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Cannery Row

by John Steinbeck

3.92 · rating details · 27,250 ratings · 1,589 reviews

Cannery Row is a book without much of a plot. Rather, it is an attempt to capture the feeling and people of a place, the cannery district of Monterey, California, which is populated by a mix of those down on their luck and those who choose for other reasons not to live "up the hill" in the more respectable area of town. The flow of the main plot is frequently int...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published February 5th 2002 by Penguin Books (first published 1945)

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Feb 28, 2011

karen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: my-summer-of-classix, littry-fiction

how do i review cannery row? like all the steinbeck i have read, except the dead pony, of which i remember very little except not being too keen on it, it is saturated with these wonderful marginalized characters who are desperate and hopeless and yearning. but they are surviving. and there is so much beauty in the squalor. it reminds me in my feeling-parts of suttree, which is one of my all time favorite books. this book is full of such well-meaning ineptitude and many very serious things couch...more

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Feb 13, 2010

Ben rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, good-fiction, memorable-characters, funny-shit, tough-guys-and-gals, important-message

I first read this many years ago. Riddled with ADD, frozen by nervousness, and thrown-off by wack-ass hormones, I had trouble reading anything at the time, and this was no exception. A parable of my formerly wasted time on earth, I read it and got nothing out of it. Hell, I didn’t even remember I had read it until I started it (again) 10 days ago.

But oh did I appreciate it this go-round. Steinbeck got me to like the kind of people that, at first judgment, I would deem ignorant, a...more

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May 28, 2009

brian rated it

20 pages in i immediately noticed the sherwood anderson influence and shot off an email to my friend xxx, urging him to read it on the flight to nyc. his girlfriend of many years just left him and i figured cannery row might inspire. his response was... um... deranged? check it:

"brian - had a hell of a day. almost got shot down on San Julien this afternoon. Bullet smoke so close I could taste it. Almost got arrested breaking up a Guatemalan knife fight, too. got robbed $40...more

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Aug 01, 2008

Logan rated it

Recommended to Logan by: Mom

Shelves: classics, fiction, 1001-list, i_am_in_love

This is the first Steinbeck that I've attempted to read as an adult. We had some brief flirtations during my teen years but never really hooked up. I think it was probably a wise choice. Now we've found each other as adults and can really appreciate each other's complexities and I can tell that I'll likely be making sweet love to Johnny S. for years to come.

Cannery Row is a really brief read that features some of the most concise yet descriptive writing I've ever come across. Set...more

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Feb 29, 2008

Juliana rated it

While the setting for this novel is somewhat bleak--an impoverished and ofttimes depressed coastal town in California--the characters are brought to life by everday exchanges and emotions the reader can relate to.

I knew after the first paragraph that this novel would be enjoyable because it is so well crafted. One would expect nothing less from John Steinbeck! I remember Steinbeck and Hemingway as the staples of my high school literary fare, as required by those who had seen more of ...moreWhile the setting for this novel is somewhat bleak--an impoverished and ofttimes depressed coastal town in California--the characters are brought to life by everday exchanges and emotions the reader can relate to.

I knew after the first paragraph that this novel would be enjoyable because it is so well crafted. One would expect nothing less from John Steinbeck! I remember Steinbeck and Hemingway as the staples of my high school literary fare, as required by those who had seen more of the literary landscape.

Within a few more pages, however, I also knew this book would require a mind open to both the joys of human triumph and the pits of human sorrow. I am sometimes in the mood for lighter fare that is easy on the brain, but deep down I prefer novels that stretch my brain out of the comfort my body is residing in. Novels like Cannery Row, complete with mental illness, death, suicide, prison walls, mistakes and failed marriages, give me perspective on the small discomforts that annoy me.

Cannery Row, despite the earthy sadness that surrounds it, is not a depressing book. It is written in a very matter-of-fact tone. Emotions are not dwelt on. Facts are. Some novels spend 200 pages building toward a catastrophic tragedy that just feels unfair to the reader. They make the reader question, "Why did I just read all that setup for it to turn out this way?" Some novels seem to pull on the reader's heartstrings just to get a memorable reaction. Cannery Row is not such a book.

