Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 16, 2009

Meghan rated it:

The sequel to Steinbeck's Cannery Row, it's difficult to nail down exactly why this novel isn't as good as its prequel. Sweet Thursday is still a very enjoyable book and managed to arouse and audible chuckle from me here and there, but, as the only work of Steinbeck's I've read that could be labeled as a "romantic comedy," it fell short of leaving me with that happy and slightly amazed feeling that Cannery Row succeeded in leaving behind. There were points in the story where I almost w More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2009

E.C.R. rated it:

I had read Cannery Row something like 15 years ago, and had forgotten a lot of the characters. So, it may not be essential to have read it prior to reading Sweet Thursday, but it does help.

There is a kind of style or attitude that Steinbeck brings to this world which is both sympathetic and very humorous. That's a difficult trick as it would be very easy for us to laugh at Hazel - a man who believes he will become President because of a horoscope reading from the madame of the local More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2007

Miriam rated it:

The second time this book has caught me by surprise. He's got a very... I wanna say "astute," but it's something else. He just keeps "gettin'" (like GOTCHA!) me. Steinbeck has a voice I can tune in to. It's weird, like how singing voices resonate whether I like the music or not, styles of writing... they either rattle your bones, or it's nothing. Just a story. Words completely randomly and inelegantly strung together. end rant. a-a-a-and... :) here's the part...

- More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2010

Brett rated it:

This is Steinbeck's sequel to Cannery Row. Using the scale of any other writer it's a great book, but since Steinbeck has a higher scale, it gets only three stars. Doc returns to Cannery Row from fighting in World War II. Some of the other characters from the first book are still around. "Mac and the Boys" still bum around, but Lee Chong and Dora are gone. Lee Chong sold the store to a man named Joseph and Mary. It took some getting used to before I could read "Joseph and Ma More...

0 comments like

Sep 03, 2010

Cams rated it:

I just finished this one this morning. Utterly, utterly brilliant. I read Cannery Row a while ago and bought Sweet Thursday a while ago too. Since the bairns came along, my books tend to be consumed in audio fashion rather than in the more tangible paper form. As we were travelling to Scotland and back recently and would be spending time in a B&B, I thought I would take a book along. I grabbed this one off my shelf and was hooked right from the start.

It's hard to describe why this i More...

0 comments like

Feb 18, 2011

Tricia rated it:

I have to say I was kind of hoping this book would have been just that much better than Cannery Row, given that Steinbeck would have had another 10 years' experience under his belt. But I wouldn't say his writing had changed much or improved from the previous look at the Monterey neighbourhood. In fact, surprisingly, this is a full on romance story. It doesn't change much in difference to most romance novels except that the main characters aren't the ones being active in their own roles. Instead More...

0 comments like

Jul 26, 2009

Christina Stind rated it:

I read this right after Cannery Row and taken as a whole, this is a very good book. But split in two, you can't help compare the two. Both take place on Cannery Row and has more or less the same main characters with a few exeptions. Cannery Row is about a party Mack and the boys want to throw for Doc which goes very wrong and is a picture of this little community with little plot whereas Sweet Thursday takes place after WWII and when Doc comes back, he's a bit disillusioned and that effects all More...

0 comments like

Sep 05, 2009

jeremy rated it:

published nearly a decade after cannery row, sweet thursday is a revisiting of the characters popularized in steinbeck's earlier work. the row again serves as the backdrop, though this time during the years following world war ii. old faces abound (doc, mack, hazel, eddie), as do some new ones. the bear flag, the palace flophouse, western biological, and lee chong's (under new management) are each here as well, and life on the row seems to have sauntered on all the while.

sweet thu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Myles rated it:

Sequel to Cannery Row this may be, but this is an entirely different book that we're dealing with.

What I missed most in Sweet Thursday, that had been present in Cannery Row were the beautiful passages of nature writing. We still have Doc visiting the tidal fields but there's no magic in there. Aside from such lyrical musings on the perfect days of the title, there's nothing like it to be found. Instead of the place we get the people; shoddy, post-war versions of people.

O More...

0 comments like

Jun 06, 2011

Fee rated it:

I could never give Steinbeck less than a fourth star rating. His literature is easy to follow for a left brainer like myself. This story brings the extemity of solitude from the main character who has the heart to help everyone around him but himself. He is intelligent and successful with no one to share it with. As soon as his friends and the hooker with the golden heart sees an opportunity to fix this, everyone else around town plays a part in setting him up with the new kid in town. Nerd More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

Vanessa rated it:

Lightning never strikes twice. You can't go home again.

