No! Be quiet! I can't hear you! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

Well I finally got round to reading it, and I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed. Steinbeck’s descriptions are such that you need no imagination. Touching and beautifully written.

How does one rate a Holy Tome of English Lit, when one found the reading experience to be extraordinarily average. . . nay, even sub-par?

I suppose the real question is, am I, like some people, a vote whore who will slap the Big Uno on it, and then index all the book's inadequecies, ignoring all the things the author did well? This will probably gain my review the most interest.

Or shall I, like a dignified book reviewer, give it a Trio, and calmly explain both its flaws and its high points?

Uno it is.

Here's why I thought Of Mice and Men sucked balls:

1. WHAT'S UP with the main character who has no personality other than being large and, like the lame interpretation of Frankenstein from the 30's movie, friendly-yet-stupid and unaware-of-his-own-strength? Super-lame.

2. WHAT'S UP with the other main character who seems to like nothing more than shitting on the big dude's self-esteem, and pointing out how much his own life sucks because of his friendship with said stupid friend? He's not an orgasmically charming fellow himself. In fact, he's Eeyore.

3. WHAT'S UP with the most interesting character being in one fraggin' chapter? I found the black character fascinating, and in this one scene he established himself as more intriguing than anyone else in the whole flippin' book. Then? We never hear from him again.

4. YET AGAIN, Steinbeck makes the main female character a sultry temptress. The way he makes all women into sultry temptresses, you'd think he had a Bible fetish or something. She's the least sympathetic character in a book full of characters I didn't sympathize with.

5. I'm now bored with the numbering system, and shall stop doing it.

Two Steinbeck novels have I loved: East of Eden is one of my very favorite books, and The Grapes of Wrath is also terrific. But this reads like a mediocre Tennessee Williams play, and I frikkin' HATE that guy. Why? It isn't just because of weak characters in this book. It's also because the whole premise of this book sucks, and the ending sucks even more than the premise. It's a snowball of suckiness, culminating in a bang that left me confused, yet simultaneously indifferent.

Perhaps it's because similar plotlines have been littered around the modern age like horse shit at a circus, but DID ANYBODY NOT know EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN from page 10 on? Anyone? Beuller?

Get it? Like. . . movie reference? Nevermind.

Anyway, this sucked. There's no Wishbone episode of this'un, and it's because a Wishbone episode of this would've made kids commit suicide. It's depressing, yet depressingly lame as well.

And there wasn't one damn mouse in the whole book. That's false advertising.

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⭐

كان حلما، أملا، رغبة وطموحا .
كان خطة، نفقا مضيئا في ظلمات الحياة، ركيزة تشحذ بها وعليها الهمم، غاية للاستيقاظ كل صباح وهدفا في حياة سوداء قاتمة

العمل.. ثمّ العمل.. لامتلاك مزرعة
ولكن .. نحن معشر الطبقة الكادحة الكالحة.. نعمل.. ونعمل.. ونعمل.. ثمّ نموت.. عيشة رمادية ضبابية.. ثمّ موت أسود قاتم .

إنّ الأشخاص الذين هم على شاكلتنا، ويخدمون في المزارع، ليس لهم في هذا العالم ظهر ولا أهل.. إنّهم وحيدون ..


رواية من زمن الكساد والفتور الإقتصادي في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، رواية عن الرجال والفئران .. والعنوان هنا رمزي مقتبس .. لأنّ أغلب خطط الرجال والفئران دائما ما تنحرف و لا تنال المرجو منها.. كحال أبطالنا الذين أهلكوا جسدهم بالعمل رجاء وأملا في كسب المال الوفير لتحقيق الحلم.. فلا حلما حققوا و لا مالا كسبوا .



" وماذا سيحدث ؟
في أحد الأيام سنجمع دراهمنا التي ادخرناها، وسنبتاع فدان أو فدانين من الأرض، وسنقتني بقرة وعددا من الخنازير-
- آه.. سنعيش كالأثرياء.. وستكون في حوزتنا الأرانب.. قل.. تكلّم.. تكلّم يا جورج عن الأرانب وأقفاصها.. قل لي كيف تهطل الأمطار في الشتاء..تحدث عن موقدنا ..
-نعم.. ستكون لنا حديقة.. حديقة تزرع ببذور البطيخ.. وسيكون لنا قن بين الأرانب و الدجاج.. وحين يبدأ هطول الأمطار في الشتاء سنتوقف عن العمل..وإذ ذاك سيكون لنا وقت للراحة والإستجمام.. وسنصغي إلى صوت الرذاذ، وسنكون في أقصى درجات السعادة والغبطة.."



