Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Blurb (from the jacket):

The compelling story of two outsiders striving to find their place in an unforgiving world.

Drifters in search of work, George and his simple minded friend Lennie have nothing in the world except each other and a dream--a dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie, struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy becomes a victim of his own strength.

Tackling universal themes and giving a voice to America's lonely and dispossessed, Of Mice and Men has proved to be one of Steinbeck's most popular works, achieving success as a novel, a Broadway play and three acclaimed films.

My take on the book:

For the fact, this could be one of the thinned classics. The edition I read - Penguin Modern Classics - already seems thin with it's 30-pages introduction, Further Reading and Notes on the text. In all the story is 106-pages long - with two pages just for the title. A serious aspect to consider for all the acclaim the book had got.

Basically, the book doesn't need more than a sitting to complete it. I am an exception. Never mind.

It is my general perception that classic - modern or old - is boring and, most of the times, sending me scurrying for the dictionary. It isn't the case with this book. Not once had I had to give up the reading just for the sake looking up a word in the dictionary. And never did I feel bored through the read. Perhaps, the high intensity of the dialogues that makes it so interesting. The dialect used, the pure dialect of an illiterate with lots of "ain't"s and apostrophes (') for the unpronounced letters - like an' for and; li'l for little; jus' for just; and so on.

The novella was smooth going with not so much as a aim, direction. It flowed listlessly and lazily giving that cozy feeling to the reader which only a few gifted authors could deliver.

Had it been the same listless story to the end, I wouldn't have cared to rate it more than 2 stars outta 5. But once the protagonist-brothers reach the ranch and the actions starts, the story takes a interesting turn and continued that way maintaining the same pace until the end with a twist so absurd and touching that I had to reasonlessly appreciate this book.

Overall, it was a fresh read. A new look at classics, which are mostly monotonous and equipped with weird sounding words...

          

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Title: Of Mice and Men

Author: John Steinbeck

ISBN (edition I've read): 9780141185101

Rating:

Read between: 07-09-2014 to 08-09-2014

Publishers: Penguin Publishers

Pages: 106

MRP: ₹ 350

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