Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression
"A thriller, a gripping tale . . . that you will not set down until it is finished. Steinbeck has touched the quick." —The New York Times
John Steinbeck's classic novella follows an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet together they have formed a family, clinging to each other in the face of loneliness, and alienation, and hardship.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.
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Readers say *Of Mice and Men* remains a powerful, well-written classic with vivid characters and engaging storytelling. Many agree it’s a timeless fav...
Re-read this for the first time since high school. I remembered it pretty well, but all the things I had forgotten were things that made me think better of it. Which is a nice dynamic. It is obviously very short, and a classic so well known that even if you haven't read it there's a decent chance you know what happens. All I can say is that this time around, adult-me was able to pay more attention to the craft of the novella. It is superbly well put together. It has all these characters who are yearning for an economic independence combined with social connection, but instead they get economic dependence combined with social alienation. The innocent things and the weak things get taken advantage of, and hunted, and killed, while the callous and the sons of bosses abuse their power. It is a very distilled and pure telling of America as it is and the way we use our American Dreams to motivate us to survive and get through the day. The story is a bit on the manipulative side, you could say. And saccharine to a degree. But I feel like the craft raises it above those flaws and makes it the classic it is.
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