و ماذا سيحدث ؟
ستجد نفسك فجأة وقد كبرت.. وترهل جسدك.. وضعف بصرك.. وانحنت قامتك. ستجد نفسك فجأة قد خارت عزيمتك.. وتدهورتصحتك.. فلم تعد ذلك الشاب القوي مفتول الساعد. ستجد نفسك بدون مأوى.. لأنّك لم تعد تصلح لشيء.. فأنت أصبحت ككلب عجوز.. لا يستطيع الحراسة ولا الرعي ولا النباح حتى.. فما كان من صاحبه إلا أن أطلق عليه في الرأس. أما أنت فلن تجد من يفعل لك ذلك.. ستجد نفسك فجأة وأنت تنظر إلى السنين التي مضت، سنين كنت تشتغل فيها لتأكل.. وتأكل لتعيش.. وتعيش لتشتغل وتعمل.. دائرة وسلسلة لا نهائية.. أو نهائية لأنها تتغذى على السنين.. وتتغذى على الصحة .

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هل نحن رجال أم فئران ؟؟؟؟

Oh God. I want more. I *need* more.

I'm a giant ball of sheer emotion right now, as many people must've been when they finished this story. Dang it, John Steinbeck, how could you do this to us? How could you write something so heart-wrenching, and manage to leave us wanting more?

Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment...but I can't be the only one who's had such a visceral reaction to this story.

Lennie and George.
George and Lennie.

Two lonely men who live on the fringe of society, desperately clinging to a far off dream that could bring them comfort and stability.

Only a transient, a dirt poor traveler who scrapes their pennies together would know how sad it is to live this way. To live trying to keep your back to the wind, so to speak. To eke out a family from the outcasts, the unwanteds, the forgotten people.

George was given a reason to live, even if that reason was a burden that felt like a cross to bear. His loyalty made him feel responsible for Lennie no matter what, which is the mark of a beautiful soul.

Hope and the death of it.

Or rather, clinging to the last shred of hope lest your dignity dies with it. The loss of dignity or hope is the one thing in life that can cause someone to go 'round the curve of the point of no return, and not look back. To have nothing left to lose is frightening.

And dangerous.

And the responsibility that goes along with that knowledge bravely showed its scarred, ugly face in this touching novella.

Of Mice and Men is the story of two men, George and Lennie, working toward their dream--essentially to retire by acquiring a farm of their own. The story brilliantly shows how easy it is to make dreams a reality, how obvious it is to have dreams and chase them.

But Steinbeck slowly turns things into a nightmare by introducing Curley and his wife. Just by getting in with the wrong crowd at the wrong time and having a few character flaws, Steinbeck shows how dreams are really made of nothing, held together by nothing, and can be torn apart seconds before they become real.

Steinbeck might not be known for moving fast, and although this story starts off slow with the signature lengthy landscape description, in only about 30 pages, the twists and turns begin, and once they do, the story reads like a character-driven thriller--with some of the most memorable characters in literature thrown in the mix.

The way all of the character flaws combine at just the right time to trigger an epic explosion is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby. And being so short, and how it reads so easy, and how relatable it is to have dreams and have them ripped away for reasons almost uncontrollable, Of Mice and Men is a masterpiece unlike anything else ever written.

I have read this long ago, but am now rereading this in January 2017. How will I react this time?

*********************

I am so moved! I don't know how to express adequately how much I loved this book. You know everybody thinks, "Oh Chrissie, she just appreciates non-fiction." Well that is not true, but I do set high standards. Sure, non-fiction you can count on for teaching, for providing knowledge you lacked before. Because you can learn something it is seldom a waste of time, but rarely can a book of non-fiction move you emotionally. I want fiction to capture real emotions and people portrayed as they really are. This book does that. Outstanding fiction has creativity, imagination and gorgeous lines. Non-fiction doesn’t. This book has all three. This book teaches too, about relationships and about what is important in life. The dialogs are pitch-perfect. Each character is intricately drawn. The language is simple and clear, easy to understand and at times utterly beautiful or moving or heartrending. One cannot read this book and not be moved. I absolutely LOVE this book.

I am not telling you much, am I? I am just gushing. The book is about friendship and about kindness and about how so much more important kindness is over knowledge or intelligence.

The audiobook narration by Clarke Peters is stunning. I recommend that you listen to this rather than read it. Each character's intonation fit the character's personality perfectly. Usually I want to myself imagine how a person saying this or that might sound. Peters made each sound exactly as I wanted each one to sound. I wouldn't change anything.


