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Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

3.87 · Rating details · 1,846,791 ratings · 32,244 reviews

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 Californias Salinas Valley, but their hopes are ...more

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Paperback, Steinbeck Centennial Edition, US / CAN Edition, 103 pages

Published January 8th 2002 by Penguin Books (first published 1937)

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Sep 25, 2007 Paul Bryant rated it liked it

Shelves: novels

The title of this novel is only 50% accurate, a very poor effort. Yes, its about men, but theres little or nothing about mice in these pages. Mice enthusiasts will come away disappointed. This got me thinking about other novel titles. You would have to say that such books as The Slap, The Help, The Great Gatsby, Gangsta Granny, Mrs Dalloway and Hamlet have very good titles because they are all about a slap, some help, a Gatsby who was really great, a no good granny, a woman who was married to a ...more

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Sep 22, 2007 Kemper rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: plain-old-fiction, famous-books

I needed a quick read because I stupidly forgot that the library would be closed yesterday for Veteran's Day. I'd exhausted my current supply, and I needed a short term fix to hold me until I could get some new product today. So I grabbed Of Mice and Men off the bookshelf last night.

And I'm glad I did because I'd somehow remembered that this was a depressing book. How wrong I was! Oh, sure there were some tense moments like when you think Lennie will accidently hurt Curley's wife in the barn. ...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Nataliya rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012-reads

Well, somehow I've managed to read close to 800 books by now, and none of those had been Of Mice and Men. That has been remedied now, and I'm feeling emotionally drained by it. So yeah.

I suppose pretty much everyone knows the heartbreaking story of Lennie and George. I was relatively 'unspoiled' and still knew what happened in the end. I just did not know how or why, but figured out those pretty quickly into the book. And still that did not help the sense of impending doom that was like one
Well, somehow I've managed to read close to 800 books by now, and none of those had been Of Mice and Men. That has been remedied now, and I'm feeling emotionally drained by it. So yeah.

I suppose pretty much everyone knows the heartbreaking story of Lennie and George. I was relatively 'unspoiled' and still knew what happened in the end. I just did not know how or why, but figured out those pretty quickly into the book. And still that did not help the sense of impending doom that was like one protracted gut punch. I think that says something about the masterful writing - where the story takes over so much that you keep reading despite the clear sense of where it is going, without having to rely on suspense or twists - instead, going forward just on the impact of the story itself

"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."

I used to work with Special Education kids some time ago. And I have seen first-hand what Steinbeck describes in Of Mice and Men - the childlike vulnerability and innocence often combined with physical strength, just waiting for something bad to happen. The children we took care of - some of which topped my 5'3'' frame by a foot or so and outweighed me by a good hundred pounds (but despite that a few times I had to physically put myself on between them and a smaller child) - had, unlike Lennie, the society that is determined to protect them. They were luckier than poor George's charge. But I could not help but picture some of them, who have forever secured spots in my heart, in place of Lennie Small, feeling nothing but dread and sadness. Lennie, who is as innocent as one gets, and yet as much of a unwilling menace as one can be. And it was soul-crushing.

I think the impact of this story was that it did not have me taking sides. I felt bad for Lennie. I felt awful for Curley's wife who does not even have a NAME in this story. I felt sad for George and what he had to do. And I felt bad for the whole bunch of men who had names and stories, and a woman who got one but not the other.

"You God damn tramp," be said viciously. "You done it, di'n't you? I s'pose you're glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good now, you lousy tart."

And that's where this book lost stars for me. Curley's wife, the unwilling almost-antagonist/victim of this story. The woman who had no name except for the possessive one of her husband whose property - and therefore trouble for everyone else - she was viewed as. It seemed that she was the one getting the blame, not as much the crazy volatile husband of hers. After all, she *asked* for trouble, didn't she? At least that's the nagging feeling I got from this story, from the way her character was handled, from the way it was repeatedly stated that a 'tart' like her meant trouble for a man. Blame-the-victim mentality does not sit well with me, and I can't help but think that Steinbeck did that. (view spoiler).

This book is definitely a classic with a profound impact on the reader, a short read that is in no way easy. It deserves the fame and recognition that it has enjoyed for quite a few years. 3.5 stars from me (it would have been 4.5 stars, but for the literary treatment of Curley's wife). ...more

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Feb 26, 2014 Sean Barrs The Ultra Vegan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, 5-star-reads, modernist-movement

I remember reading this at school at being completely uninterested in the story. I remember the teacher droning on about basic plot allegories before we read each section; she would tell us what certain things meant before we had even seen them. She would explain how this portrays a vital part of American culture and a vital element of human nature. All in all we were told what to see in the book before we even began reading.