There is never the illusion that subjects will be whitewashed or ambiguous. Life is presented honestly and openly. For that, I consider it a breath of fresh air, tainted occasionally by the salty smell of the ocean wafting in over the pages of the novel.

The characters who weave the tapestry of Cannery Row's streets are lovable, if fallible. They are the kind of people one would be tempted to cross the street to avoid. Yet in the pages of this novel, one learns to love them and thrill to read of their small triumphs. At the heart of these emotions is "Doc" who is beloved throughout the town for the acts of charity he bestows on anybody who takes time to ask. There is Henri, the painter whom we can't classify as necessarily talented or untalented, but is definitely troubled. Lee Chong's surly attitude masks a large heart and a keen business intellect. The boys at the Palace Flophouse are as imperfect as they come, but intensely lovable.

First words: "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."(less)

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Feb 04, 2008

Dustin rated it

Steinbeck gives a convincing case for the inherent goodness of man in this short novella. While Mack and the boys constantly end up destroying property and stealing and taking advantage of people, it is so clear that they have only the purest intentions. The first time they try to throw a party for Doc, they end up doing hundreds of dollars in damage to his laboratory and Doc never showed up until the next morning. To make up for it, the boys did perhaps their only successful sentiment int the...more Steinbeck gives a convincing case for the inherent goodness of man in this short novella. While Mack and the boys constantly end up destroying property and stealing and taking advantage of people, it is so clear that they have only the purest intentions. The first time they try to throw a party for Doc, they end up doing hundreds of dollars in damage to his laboratory and Doc never showed up until the next morning. To make up for it, the boys did perhaps their only successful sentiment int the novel, throwing a birthday party for Doc, which went splendidly and ended with Doc sitting cross-legged on a table, snapping his fingers to the music as the whole town crowded and drank and chatted and fought in his lab.

There is an excellent introduction to the book in the first chapter, which serves as a charming model for any piece of writing:
"When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tater under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book - to open the page and to to let the stories crawl in by themselves."

A paragraph that a friend of mine considers possibly the best written paragraph in all of American literature, in chapter 11, "Someone should write an erudite essay on the moral, physical, and esthetic effect of the Model T Ford on the American nation. Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than the clitoris, about the planetary system of gears than the solar system of stars. With the Model T, part of the concept of private property disappeared. Pliers ceased to be privately owned and a tire pump belonged to the last man who had picked it up. Most of the babies of the period were conceived in the Model T Fords and not a few were born in them. The theory of the Anglo Saxon home became so warped that it never quite recovered."
This paragraph paints the man of early Ford America so lovable that it is impossible to read without smiling to ones self.

Finally, on the value of friendly dependence, constructing meaning in life,
"It was deeply a part of Lee's kindness and understanding that man's right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary."(less)

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May 04, 2007

Clark rated it

I'm not entirely sure why this is my favorite book. I suppose that I like stories about a particular place and the way that it is briefly defined by the characters that exist within that place. After all, I don't think that the places that I have lived in my life are inherently interesting, but they become fascinating because I can place them in the context of the characters that I knew, the things that I did and the way that I stretched out in them and lazed about. The small, everyday things ma...more

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May 16, 2011

Jason rated it

· review of another edition

Authors tend to be chroniclers of their time but only the great literary works are able to reach out to a wide audience for each subsequent generation without losing any of its core authenticity despite the so-called "dated" subject matter. John Steinbeck's Cannery Row is one such novel and despite the setting being 1930's Americana, the themes of universal human experience are still emotionally powerful and socially relevant. There is something about stories that revolve around simple...more

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Oct 09, 2008

Ken-ichi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: escape, snoot

I enjoyed this book for so many reasons, I don’t know where to start. Doc is just such a likable, human character. His curiosity is inspiring, his insatiable appetites for beer and hamburgers hilarious (and familiar), and his ability to hold great empathy and realism without one crushing the other is admirable, and at times tragic. Well, I’m not sure his fatalism is so wonderful, but it is awfully real and recognizable.