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Here in order of preference are the books by Steinbeck which I have read:

Of Mice and Men 5 stars
The Grapes of Wrath 5 stars
Travels with Charley: In Search of America (4 stars)
The Moon Is Down (4 stars)
Cannery Row (4 stars)
The Winter of Our Discontent (3 stars)
The Pearl (3stars)
Sweet Thursday (2 stars)
East of Eden (2 stars)

Well, somehow I've managed to read close to 800 books by now, and none of those had been Of Mice and Men. That has been remedied now, and I'm feeling emotionally drained by it. So yeah.

I suppose pretty much everyone knows the heartbreaking story of Lennie and George. I was relatively 'unspoiled' and still knew what happened in the end. I just did not know how or why, but figured out those pretty quickly into the book. And still that did not help the sense of impending doom that was like one protracted gut punch. I think that says something about the masterful writing - where the story takes over so much that you keep reading despite the clear sense of where it is going, without having to rely on suspense or twists - instead, going forward just on the impact of the story itself

"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."

I used to work with Special Education kids some time ago. And I have seen first-hand what Steinbeck describes in Of Mice and Men - the childlike vulnerability and innocence often combined with physical strength, just waiting for something bad to happen. The children we took care of - some of which topped my 5'3'' frame by a foot or so and outweighed me by a good hundred pounds (but despite that a few times I had to physically put myself on between them and a smaller child) - had, unlike Lennie, the society that is determined to protect them. They were luckier than poor George's charge. But I could not help but picture some of them, who have forever secured spots in my heart, in place of Lennie Small, feeling nothing but dread and sadness. Lennie, who is as innocent as one gets, and yet as much of a unwilling menace as one can be. And it was soul-crushing.

I think the impact of this story was that it did not have me taking sides. I felt bad for Lennie. I felt awful for Curley's wife who does not even have a NAME in this story. I felt sad for George and what he had to do. And I felt bad for the whole bunch of men who had names and stories, and a woman who got one but not the other.

"You God damn tramp," be said viciously. "You done it, di'n't you? I s'pose you're glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good now, you lousy tart."

And that's where this book lost stars for me. Curley's wife, the unwilling almost-antagonist/victim of this story. The woman who had no name except for the possessive one of her husband whose property - and therefore trouble for everyone else - she was viewed as. It seemed that she was the one getting the blame, not as much the crazy volatile husband of hers. After all, she *asked* for trouble, didn't she? At least that's the nagging feeling I got from this story, from the way her character was handled, from the way it was repeatedly stated that a 'tart' like her meant trouble for a man. Blame-the-victim mentality does not sit well with me, and I can't help but think that Steinbeck did that. And the words, 'Poor bastard' that George utters over her corpse, thinking of Lennie - not about the young woman who was brutally murdered, but of Lennie, the murderer - those made me so sad for the victim that did not get her share of sadness.

This book is definitely a classic with a profound impact on the reader, a short read that is in no way easy. It deserves the fame and recognition that it has enjoyed for quite a few years. 3.5 stars from me (it would have been 4.5 stars, but for the literary treatment of Curley's wife).

عزیز نسین: آدم‌ها به مرور زمان دروغ‌های خودشان را باور می‌کنند

همه‌مون می‌دونیم عاقبت سگ دو زدن به کجا میرسه ولی باز هروز شروع میکنیم به سگ دو زدن. چون یه امید لعنتی هست که میگه یک روز خوب میاد و ما خودمون رو بند کردیم به این روز خوب که هرگز هم نمیاد.
استاین‌بک اینا رو دیده و ازش کتاب ساخته اما خود کارگرا فک نکنم خستگی امونشون داده باشه که یه کم با مغزشون ور برن و به این حقایق برسن: به اینکه هرروز خدا(شایدم شیطان) باید کار کنن و وقتی حقوقشان را سر ماه گرفتن، تنها کاری که می‌تونند با این حقوق شندرغاز بکنن اینه که یه شب برن به عیاشی و قماربازی و پول و پله رو بر باد بدن. برای دمی خوش‌ند اما میلیون‌ها میلیون دمِ دیگر باز کارگرند و مشغول سگ‌ دو زدن

اگه این امید لعنتی تو وجودمون نبود الان شاید...

Drifters, streetwise George and not-so-bright, but big and strong Lennie's ultimate goal is a place they can call home and their part of the American Dream. Steinbeck's understated, and exquisite modern classic set in the valleys and fields of California.

It feels a disservice to have read this famous tome within a single day; but also it shows that how much Steinbeck impacted the world of literature and wider, in a book that just tops 120 pages. A parable on what it is like to be a human being, that will live on forever. 7 out of 12.

2010 read

I read this book for the second time and it's one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. Till now, it’s my favourite Steinbeck book.