Perhaps she should have just let us read it first, and see what we I remember reading this at school at being completely uninterested in the story. I remember the teacher droning on about basic plot allegories before we read each section; she would tell us what certain things “meant” before we had even seen them. She would explain how this portrays a vital part of American culture and a vital element of human nature. All in all we were told what to see in the book before we even began reading.

Perhaps she should have just let us read it first, and see what we took from it before being told how to read it. I hated it at the time. I hated being told that passages meant certain things when clearly criticism is just speculation. This wasn’t effective teaching: it was being told how to think. She should have prized open our minds and made us engage with it more. When I approached it again years later I did so with more of an open mind, I was determined to find more in the book than I’d been taught to see.

And I did. Lenny and George naively dream of the farm; they dream of a retreat where they can reside in friendship without having to answer to any master. They wouldn’t have to go to work; they can simply work for themselves. Running their own farm would mean that they are self-sustainable. They could grow crops for themselves and choose when they laboured: they would be free. Well George wants this. Lenny just wants a few rabbits to pet. The attractiveness of the dream draws in Candy, who is very old and very lonely. He doesn’t want to end up like his dog: put down because of his years. He wants someone to protect him and care for him in his advanced years. The three become united by this shared dream but it is nothing but fancy.

“Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”

description

Indeed, the American dream doesn’t exist in this book. Only harsh cold reality awaits the protagonists. Crooks, for all his cruel and understandable bitterness, was right in the end. The farm is just a dream. It is evocative of the loneliness within the human soul, and how we will always long for the impossible. It’s impossible because there is no sunset over the rainbow. Life doesn’t quite work like that. People don’t always get what they want. The world is a cruel unforgiving place here. This is embodied by Lenny; he is vulnerable and emotionally weak. He is completely unaware of the vicious strength he possesses. He never truly understands the situation. He almost walks through the world blind. The world he sees is different to that of everyone else’s.

So this is a story about the outsiders, about the unloved and misunderstood. This a story about those that long for an alternative to the drudgery of standard human existence, but have their expectations cut short. This is a story about how we judge people based upon their appearance and how we label them unjustly. This is a story that Mary Shelley would have loved, a story where a character with an innocent heart is destroyed by the world he should have been accepted by.
...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Shayantani rated it it was amazing

Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em.

Breathtaking prose, touching characters and a heart breaking ending. Who said only lengthy novel can make an impact? ...more

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Jun 30, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, literature, 1001-book, 20th-century

608. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.
عنوانها: موشها و آدمها نویسنده: جان استاینبک (اشتاین بک) انتشاراتیهای: اساطیر امیرکبیر کانون معرفت زرین مدبر علی فرهنگی سعیدی چکاوک گلبرگ برزین جنگل در دانش گلمهر 608. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.
عنوانها: موشها و آدمها؛ نویسنده: جان استاین‌بک (اشتاین بک)؛ انتشاراتیهای: اساطیر، امیرکبیر، کانون معرفت، زرین، مدبر، علی فرهنگی، سعیدی، چکاوک، گلبرگ برزین، جنگل، در دانش، گلمهر، گویش نو، ماهی، و ...؛ ادبیات؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1974 میلادی
عنوان: موشها و آدمها؛ نویسنده: جان استاین‌بک (اشتاین بک)؛ مترجم: پرویز داریوش؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، چاپ دوم 1340، در 104 ص؛ چاپ سوم 1356، چاپ چهارم 1362؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، کانون معرفت، 1345، در 184 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، زرین، 1362، در 202 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، اساطیر، 1366 ، در 137 ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1389، در 136 ص؛ شابک: 9789643314675؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، مدبر، 1370، در 167 ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1388، در 172 ص، شابک: 9789646631670؛ چاپ دیگر: انتشارات علمی فرهنگی، 1394، در 139 ص؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20 م
مترجم: ولی الله ابراهیمی؛ تهران، سعیدی، 1348، در 175 ص؛ چاپ بعدی 1363، در 203 ص؛
مترجم: مهدی خوانساری؛ تهران، چکاوک، 1362، در 195 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، پگاه، 1369، در 195 ص؛
مترجم: گلبرگ برزین؛ تهران، گلمهر، 1381، در 137 ص؛ شابک: 9647438060؛ در 137 ص؛
مترجم: الهام تابع احمدی؛ اصفهان، جنگل، 1382، در 79 ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک: 9646089857؛
مترجم: محمدصادق شریعتی؛ تهران، گویش نو، 1387، در 87 ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک: 9789649616841؛
مترجم: پریسا محمدی؛ کرج، در دانش، 1387، در 102 ص؛ شابک: 9789641740940؛
مترجم: سروش حبیبی؛ تهران، ماهی، 1388، در 154 ص؛ شابک: 9789642090594؛ چاپ دوم 1392؛ چاپ پنجم 1395؛ شابک: 9789642091522؛ در 160 ص؛
مترجم: مینا فراهانی؛ تهران، فرهنگ زبان، 1389، در 84 ص؛ دو زبانه، شابک: 9789648794670؛
مترجم: ایمان قادری؛ تهران، ابرسفید، 1391، در 227 ص؛ شابک: 9786009254507؛
مترجم: احسان قادری؛ تهران، ابرسفید، چاپ دوم 1393، در 216 ص؛ شابک: 9786009254507؛
مترجم: مهدی افشار؛ تهران، به سخن، 1394، در 160 ص؛ شابک: 9786007987018؛
مترجم: فرزام حبیبی اصفهانی؛ تهران، زاویه، 1395، در 154 ص؛ شابک: 9789649562032؛ چاپ دیگر، نشر هرم، 1395؛ شابک: 9789648882674؛
هشدار: اگر این کتاب خود میخواهید بخوانید، از خوانش ریویو خودداری فرمائید؛ جرج میلتون، و «لنی اسمال»، دو دوست که در اسبداری‌ها، روزگار خویش می‌گذرانند. آرزوی دیرین آنها این است، که روزی جایی را بخرند و در آنجا خرگوش پرورش دهند. «لنی»، از کودکی از نوازش چیزهای نرم، خوشش میآید، و زور بازوی بسیار دارد. او چندان باهوش نیست. دچار دردسر میشود، به ویژه هنگامی که زن پسر ارباب، «کرلی»، از او میخواهد تا موهایش را نوازش کند. «لنی» ناخواسته زن بیچاره را می‌کشد، و از ترس می‌گریزد. «کرلی» خشمگین، با مردانش، در پی یافتن و از پای درآوردن «لنی»، راهی میشوند. «جرج» هم، به رغم سوگندش، برای پشتیبانی از «لنی»، به گروه میپیوندد. و ... ا. شربیانی ...more

