Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

[Thomas Novosel]

So there is this short guy George and this big guy Lennie. George is the ring leader in their two person group, he has smarts, and Lennie has the brawns. Lennie has the mind of a child, he has a short term memory (except he can remember anything that has to do with Food or What George has said), and he gets in trouble wherever he goes! The two of them have been hopping from town to town in search of work, and had recently outrun a mob from a more northern town called "Weed". But this does not dishearten them becuase they have a plan: To get their own piece of land with a small house, live off the land, and get rabbits that Lennie can pet all he wants and tend to.

This is the first I have read of Steinbecks numerous books, and leaves me wanting more! His writing style is great! Easy to understand, simple phrases, and every character speaks in what i assume is the regions dialect.

Story----- It's great! As the book is read Lennies nature and history unfold around you, you begin to understand why George and Lennie are together... The only problem I saw was that it took about two hours to read the whole book which left me wanting more. It's a good book for reading before going to bed for 20 minutes.
Characters----- Memorable... that is all i can say... Lennie and George are a duo that I surely will not forget!
Language----- Easy to understand, and sometimes short words bring about the best mental images...

It's a great book, but a short read that will leave you wanting more... so sadly I must give it a 8/10. It's slow as it begins and was too short for my liking... otherwise it is a must read! Just make sure you have another book for when your done reading this during breakfast.

[TheChilly]

Saw the Gary Sinise movie adaptation, which was pretty good... but a huge part of me is kinda biased towards having a huge problem with Steinbeck. Either it's just a lack of interest in the settings of his works, or I just don't seem to feel grabbed/connected by Steinbeck's stuff. The only author I've ever found to be 'boring', in the sense of it being talked about and "hailed" among high school courses as a "classic" (Even with complex novels from authors like William Gaddis, there has to be something that will shoot out at the reader in terms of innovation).

Or it's just something in me that's bored with American Realism (Steinbeck classifies in this exact category).

[Calidore]

Saw the Gary Sinise movie adaptation, which was pretty good... but a huge part of me is kinda biased towards having a huge problem with Steinbeck. Either it's just a lack of interest in the settings of his works, or I just don't seem to feel grabbed/connected by Steinbeck's stuff. The only author I've ever found to be 'boring', in the sense of it being talked about and "hailed" among high school courses as a "classic" (Even with complex novels from authors like William Gaddis, there has to be something that will shoot out at the reader in terms of innovation).

Or it's just something in me that's bored with American Realism (Steinbeck classifies in this exact category).

Haven't seen the Sinise one, but I have seen the 1930s version with Lon Chaney and Burgess Meredith, and it's excellent.

[cacian]

Saw the Gary Sinise movie adaptation, which was pretty good... but a huge part of me is kinda biased towards having a huge problem with Steinbeck. Either it's just a lack of interest in the settings of his works, or I just don't seem to feel grabbed/connected by Steinbeck's stuff. The only author I've ever found to be 'boring', in the sense of it being talked about and "hailed" among high school courses as a "classic" (Even with complex novels from authors like William Gaddis, there has to be something that will shoot out at the reader in terms of innovation).

Or it's just something in me that's bored with American Realism (Steinbeck classifies in this exact category).

I feel the same about the whole American Realism.

I have to say I do not identify with this book because I cannot associate either of the two characters.
I could not get into Lennie because I personnally find hard it to understand such a character.
The question it leaves me with is how does a writer get to write about Lennie in such a detailed way. The only one capapble of doing so has to have the condition and even so they will not be able to because they are not with it.
Putting forward characters who are 'normal'is hard at the best of times but to engage in whole book describing a character with special need is mind blogging.
I personally could only write about characters like me as in 'normal'.

[TheChilly]

I have to say I do not identify with this book because associate with neither of the two characters because they are so Americanised .
I could not get into Lennie because I personnally find hard to associate with a character such as Lennie.
The question it leaves me with is how does a writer get to write about Lennie in such a detailed way. The only one capapble of doing so has to have the condition and even so they will not be able to because they are not with it.
Putting forward characters who are 'normal'is hard at the best of time but to engage in whole book describing a character with special need is mind blogging.
I personally could only write about characters like me 'normal'.

"Normal" is a bit of a vague term for any form of characterization... not counting society's definitions of 'normal'.

[Thomas Novosel]

I guess it is true, to how Steinbeck could write about Lennie,... but I guess like any other author you had to do research if you really want to have it seem solid and real. As for american realism, I am not a big fan of many things that have come from the minds of Americans recently, mostly becuase everything that is being written by Americans...has already been surpassed and well written before. As for the boredom of reading this book,... I was bored for the first chapter but afterwards it seemed to pick up pace (compared to the first chapter at least haha). However it is totally worth reading, becuase you never know if you'll like it till you've tried it. Plus its about 100 pages long and even if you don't like it, the book won't take long to read, then at least when people around you talk about it then you can say your opinion about it.

P.S. In the last sentence I do not mean to say that you haven't read it... It is just a general statement to anyone who has not.