The Pearl/Burning Bright

by John Steinbeck

Pan G308 1963 edition paperback vg++ to fine condition. In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

Reviews

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It 's the first time I ever read such a book. I mean, I 'm more into science fiction and werewolves an other planets and universes and stuff.. but I really liked these two stories, "The Pearl" and "Burning Bright".

The Pearl: It was a sad story. Reviews on the book mention the simplicity of the author's writing, and it's true. Simple writing giving strong emotions and real life lessons, for this first story is a symbolic one. It is about luck, about poverty, about wealth, about dreams and holding on to them, about how everything can be destroyed either by your persistence and hurtful stubbornness or about how everything have a chance to be saved by simply if you look the other way and find the strength to continue life with different dreams and plans.
"A plan once made and visualized becomes a reality along with other realities-never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked." says the author at some point. He also writes "It is not good to want a thing too much. It sometimes drives the luck away. You must want it just enough." Reading the latter, I couldn't find myself agreeing, because I always thought that if you want something more than enough, then you can make it happen. This story is about making your dreams come true; correction, it's about how to make your dreams come true: struggling is the first step. But sometimes nothing -not even luck- is good enough to succeed. Not even your willingness because the world can be such a vicious place to live in. This story saddened me. Nevertheless, I really liked it. It was deep and I will always remember it as a lesson.

Burning Bright: This story is an entirely different one. It's about a woman between her husband (who she loves more than her own life) and a young and strong man who craves her more than anything. Other women are less than her-he wants her and her alone. The only way Joe Saul (the husband) to be happy and rise from his own darkness is a baby. Since he can't have one due to his weak sperm (which he doesn't know he has), his wife conceives one with Victor (the young man). I 'll say no more. The book makes you wonder and think, is this treason? Could love justify this act? Is man strong enough to undergo such a heavy truth? Is love for a person enough to sacrifice everything? Is pride a sin, an egoistic manner and something that can bring you down? Has the man the power not to live with pride? Is friendship harsh and real? All these beautiful and hard to answer questions derive from this nicely written story.

The fact that both stories saddened me, the first more than the second, is a a clue of the greatness of this book. The reason I give it 3 stars is not because I didn't like it, but because the feeling was a bit "heavy" for me due to I 'm not used to reading stories like these. I will surely add this genre in my reading choices.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t the best Steinbeck that I’ve read, but then it’s up against Of Mice and Men and a couple of his short stories, so that’s hardly surprising. That doesn’t make it any less of a worthwhile read though, and I’m happy to have been able to add this one to my list of completed books.

The Pearl reminded me of The Old Man and the Sea, although that’s not necessarily a good thing because I didn’t particularly like that. Luckily, I thought that The Pearl was a lot better, mainly because it looked at the gritty subject of the way that people take advantage of people as opposed to having a more philosophical bent.

Burning Bright was great too, but I have a self-imposed word count to stick to, so I’ll leave you hanging. Sorry.

[Rik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple but effective descriptive writing, feeling much like the one Hemingway book I've read. The emphasis seemed to be on the characters and moral ideas more than the plot, which worked well for The Pearl. Burning Bright I found to be a bit boring. The novelette did feel like a play (as intended by Steinbeck), concentrating on the dialogue, exploring the moral maze created. The setting of the three acts confused me because, in act one they seem to be working in a circus, act two they're farm workers, and act three working on boats. In each scene they talk as if this is all they've ever known. I sped read to see how it concluded.