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Jun 20, 2014 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-stuff, classics, library-has, made-me-think

I think I've been avoiding John Steinbeck, consciously or subconsciously, ever since I was a horse-loving teenager and thought that The Red Pony would be a nice, pleasant book to read.

description

I didn't read any Steinbeck books for years.

But I was in the local library, puttering around in the general fiction shelves, and happened to pull this one out and noticed how short it was--only 107 pages. I had just finished reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which was a 127-page overdose of cheesy 70's inspiration, and it occurred to me that by reading this book to offset JLS I could restore the cosmic balance in my life, or something like that.

Lennie and George are a unique pair of friends: George is restless, intelligent and often short-tempered; Lennie is huge and incredibly strong, although mentally damaged. He has a childlike sweetness but is easily confused and frightened, and that combined with his strength makes him threatening to others. Somehow, despite their differences, the two have formed a friendship. George tries to protect Lennie from the world . . . and the world from Lennie. It's a difficult task. But they have their dreams and plans of a place of their own, where they can tend a garden and raise animals. And Lennie can take care of the rabbits. It's the most heavenly thing he can imagine.

George and Lennie are hired as field hands at a ranch in California, and the foreshadowings of disaster start to come thick and fast. An old sheepdog whose usefulness has passed is unceremoniously shot. The owner's son Curley comes around to their bunkhouse, spoiling for a fight. Curley's young, bored wife comes around even more often, looking for a different kind of trouble. The hands are sure that they only need a month or two of wages to achieve their plans of a place of their own, but the best-laid schemes of mice and men gang oft agley.

I was expecting to read about shattered dreams, but I was surprised and touched by the strength of the theme of true friendship--not just the friendship between George and Lennie, but also the friendship and understanding offered by Slim, the ranch foreman. With all of the loneliness and cruelty and loss and disappointment that life can bring, it's this one message of hope that I choose to take away from this short but powerful book. ...more

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Mar 23, 2019 Federico DN rated it liked it

Sometimes people can do awful things, sometimes they mean it, and sometimes they don't.

In this novel we learn the story of "George" and "Lennie". Two wandering day laborers traveling together; from work to work, from trouble to trouble. One small and cunning; the other giant, and retarded. Working from city to city, from field to field, but always protecting each other. A dream pushes them forward, work the fields until one day have enough to purchase a small farm of their own. A place where Sometimes people can do awful things, sometimes they mean it, and sometimes they don't.

In this novel we learn the story of "George" and "Lennie". Two wandering day laborers traveling together; from work to work, from trouble to trouble. One small and cunning; the other giant, and retarded. Working from city to city, from field to field, but always protecting each other. A dream pushes them forward, work the fields until one day have enough to purchase a small farm of their own. A place where George can work the land, and Lennie tend the rabbits. But there are difficulties, Lennie in his brutish innocence tends to get himself into serious problems, and more often that not, both.