The rest of the cast are a joy to follow, and the ever-present...more

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Apr 24, 2008

Jessica rated it

Recommended to Jessica by: Annette

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.”

Cannery Row is even more than that—it’s people. It’s Lee Chong and Dora and...more“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.”

Cannery Row is even more than that—it’s people. It’s Lee Chong and Dora and Mack and the boys and Frankie and Tom and Mary Talbot and Henri the painter and the old Chinaman and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Malloy (and Darling) and Doc. Doc is as much the main character as anyone in the story. “And everyone who thought of him thought next, ‘I really must do something nice for Doc.’” Doc and his collecting really inform the whole story and provide a tie among all of the characters. Doc collects sea things as Steinbeck collects the denizens of Cannery Row—with understanding and absolution.

The vignette narration style allows Steinbeck to include dark elements while keeping the overall tone a notch above neutral. The undercurrent of darkness is, though, rather dark. In the first chapter, Horace Abbeville shoots himself on a heap of fishmeal. In the third chapter, William kills himself by shoving an ice pick through his heart. In chapter twelve, a famous writer’s entrails are thrown into a ditch and carried off by a little boy and his dog. In chapter eighteen, Doc is shocked when he finds a woman’s body in the reef. (“The eyes were open and clear and the face was firm and the hair washed gently about her head.”) In the twenty-eighth chapter, Frankie, a young boy with mental problems, is institutionalized for stealing a present for Doc, the only person who was ever kind to him. And, finally, in the penultimate chapter, a gopher builds the perfect home for a posterity of gophers, but cannot find a female to mate with, loses two toes on his front paw, and eventually has to move away “to a dahlia garden where they put out traps every night.”

The quote that perhaps sums up the book for me is: “There is no explaining a series of misfortunes like that. Every man blames himself.” As with most Steinbeck novels that I’ve read, I think the underlying message is that life is hard and heartbreaking, but people are resilient and will not only survive but proliferate.(less)

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Jul 12, 2007

Joseph rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who dont hate fun

I like Hazel alot and feel like he does here often!

"Hazel picke up a nobbly purplish starfish from the bottom of the pool and popped it into his nearlyu full gunny sack. " I wonder what they do with them' he said.

"Do with what?" Doc asked

"The starfish" said Hazel...

"THey study them" Doc said patiently and he remebered that he had answered this question for Hazeldozens of times before. But Doc h...more

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May 02, 2007

E. rated it

Recommends it for: Daydreamers who like booze

You know how some books remind of a certain place or time in your life but generally do so with a little bit of a rose shaded tint?

Well Cannary Row reminds me of a time that never really existed in my life but should have cause it would have been freakin great.

I can smell Northern California's coast when the title of this book crosses my mind. I can see dark cold water and washed out, cooly inviting beach. I can taste damp cigarette's and beer from quart jugs, beach fi...more

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Apr 14, 2009

Bruce rated it

In my early teens I think I read just about everything in print by Steinbeck, or at least what was available at bookstores and libraries within my range. Sometimes I read one right after the other, just as I went through Vonnegut in college and Marx Brothers movies while in high school. I gorged. And just like eating an entire cheesecake in one sitting,sated to the point of bloated dullness, it was a good long time before I felt like reading Steinbeck again even though, clearly, I loved his b...more

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Dec 08, 2011

Ayban Gabriyel rated it

· review of another edition

May have spoilers. Read at your own RISK.

Aaahhhh!!! I have to admit, I really liked this book. I'm a John Steinbeck noob, this is the first book I have read written by him. I just started reading this yesterday( Dec. 7 2011) trying to have a break reading short-fiction written by our home grown writers, the next thing I know is I've been holding the book all day and can't stop reading.