So, Cannery Row is my favorite novel of all time. This is the sequel to it written nine bumpy years in John Steinbeck's life later, which included the tragic death of his close friend Ed Ricketts who inspired the character of Doc. This book has the same humor, charm and meticulousness underneath the meandering surface but it doesn't quite measure up. Part of me desperately wants to give it 4 stars because I so much enjoyed readi More...

0 comments like

Jul 01, 2009

Jan C rated it:

I read this before, years ago. When I was in junior high-high shcool (I guess calling it junior high kind of dates me), the girl friend and I went on a real Steinbeck jag. I still remember her coming back from Pentwater one summer, I'm sitting on the balcony, and she's coming down the street yelling that she just read the greaterst book. Not sure it was this one, I think it was Cannery Row, which was the precursor to this book.

It's funny, most of the stories that I remember from the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2009

Sharon rated it:

"Cannery Row" is my favorite John Steinbeck novel. So, when I found out about the sequel, "Sweet Thursday," I immediately added it to my reading list.

"Sweet Thursday" takes readers back to the familiar denizens of Cannery Row. In this book, Mack and Hazel, two of the fellows from the Palace Flophouse, decide that nothing will do but that they must arrange for Doc Ricketts to be married. And, of course, the bride-to-be must be Suzy -- the new girl at t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 21, 2010

Sam rated it:

I read "Sweet Thursday" having just read "Cannery Row" and in all honesty i would not say i enjoyed this book much more than "Cannery Row" or much less. Having said that "Cannery Row" like "Sweet Thursday" was an enjoyable read and in the overall a worth-while read.

The book keeps its Main chracters that we warmed too in Cannery Row while introudcing a few more chracters that we soon warm to two. There was times where I cracked a grin More...

0 comments like

Nov 26, 2010

Elaine rated it:

I'm in the middle of too many books, but being in Monterey this weekend I had an unquenchable thirst for Steinbeck. Since I loved Cannery Row, I thought I'd like to catch up with what happened to the denizens after the war.
Wondering if Steinbeck's greatest strength is his ability to capture relationships between people -- especially friendships. Friendships of the oddest sort -- between the hapless denizens of the Palace Flophouse, who landed there like jellyfish on the ocean beach and Do More...

1 comment like

Apr 01, 2010

Kacey rated it:

If you like Cannery Row, you'll like Sweet Thursday. (It is the sequel after all.) At first, I was disappointed. Some of Cannery Row's familiar characters are no longer present, so I thought it was going to be one of those lame sequels that suck the life out of the first. But I kept reading and ended up really enjoying it. I loved Doc in Cannery Row, but this time around the seemingly dim-witted Hazel is the unlikely, loveable hero. As usual, Steinbeck captures the essence of people and thei More...

0 comments like

Jan 18, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I am a John Steinbeck fan and was excited to find this in the library since I had never heard of it. It seems to be a sequel of sorts to Cannery Row (mind you I last read Cannery Row in high school and my memory of it is dim, but Doc is one of the characters in both books). Sweet Thursday, all said and done, didn't terribly impress me. In fact I was mildly disappointed. It could be that I had high expectations since, after all, it is Steinbeck we're talking about here. In the end, it only gets t More...

0 comments like

Jun 25, 2009

Wendy rated it:

While this book started off slow, it was a good story about the lengths friends will go to in order to help each other. Doc, the central character in the story, is always there for his friends in his community. When he hits a rough spot, his friends decide it is time they stepped up to help him. The consensus is that he needs a wife. Their machinations to get him there are cute and sometimes hysterical (as with the Snow White themed costume party). All is well in the end even though Doc ends up More...

0 comments like

Jun 26, 2009

Lindsay rated it:

I've been waiting for the time to come that I don't flip over a Steinbeck novel. This wasn't his most creative, but damn if I don't fall in love every time. I've been trying to think of a word to describe Sweet Thursday, but all I can think of is, well, sweet. What struck me while reading this novel was why I think I love Steinbeck as much as I do. I've got a lot of favorite authors that are superb at what they do, that make me feel to my marrow, and I know they put their heart and soul into More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2009

Beth A. rated it:

A discontent Doc felt alone and frustrated while his friends at the Palace Flophouse and the Bear Flag (whorehouse) tried to figure out what they could do to help him. They attempted to instigate a romance. As the saying goes, "With friends like this who needs enemies." But the unconventional attempts at cheering actually worked- due to an unprecedented action, literally listening.