A short but very memorable read from the famed pulitzer winner John Steinbeck. A little 100p novella about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, and the cruelties of a sometimes hostile rural world.

Still remaining, "East of Eden", or "The Grapes of Wrath", someday.

**** One of those very few exceptions where the movie may actually match the book. John Steinbeck creates two immortal characters, but the movie (1992) gives them a real palpable soul. Mainly due to the exceptional performance of John Malkovich, and a very remarkable Gary Sinise. Brilliant book-to-film adaptation.

Until next time,

-----------------------------------------------

A veces la gente puede hacer cosas terribles, a veces lo hacen a propósito, y a veces no.

En esta novela conocemos la historia de "George" y "Lennie". Dos jornaleros errantes viajando juntos; de trabajo en trabajo, de problema en problema. Uno pequeño y astuto, otro gigante y retardado. Trabajando de ciudad en ciudad, de campo en campo, pero siempre protegiéndose el uno al otro. Un sueño los motiva a seguir juntos, trabajar los campos hasta algún día tener lo suficiente para comprar una pequeña parcela propia. Un lugar donde George pueda trabajar la tierra, y Lennie cuidar de los conejos. Pero existen dificultades, Lennie en su bruta inocencia tiende a meterse en serios aprietos... y más que a menudo, a ambos.

Una lectura corta pero muy memorable del afamado ganador del Pulitzer John Steinbeck. Una pequeña novella de 100p sobre los fuertes lazos de la amistad, y las crueldades en un mundo campestre a veces hostil.

Queda pendiente algún día leer "East of Eden" y/o "The Grapes of Wrath".

*** Una de esas pequeñas excepciones donde la película tal vez supera la obra escrita. John Steinbeck crea dos personajes inmortales, pero la película (1992) les otorga un alma real. Principalmente gracias a las actuación excepcional de John Malkovich, y un muy destacado Gary Sinise. Brillante adaptación de cine.

Hasta la próxima, ...more

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Jan 27, 2008 Andy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It's the way Steinbeck describes things that gets me.

"Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. On one side of the little room there was a square four-paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Crooks' bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung. On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung broken harness in process of being mended; strips of new It's the way Steinbeck describes things that gets me.

"Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. On one side of the little room there was a square four-paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Crooks' bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung. On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung broken harness in process of being mended; strips of new leather; and under the window itself a little bench for leather-working tools, curved knives and needles and balls of linen thread, and a small hand riveter. On pegs were also pieces of harness, a split collar with the horsehair stuffing sticking out, a broken hame, and a trace chain with its leather covering split. Crooks had his apple box over his bunk, and in it a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses. There were cans of saddle soap and a drippy can of tar with its paint brush sticking over the edge. And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about, ad being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men, and he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back."

None of this is relevant to the story, and yet a middle chapter opens up with this vivid scene. Steinbeck succeeds because the characters he paints in your head are exact. The first time I saw the movie that was made out of this story, it was just as I had envisioned it. Though the story great itself, the reason I will come back to this book is for the little things, the very things that have made me love Steinbeck so much.

I first read Of Mice And Men my sophomore year of high school, when it was a required reading in Mrs. Beeler's class. I recall disliking almost all required school readings up to this point (though admittedly I had skipped out on the summer reading project of "The Grapes Of Wrath"). When this book was assigned, I knew it was different. I blew through it, reading it in a day or two, even though I wasn't supposed to. For once there was a school book that I enjoyed. And all the credit in the world to my teacher, who chose other good books the rest of the year. So it's been 6-7 years since I've read this, and now, reading it for the second time, it's just as memorable as I remember. The story sticks with you, the imagery sticks. The characters are among Steinbeck's best, painted in such a crystal clear vision of the time.

It's a near perfect short story, and one that I will surely revisit throughout my life. ...more

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Jan 05, 2018 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, novella

Over the past year, I have rediscovered John Steinbeck as a master American story teller. Having read Cannery Row and its follow up Sweet Thursday, I realized what a prolific author Steinbeck was and hope to continue my reading with a number of his novels this year. One novella I did read while in school but have a fuzzy memory of is Of Mice and Men. With a square on this year's classic bingo board being read a group read that you haven't read yet, I decided that it was as good a time as any to Over the past year, I have rediscovered John Steinbeck as a master American story teller. Having read Cannery Row and its follow up Sweet Thursday, I realized what a prolific author Steinbeck was and hope to continue my reading with a number of his novels this year. One novella I did read while in school but have a fuzzy memory of is Of Mice and Men. With a square on this year's classic bingo board being read a group read that you haven't read yet, I decided that it was as good a time as any to revisit this work of Steinbeck's through adult eyes.