While I was reading, it made me feel that all the characters in the book are true, that...more

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Jul 24, 2008

Nightshade rated it

Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: assigned-reading, did-not-like-at-all

I did NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT like this book. It has no plot and is very random and confusing. I had to read it for my summer book report, and I found the characters' lives hard to follow because the book jumped around a lot. There are also random, insignificant events thrown in randomly.

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Jun 04, 2007

Lisbeth Solberg rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: twice-read-and-more

"I and the boys" invite you to the party.

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Jan 17, 2010

Bruce rated it

I'm reading this for a regular book club at my school. Steinbeck has certain qualities I like. The short story, "The Chrysanthemums," is one of most poignant stories I've ever read. The play version of Of Mice and Men (which Steinbeck also wrote) is more successful than the novelette in its skillful juxtaposition of parallel situations exemplifying every individual's need to love and be loved by someone. He depicts, however, a malevolent universe, somewhat similar to Thomas Hardy, ...moreI'm reading this for a regular book club at my school. Steinbeck has certain qualities I like. The short story, "The Chrysanthemums," is one of most poignant stories I've ever read. The play version of Of Mice and Men (which Steinbeck also wrote) is more successful than the novelette in its skillful juxtaposition of parallel situations exemplifying every individual's need to love and be loved by someone. He depicts, however, a malevolent universe, somewhat similar to Thomas Hardy, where the dice seem to be loaded against the characters.

Here is a passage from the prologue of Cannery Row:

"When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book--to open the page and to let the stories crawl in by themselves."

A most unfortunate metaphor to my way of thinking. If I were not committed to reading the novel for the club, I would probably let the flatworm be.

[The following written several weeks later on finishing the novel.:]

Steinbeck fulfilled my pessimistic expectations, but I'm moved to give it three stars because he does dramatize his sense of life very effectively in a picaresque novel made up of a series of connected vignettes based on the view of man as an irremediable mixture of admirable and pathetic qualities, with a decided emphasis on the latter. Steinbeck is a modern as defined by G.K. Chesterton in Charles Dickens:

"For the meanest of all modernities has been the notion that the heroic is an oddity or variation, and that the things that unite us are merely flat or foul."

To be fair, Steinbeck does depict many virtues which are neither flat nor foul, such as a dogged optimism, good will, compassion, and intelligence. The novel, however, focuses mainly on those characters who, despite their good qualities, are failures. The one exception is Doc, but even he is a loner whose numerous acts of benevolence and kindness have little effect on his surroundings.

Steinbeck does achieve a good deal of effective humor from the antics of characters like Mack and his three housemates whose schemes always go wrong, but there is always a lurking sense of the dismal frustration of their lives.(less)

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Jun 22, 2008

Rodney rated it

Recommends it for: Adult readers

This is a personal favorite of mine. It concerns the outcast and down trodden of society in Monterey, California towards the end of the depression. It is funny and heart-warming, but the main emphasis is on the dignity and value of each person be they prostitute, derelict or scientist. You cannot help but fall in love with this set of characters who are sincerely doing the best they can (or they think they are).

This book shares some things in common with "Grapes of Wrath" a...more

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May 24, 2009

Brad rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classic

I find it difficult to remember Cannery Row after over twenty years distance (I read it in high school, although it wasn't assigned. I enjoyed Of Mice and Men so much I had to keep reading), but I do envision Mack walking past the sardine factories as vividly as if I read it this morning.

The plot details, the way all the supporting characters linked up, even who Mack and the boys were doing their "thing" for (hell...I can't even remember what "thing" they were doi...more

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Nov 04, 2008

Mme. Bookling ~ rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Mme. Bookling by: Brian Wigand

From the beginning, Cannery Row was akin to sitting on the porch with your grandpa while he smokes his pipe and tells the tales of a disjointed but delightful community, full of reality, beauty, touching kindnesses, the frailty of human isolation, and the melancholic nostalgia of lost love.