Doc's discontent fills this book, along with cynicism. It's a meandering story with real, enj More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2008

sdw rated it:

Sweet Thursday is a follow-up to Cannery Row. It is not as good, and I don’t recommend reading it unless you have first read Cannery Row. However, if you read and liked Cannery Row, you will most likely also enjoy Sweet Thursday. Sweet Thursday is written more like a novel with a clear plot marching forward than Cannery Row. The plot: Will Doc marry the hooker to whom he is astrologically destined for?

You can’t help but like most of the characters – and you can’t help but wish y More...

1 comment like

Jan 28, 2010

Johnny rated it:

I have always liked John Steinbeck. I liked him when I first started reading 'Grapes of Wrath' a few years ago and I still like him today. It was through reading his books that I started to really appreciate literature. Since then, I have embraced reading literature with a passion. What started out as a mere hobby is now a full blown obsession. All thanks to John Steinbeck. I owe this man a huge debt of gratitude. Without him, I can assure you that I would still be hanging around the bestsellers More...

0 comments like

Jan 10, 2009

Annie rated it:

You have to read Cannery Row first. This is its sequel written like 20 years later. The tone is much heavier about Doc having identity crisis/midlife crisis. Its alot richer, deeper more philosophical, though still fun and in the end as optimistic. The author being 20? years older and more experienced having written prolificly during the period, shows. This is in my top 10. I cried at the end because I didn't want to part with the characters.

0 comments like

Sep 08, 2011

ingrid rated it:

An atypical Steinbeck book. He is best known for his "labor trilogy", including The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and a third. This is a lighter, satirical novel, a follow-up to Cannery Row, with a fair amount of autobiographical base. It takes a little getting used to as initially it almost seems silly, some charterers have ridiculous names, some are a bit preposterous. But he does have a philosophy here and the book has its charms. He also has a great way with words.

0 comments like

Mar 29, 2009

Sarah is currently reading it

This is a sequel of Cannery Row. "The War" (WWII) has just ended. Doc is back from the war and very different. I feel that I can relate to Doc best even though I am not a man, nor have I been to war, but like everyone else, I have experienced events in life that have forever changed me. Doc has become my character of interest in this book. I have a feeling that he still has some more growing to do before the end of the book.

0 comments like

Mar 27, 2010

Mike rated it:

Another great John Steinbeck read. A change of pace from the cops and robbers I usually read. What did I learn from this book? Sweet Thursday is full of life's lessons. Here's a few that I saw. Look for truth and live with it. People can change. Be generous. Be a friend. Wisdom can come from many sources. And more. Doc, Mack and Hazel and the boys at the Palace Flophouse, Suzy, Wide Ida, Fauna and the girls, Joseph and Mary will be hard to forget.

This is not a fast paced page turner More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2011

James rated it:

It's a long time since I read this book and don't really have all that much to say about it other than I enjoyed it at the time, but I'm unsure if I would enjoy it the same again being quite a bit older. The book was a little simple character and story wise compared to some of his others. Cannery Row which preceeded this book and is based in the same place, with the same characters is far superior.

0 comments like

Jul 03, 2011

Janne rated it:

Kevyttä ja lämminhenkistä Steinbeckiä. Pikkukaupunkiin sijoittuva tarina, jossa koko kylä pyrkii saamaan synkeäksi ja yksinäiseksi heittäytyneen Tohtorin takaisin tolpilleen. Toisin sanoen, Tohtorille täytyy saada kunnon nainen! Aivan parhaaseen lentoon ei tämä kirja lähde, mutta kelpo luettavaa siltikin. On muuten tainnut Arto Paasilinna lukea tämän kirjan muutamaan otteeseen... tyyliltään hänet opukset ovat kuin Torstai on toivoa täynnä kirjan pikkuveljiä.

0 comments like

Oct 09, 2011

Charles rated it:

This ia the sequel to Cannery Row, and is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It seems that Mr. Steinbeck liked his characters so much, that he wanted to write a book with no depressing storylines. They are still struggling to make do with rough circumstances, but their spirit will give the reader the strength one gets from learning about the people who came before them. Very funny.

0 comments like

Aug 05, 2011

Bigmuzz rated it:

not as good as 'cannery row', but still brilliant compared to most other authors. maybe because i absolutely loved 'cannery row' i was expecting way too much from this, but i still very much enjoyed the ride. while 'cannery row' was a wild raucous journey, 'sweet thursday' was more a love story built on the foundations of a great set of characters. and it is still a place i want to visit! :P

0 comments like

reviews