Near the Salinas River and Soledad, California, two nomadic farm hands named George and Lennie stake out their existence in life. George dreams of having his own farm house and acreage but it is during the depression and he has little money saved. He also promised Aunt Clara, really a family friend, that he would take care of her nephew Lennie, a dimwitted yet strong man. Steinbeck portrays George as an average man during his era who attempts to find work in order to make ends meet, yet he has the added burden of caring for and providing for Lennie's well being. Had this been written in contemporary times, Lennie would have been characterized as developmentally disabled or autistic, yet in the 1930s society could not pinpoint what ailed people like Lennie. They were dismissed as dimwitted with little future, preventing those caring for them in having many prospects for bettering themselves either.

The reader finds out that Lennie loves animals although with his limited mental capacity he does not have success in caring for them, killing one mouse, rabbit, or puppy after another. Steinbeck alludes to the fact that the reason that George and Lennie are in between jobs is because Lennie had felt a woman's dress meaning no harm, yet the act alarmed other members of their work team, forcing the duo to flee the premises. As the pair approaches yet another farm, George makes Lennie promise to keep his mouth shut, to do whatever George asks him to, and to please stay out of trouble. Despite the best of intentions, with Lennie's condition being what it is, he does not always remember to do what George asks of him, putting both of their futures in jeopardy.

As in past jobs, George quickly becomes friendly with the rest of the work crew, attempting to distance himself from Lennie. Lennie ends up attempting a friendship with the rest of the outcasts on the farm, including a Negro horseshoe hand, yet even this relationship ends in tragedy. When Lennie's actions result in tragic proportions, George must choose between protecting Lennie and thinking of himself and his own future, with the denouement coming to a upsetting climax. I could not help but thinking that if George and Lennie lived today with society's awareness of degrees of developmental delays, that both George and Lennie would have enjoyed a happier existence. The burden of caring for Lennie would not have been placed on George, and Lennie himself would have been taught the rudimentary aspects of self care and perhaps even been placed in a basic job. Yet, placing George and Lennie in modern times is hearsay and their relationship ended in tragedy with Steinbeck placing George in a precarious situation which he would have to dwell upon for the rest of his life.

In reading Steinbeck I have seen how he has done a masterful job in painting his characters as archetypes of the era in which they lived, usually depression era California. George and Lennie are two men looking to better themselves in a decade when one had little to be happy about. While rereading this tragic novella, I could not help but think if like other books I read for school if this is above most teenagers heads. Perhaps, teachers could discuss George and Lennie's relationship and where Lennie would be if he lived today, much as I did while reading. Yet, like other books I read at the time, Of Mice and Men gains a deeper appreciation while reading it through adult eyes. Another bingo square checked off, yet definitely not the last Steinbeck novel I will devour this year.

4.5 stars
...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nobels, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."

Oscar Wilde's prison poem came to mind not only for its literal truth in the context of Lenny and George, but also because it evokes the brutal isolation of the whole cast of characters, each one of them stuck in their separate reality and unable to connect with each other. The young lonely wife has nobody to confide in, and keeps looking for trouble out of sheer isolation. The black man is so utterly alone that he is almost insane, and the barrier of "Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."

Oscar Wilde's prison poem came to mind not only for its literal truth in the context of Lenny and George, but also because it evokes the brutal isolation of the whole cast of characters, each one of them stuck in their separate reality and unable to connect with each other. The young lonely wife has nobody to confide in, and keeps looking for trouble out of sheer isolation. The black man is so utterly alone that he is almost insane, and the barrier of his skin colour is even more impenetrable than the woman's gender. George's loneliness is connected to his responsibility for Lenny, and Lenny himself is in the brutal prison of his intellectual inferiority and herculean strength. Even the boss' son is in a no man's land between privilege and torture.

The dream of sharing a future together keeps the men's spirits alive for a while, and it is contagious. Breaking out of the isolation, enjoying freedom and partnership - those are powerful ideas.

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves..."

The domino effect of Lenny's inability to control his strength or his craving for softness and love makes all dreamers wake up to a nightmare without end. The only solace is finding another human being who understands enough of the pain of killing what one loves to offer a sign of support or friendship in the misery of reality.

Lenny broke my heart, and yet I had to smile at his limited vision over and over again. When I first read this novel, I was a busy teenager, bored and frustrated that school picked my reading materials for me, not willing to enter into the confused minds of men with whom I had seemingly nothing in common. With hindsight, I see myself in a cloud of ignorance, not fully grasping what happened around me, missing a masterpiece in the process - I was very much like Lenny myself, unaware of the bigger picture of what was going on around me. Reading Of Mice and Men now, to prepare a teaching unit for a new generation of fifteen-year-olds, I find myself more in the role of George, gently coaxing, carefully repeating the information I consider crucial, avoiding too much detail out of fear to completely lose the attention of my students. Lenny and George live a life of their own in my head now, and they have transcended their bitter story and become part of mine.