I wasn't expected to be touched by this work or even think of it as important in terms of Steinbeck's career, but I believe this little gem to be tantamount in importance to Grapes of Wrath or East...more

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Jul 23, 2009

Justin rated it

Recommends it for: Anyone who creates stories in their minds about the folks they see while people-watching.

Recommended to Justin by: KaDo

The writer in me was inspired while reading this. I am a Steinbeck novice, but adored his shotgun vignettes of this little microcosm. I never felt particularly attached to any character, but was consistently interested in learning about them from my third-person perch.

His blatant sarcasm is masterful. I am in awe of his ability to precisely create an emotion, ambiance, or moment with the use of contrasting terms. On their own they could not define his ideas, but the tug-of-war that...more

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Aug 20, 2009

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

I just visited Monterey, CA and walked through Cannery Row and was inspired to read the book. Although it was not quite as I expected (I thought it would be a little more relentlessly grim), I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing is great and it was more humorous than I thought. I did always have an impending sense of dread that no matter what was happening in the book (dramatic action, matter of fact description, humorous anecdote) I always had the sense that some disaster was about to occur. ...more

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Nov 17, 2007

Simone rated it

Recommends it for: microscopers

A friend of mine grew up in Salinas having to read every Steinbeck story ever written. The joke is that the central coast worships him but that he hated living there. After reading Cannery Row, I doubt his feelings really traversed to the level of animosity so much as sympathy, at least that is true of his depiction in this tale. Sweetly.

From the window of his laboratory, Doc observes the tides of town, knowing by analysis and instinct what to expect from his unbeknownst specimens...more

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Mar 13, 2008

Rollin rated it

This book created one of my more embarrassing moments in high school english. I threw the book in my backpack and it floated to the bottom until the day we were supposed to review the story in class. I assumed incorrectly that because there were 30 or so kids in class that I wouldn't be asked a question without having a few previous comments to add my insight too. The teacher called on me to start the discussion and I started into a commentary on coal mines and canary's (the little yellow bird)....more

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May 30, 2007

Taylor rated it

Shelves: fiction

It's Steinbeck, so you know it is a very nearly, perhaps even entirely, perfect blend of beauty and tragedy. It's such a good thing that it becomes divine and heart-wrenching comedy. He writes a page and a half about the life of a tidepool early in the book that is some of the best descriptive writing I have ever read -- as though he and the tidepool were making love on top of his typewriter and that bit of chapter is the result.

The first Steinbeck I read was "Of Mice and Men"...more

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Dec 06, 2011

Christopher rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Thus far, this is one of my favorite Steinbeck novels. In this tale, Steinbeck's recurrent themes of friendship, loyalty, nature, and the human connection are all intertwined together to make something that is remarkable, beautiful, and sometimes saddening. Everybody in here is devoted to each other in some way, even the scrupulous Lee Chong, who, as owner of the town's popular grocery store, tends to be the proverbial stick in the mud for everyone's plans. And yet, every major character in this...more

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Apr 20, 2010

Joyce Lagow rated it

Shelves: literature

Written in a style that Steinbeck uses with great effect in his earlier California novels, Cannery Row is a collection of stories about yet another bunch of somewhat seedy characters who live in one of the more down-at-heels areas, the sardine canning section, of Monterey. More effectively than in Tortilla Flat, which this book resembles a great deal in structure and style, there is a central, organizing figure Doc who, though a resident of Cannery Row is yet an outsider, who plays Bach fugues...moreWritten in a style that Steinbeck uses with great effect in his earlier California novels, Cannery Row is a collection of stories about yet another bunch of somewhat seedy characters who live in one of the more down-at-heels areas, the sardine canning section, of Monterey. More effectively than in Tortilla Flat, which this book resembles a great deal in structure and style, there is a central, organizing figure Doc who, though a resident of Cannery Row is yet an outsider, who plays Bach fugues whenever he is entertaining" women, and who is beloved of all the other residents. Doc is modeled on Steinbeck s closest friend and mentor, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who, like Doc, owned a biological supply company in Monterey.[return][return]One would think that being the person most respected and most loved in a community is a really good thing; most of us aspire consciously or otherwise to have similar love and respect lavished on us. But such attitudes can be a two-edged sword, especially when dealing with the likes of some of the boys , led by Mack a natural leader with an aversion to work. Not only is Doc the first one the boys think of when needing just a bit to tide them over (to the next bottle of wine), he also is the unwilling recipient of proofs of the devotion of his admirers, all of whom agree that somebody should do something nice for Doc. The boys hit on the perfect solution a party in Doc's honor.[return][return]Because this is Cannery Row and because Steinbeck loved the people he wrote about in these stories, the road to the party is truly hilarious. Of course Mack and the boys have no money that is a given. So they hit on a sure-fire way of raising the necessary funds catching the frogs that are one of the staples of Doc s biological supply company and selling them to Doc. Naturally, with no money for gas and no car, they need same which, equally naturally, they borrow from Doc.[return][return]The frog collecting expedition alone is enough to recommend the book. BUT what follows Doc's appreciation party is a superb piece of writing. Everyone on Cannery Row wants to contribute and attend, including the prostitutes at Flora s, who work out a rotation for attendance at the party while making sure that business, always brisk, is taken care of. The party (which Doc has suspected and quite rightfully dreads) starts off well and then degenerates into one of the most spectacular brawls in all literature. Everything in the book leads up to this event, and it s worth reading and rereading, just so you don t miss anything in your haste to race through the pages, laughing so hard you can hardly see the print in front of you. I can only hope that such a party did take place for Ricketts and that Steinbeck was drawing on fond memories when he wrote Cannery Row.[return][return]While the party is the grand finale and Mack and the boys are the motivating force there are others who in habit the neighborhood--the Chinese store owner, the couple who live in an abandoned steam pipe, the prostitutes, mysterious figures who come and go--the book is a treasure of skillfully drawn, memorable characters.[return][return]Cannery Row was one of Steinbeck s late works, and while it does share the structure of his very earliest, it s the work of a master who knew exactly what he was doing.(less)

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Jan 29, 2009

Matthew rated it

Sometimes I think the contemporary reader (and here I'm speaking mainly for myself) has grown too accustomed to the varied forms modern storytelling can take. My first instinct is to wish I could travel back to a time when the kind of discordant shifts Steinbeck used in this novel were still considered fresh. I want to read this book when it was first published, to see if it would reveal something earsh-shattering about the structure of a novel. But even Cannery Row, where Steinbeck presents a...moreSometimes I think the contemporary reader (and here I'm speaking mainly for myself) has grown too accustomed to the varied forms modern storytelling can take. My first instinct is to wish I could travel back to a time when the kind of discordant shifts Steinbeck used in this novel were still considered fresh. I want to read this book when it was first published, to see if it would reveal something earsh-shattering about the structure of a novel. But even Cannery Row, where Steinbeck presents a series of vignettes showing life at the margins of depression-era Monterrey, borrows much (in my judgement) from Winesburg, Ohio in terms of structure and form. It probably wasn't a revolutionary book even when it first came off the presses for that reason. It's proof that there's no such thing as a new idea at least. If a master can borrow structure and technique from another master, perhaps there's hope for the rest of us.

Cannery Row was published at the end of World War II, between the Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. I have no evidence to support this, but I want to characterize Cannery Row as a transitionary novel for Steinbeck (it seems like a safe bet to make, considering it fell between the his big books)- a shift from the pugilistic In Dubious Battle or moralistic, politically charged Grapes of Wrath to the darker, more complex meditation in East of Eden. Steinbeck spent the intervening years as a war correspondant for a New York paper - it's unlikely he came away from that experienced unchanged and Cannery Row was his first novel following his return from the war. Certain passages of Cannery Row foreshadow a darker and more reflective change in Steinbeck's thinking - or maybe I'm just feeling gloomy, I can't be sure.