Just what one expects of a great classic! ...more

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Oct 13, 2018 Samra Yusuf rated it really liked it

Shelves: nobel-writers

So it starts as you lay there awake, in the quiet hours of night, lulling your head to be hushed of those deafening thoughts, faces, voices, you kept on getting day long, as you con your head into forged drowsiness, and it starts dawning on you, the coiled snake sitting in the corner of your mind tilts its head, clogs every nerve in his coil, deep-seated thought of being all alone in this universe of biological process over process strikes you to the core, universal loneliness houses your whole So it starts as you lay there awake, in the quiet hours of night, lulling your head to be hushed of those deafening thoughts, faces, voices, you kept on getting day long, as you con your head into forged drowsiness, and it starts dawning on you, the coiled snake sitting in the corner of your mind tilts its head, clogs every nerve in his coil, deep-seated thought of being all alone in this universe of biological process over process strikes you to the core, universal loneliness houses your whole being, Our uniqueness makes us special, makes perception valuable - but it can also make us lonely. This loneliness is different from being 'alone': You can be lonely even surrounded by people. The feeling I'm talking about stems from the sense that we can never fully share the truth of who we are, we can never talk the next soul of our inner happenings, the loneliness of this kind eats our being and we device heavens, If not in this life, but in the life to come, we don’t want to be this alone, but there are some stories who teach us the inevitability of it, no matter how far we travel in pursue of a dream land, we will always be alone!
“Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”
What if just in our head it all is, what if we are always been delusional by definition, of people we thought we loved or were loved, of sickness we thought were cured, of people we thought we’d known, of souls we thought had touched, of love we thought had lived, of memories we thought had faded, of faces we thought had gone, or weren’t there at the first place. This is the story of unloved and alone, of George Milton and Lennie Small, the story of two antithetic coming together in bond only death dared disrupt. The story of the dream which dwelt all just in head and inspired them to work from place to place in the wake of depression years in America.
Steinbeck’s characters are suspiciously caricaturesque,as if placed there just for that purpose, with no backdrop stories of their own, no life before the opening scene, a giant-structured low at wits character to be paired with equally short-statured but quick-wit George who protects Lennie from the harms of his world, they dreamt of rabbits and a farm where there won’t be having any masters, a land of their own, in the times of impossibilities and hunger extreme, universality of their dream takes the reader in awe of ingeniousness of the writer, nihilistic viewpoint of life being a journey from zero to zero is too much loud in undertones of his prose, the dream of a land of their own was a driving force to keep their heads up the consuming loneliness which seems to be ever prevalent in the air that all characters breathe in.
“There is a terrible emptiness in me, an indifference that hurts” said Camus in his last manuscript, this emptiness echoed through this sad tale of shocking ending, the ending we were given the hints of from the very start, the ending we kept denying to accept till the very end... ...more

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May 09, 2013 MischaS_ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: czech, maturita-ceska

Maybe everbody in the whole damn world is scared of each other.

Sometimes, there is nothing to say because the author said it for you.

...more

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May 20, 2014 Joe Valdez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-general

What more can I possibly add to a discussion of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men without drawing a high school English teacher's salary? Considering I'm not drawing bored glances from teenagers, I doubt that a check from LAUSD will appear in my mailbox anytime soon.

-- Published in 1937, this is the work that the Goodreads algorithms seem to have agreed is the author's most renowned. For Stephen King, it's The Shining, for Elmore Leonard it's Get Shorty and for John Steinbeck it's Of Mice and ...more

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Oct 06, 2015 Kevin Ansbro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, human-emotions, morality, immorality, classic-literature, human-cruelty, gritty-realism, short-stories, racism

A book I'd read an awfully long time ago, when pocket calculators were still the latest thing.
Such an iconic staple of American literature, wherein George and Lennie, migrant labourers in the Cali dustbowl, form an unlikely bond in a tale of brutality and tenderness.
Typical of Steinbeck, his 'no-fucking-about' narrative fast-tracks his examination of human morality, culminating in a story that has since been immortalised on film and stage.
Steinbeck strived for gritty realism and wrote about a ...more

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May 14, 2016 Whitney Atkinson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016

I think it's tradition for me to finish a classic and think, "That was good, but I wonder what insights and symbolism I missed out on since I didn't read this for class and have a professor telling me about it." It's also just really hard to review classics in general, because whereas "normal" books I can pick apart the plot, characters, pace, etc., there's something different about these. I feel like I always expect classics to be deep and mindblowing with huge world-shifting themes, but in ...more

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Mar 15, 2017 Mariah Roze rated it liked it

Recommended to Mariah Roze by: Krissy

This is a story about George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States. George Milton is intelligent but uneducated and Lennie Small is extremely physically strong but mentally disabled.