For some - and I won't claim to be insightful enough to come up with this myself - Cannery Row is really Steinbeck's appraisal of a writer's work. Doc's scientific collection and analysis, ultimately destroys life in the process of studying it, suggesting to the minds of smarter people than me that Steinbeck really was turning inward. That he set this study in the midst of the usual rag-tag band of depression-era misfits might have had more to do with his comfort zone than anything else - he certainly didn't have his characters "do" much in the process.

I was reminded last week that Cannery Row is the precursor to Sweet Thursday, a book that's next on my list. I remember reading Cannery Row years ago, but the book never made much of an impression. So before I moved through Sweet Thursday I re-read Cannery Row to see what new things I might learn. It's a good book, but not great in my judgment. It sits in a valley between two epic works and doesn't hold up, but it's valuable to me because in its pages you can feel Steinbeck's writing change in ancitipation of East of Eden. (less)

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Feb 09, 2012

Tyson Call rated it

Those who have read Steinbeck before know exactly what to expect from his books, and I mean that in the most pleasant way possible. Although a lover of his writing cannot fathom how anyone could not enjoy his stories, I believe that it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate how he goes about telling them. That said, he has clearly reached a very large audience, and his work and name remain popular decades after his death.

If you enjoy fine, intricate details and perceptions abo...moreThose who have read Steinbeck before know exactly what to expect from his books, and I mean that in the most pleasant way possible. Although a lover of his writing cannot fathom how anyone could not enjoy his stories, I believe that it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate how he goes about telling them. That said, he has clearly reached a very large audience, and his work and name remain popular decades after his death.

If you enjoy fine, intricate details and perceptions about inane, or otherwise average occurrences explained in a way as to make them seem epic, or of great importance, you may enjoy reading this, and other Steinbeck works.

It is clear that the author has spent many hours combing the recesses of his own psyche, and has no qualms over exposing the more embarrassing tendencies that are innate in himself, as well as all human beings. For example, how oft-times people tell themselves they are behaving a certain way for one reason, knowing full well, in their heart-of-hearts, that they doing it for completely different reasons.

If I were to describe Steinbeck's writings in one word, I would choose "perceptive". He has an ability unmatched by others to perceive what human beings feel, think, and hope. He believes in humanity, despite knowing its dirty secrets.

Cannery Row encapsulates most of what Steinbeck is famous for. There are small lessons to be learned, which are sometimes uncharacteristically quickly divvied out to the reader. It is a series of stories which all take place within an area in California Steinbeck knows well and loves dearly. As one reads, it is obvious that many or all of these tales were inspired by a similar event in Steinbeck's own life, as the kind of detail he incorporates is not the kind that can be contrived.

CR is made up of a series of vignettes, with a light over-arching plot broken up into small chapters about reoccurring characters. It is entertaining and satisfying, though not overly precise or pandering. I recommend it to Steinbeck fans as well as those who are looking to learn what he is all about without diving into East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath.(less)

· see review

Jan 30, 2012

Sherri rated it

Cannery Row is a loosely put together series of vignettes about a group of people who live in Monterey, California.

Running through all of these stories are stories of a group of men named Mack, Eddie, Hughie, Hazel and Jones. These men lived for free (based on a mild threat to the owner) in a one room building that really wasn't meant to be a home. They also were drunk most of the time based on what Eddie gleaned from his bar-tending job - whatever was left in a guest's drink afte...more

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About John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew u...moreJohn Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Later he used real historical conditions and events in the first half of 20th century America, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter.

Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later body of work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology.

One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. He died in 1968 in New York of a heart attack and his ashes are interred in Salinas.

Seventeen of his works, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.(less)

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Quotes from Cannery Row

“It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” — 205 people liked it

“[Cannery Row's] inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,' by which he meant everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing.” — 42 people liked it

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