After being hired at a farm, the pair are confronted by the Boss's son who dislikes Lennie. Another worker on the farm offers to help pay to buy a farm with George and Lennie. ...more

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Apr 30, 2018 Peter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, favorites, classic

Devotion
Before finishing the first page you realise youre reading an authentic poetic piece of literature. As with other John Steinbeck works, his recognition and homage to hard economic times in America, and the transient drifting workforce is so vividly portrayed.

Lennie and George are two immortal characters that live well beyond the pages of this book. It is a heartbreaking story of loyalty and love, of friendship and society, and of hope and despondency. Lennie is the main discussion point Devotion
Before finishing the first page you realise you’re reading an authentic poetic piece of literature. As with other John Steinbeck works, his recognition and homage to hard economic times in America, and the transient drifting workforce is so vividly portrayed.

Lennie and George are two immortal characters that live well beyond the pages of this book. It is a heartbreaking story of loyalty and love, of friendship and society, and of hope and despondency. Lennie is the main discussion point in the book and it is such a sad story about the impact of a serious personality disorder, and how it can have devastating consequences to the person living with it and those around them. I did, however, think a lot about George and how he had enabled the friendship to grow and how he tried to provide a protective shield around Lennie. He was constantly reciting statements with Lennie that he may need if ever challenged or actions to follow if confronted. They dreamed and chatted constantly about the smallholding they had been saving for. They would have different crops and animals (particularly rabbits for Lennie) and be masters of their own domain. Life can be cruel when hope and aspirations can be dashed with an unforeseen event and twist of fate.

(view spoiler)

Why oh why did it take me so long to read this book – don’t make the same mistake. I highly recommend reading this moving and literate masterpiece. ...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Of Mice and Men is a tale about the ultimate kindness - it is hard to talk about kindness without turning sentimental but John Steinbeck was the one who really could.

His ear heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.

Simple men of this cruel world live in their own dreamlands and they dream of rainbows.

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Aug 30, 2014 Dolors rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Those striving for dreams & friendship

Shelves: read-in-2014

Only a writer capable of assembling the symbolic with the folkloric can pen a novella that straddles genres, writing techniques and figurative voices and tug at the heartstrings of both commonplace audiences and the most exigent of readers.
Such indisputable universality is what Steinbeck accomplished with Of Mice and Men, a fabled novella with a linear plot delivered in a succession of theatrical scenes, compact on the surface and with simply drawn characters that might be accused of being ...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A kind of modern fairy tale of a little intelligent man and a big powerful giant, however shall we say quite dumb ( intellectually challenged). The friends wander California's many dusty roads and get any job possible, as lowly migrant farmhands during the harsh lengthy Great Depression, 1929- 1939 just trying to survive the deluge, nothing very special here the sad truth be told, as so many millions of
others are in the same frightening situation, starvation. George Milton the little guy is A kind of modern fairy tale of a little intelligent man and a big powerful giant, however shall we say quite dumb ( intellectually challenged). The friends wander California's many dusty roads and get any job possible, as lowly migrant farmhands during the harsh lengthy Great Depression, 1929- 1939 just trying to survive the deluge, nothing very special here the sad truth be told, as so many millions of
others are in the same frightening situation, starvation. George Milton the little guy is always telling Lenny Small, (the name sure doesn't fit him) the large fellow what to do, guidance the poor man desperately needs. The two arrive at another farm where they meet Curley the boss's sin , make that son. A bully who pushes Lenny too far, some people don't know when to quit, he pays the price. Best scene in the novella is Lenny crushing Curley's hand, like it was made of jelly...you can almost literally feel his bones crack and crumble, the result makes for a sickening sound. The childlike behemoth likes tiny cute things animals or women, still with a bad habit of killing them by accident, he means well, yet they're nevertheless... dead. The men are always talking about buying a modest ranch, the goal more a dream than a probability for that era, keeps them together, George feels responsible for Lenny and the truth they need each other. However Curley's wife, no name just "wife" she wasn't an important enough character the author believed, to have one is killed, the dream shattered. Can Lenny escape punishment or does he ...the crude would say , buy the farm? John Steinbeck; history has shown him to be a great writer, the critics much less numerous now, in one of his most famous books for the interested, the title comes from an old Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse". The if I may judge its meaning is misunderstandings... can lead to hate and violence, all people will be good to each other if only they knew their enemies better, love not hostility would prevail; this may in today's atrocious climate seem naive but we must believe or there is no future. ...more

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Aug 09, 2013 Dana Ilie rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic-literature

The narrative is strong and descriptive as is the case in most books written by Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men flows with dialogue and action. The scenes happen so quickly in the book that it sometimes takes the reader by surprise.

You feel sorry for the men. You want them to achieve what they wanted and you know that will not be possible. The writing is so strong that you empathize with them and thats how a book should be written. The plot is complex but the writing is not and thats the wonder of ...more

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Aug 06, 2013 Brian Yahn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Of Mice and Men is the story of two men, George and Lennie, working toward their dream--essentially to retire by acquiring a farm of their own. The story brilliantly shows how easy it is to make dreams a reality, how obvious it is to have dreams and chase them.

But Steinbeck slowly turns things into a nightmare by introducing Curley and his wife. Just by getting in with the wrong crowd at the wrong time and having a few character flaws, Steinbeck shows how dreams are really made of nothing, held ...more

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Jul 07, 2007 Shannon rated it it was ok

i hated this book.
steinbeck is crap.
children should not be forced to read it.

ok, i really just don't like steinbeck's aesthetic. i dislike the killing of innocent animals, the dehumanization of the mentally retarded--and don't try to tell me that lenny isn't marginalized here. the book is depressing and directionless, and not in the ironic waiting-for-godot sort of way. the descriptions are flat, emotionless, and dessicated.

however, curly's wife is awesome. she's just so bizarre and pathetic, so ...more

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Mar 24, 2018 Katherine Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: very-good-but-not-phenomenal, 4-stars, meaningful, owned, classics, fiction, reviewed, memorable-characters

4/5

This won't be a "real" review, however I wanted to point out how I read this in Middle School and didn't enjoy it -- and now at 20 years old, I thought it was amazing! They're making kids reads this far too soon, in my opinion.

Regardless, Steinbeck can really write well. I'm going to have to read East of Eden soon!

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Jan 07, 2012 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction

Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to Of Mice and Men, a novel written in 1937 by John Steinbeck. What a heartbreaking book... many students in American high schools read this one around 9th or 10th grade, and it provokes such sensitive topics to be discussed. A quick summary: Lenny and George are drifters looking for work. Lenny is a little slow and has a few disabilities that weren't addressed when he was younger, likely due to time time period (early 20th century) when they had ability to ignore Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to Of Mice and Men, a novel written in 1937 by John Steinbeck. What a heartbreaking book... many students in American high schools read this one around 9th or 10th grade, and it provokes such sensitive topics to be discussed. A quick summary: Lenny and George are drifters looking for work. Lenny is a little slow and has a few disabilities that weren't addressed when he was younger, likely due to time time period (early 20th century) when they had ability to ignore these types of illnesses. Unfortunately, it has disastrous consequences for him and for George. Men can be cruel. So can be women. Lenny tends to hold on to things a little too tightly when he's scared. He's lost a few pets and things he loved, as a result. One day, a woman pushes him a little too far, more than he's capable of understanding, and he reacts in fear. George must find a way to cover it up, and his only recourse is to take his own disastrous actions. No spoilers here, but you probably get the drift already. No matter if you know the end, you still need to read the story to see how people treat one another because they are different or they aren't perceptive enough to understand their own consequences.

This books helps people understand what happens when you lose control. It helps you figure out what you might need to do to protect someone. And it helps show who's (wo)man enough to stand up for others or to sit back and watch bad things happen. It's charged and full of emotion and fear. I struggled a little with some of the secondary characters and the setting, no my favorite. If it were set in a bit more modern times, I might have given this one a 5. But it's absolutely worth reading whenever you have a chance to find a quiet corner and be ready for a bit of a cry and a flood of questions, answers and thoughts.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. ...more

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Jun 07, 2017 *TANYA* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I had read this back in high school when it was mandated. I vaguely remembered the story when I started reading it, many, many, many moons later and it is without a doubt a great classic tale.

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Apr 28, 2014 Duane rated it really liked it

Shelves: rated-books, reviewed-books, american-classics, guardian-1000

A small book with a big heart; actually it was George and Lennie with the big hearts. Two friends, migrant workers in California during the Depression, looking out for one another, trying to scrap by and save enough money for a place of their own. Their big dream can't overcome their human frailty or the harsh and unforgiving time they lived in. If not for the The Grapes of Wrath this would be Steinbeck's masterpiece.

4.5 stars

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Nov 29, 2007 Mariel rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: loners

Recommended to Mariel by: probably my mother

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. [Reading other goodreads reviews of this brings home to me that I really was in the classes for kids they'd given up on. I never read Of Mice and Men as required reading assignment.]

Tell us how it's gonna be...

I've never wanted a book to spontaneously change endings so badly. I yearn for that little place as much as they do. I wanted them to have it desperately. Proof the incredibly sad ending isn't hopeless is that on a reread I could still hope it would end differently. Oh, it does happen, [Reading other goodreads reviews of this brings home to me that I really was in the classes for kids they'd given up on. I never read Of Mice and Men as required reading assignment.]

Tell us how it's gonna be...

I've never wanted a book to spontaneously change endings so badly. I yearn for that little place as much as they do. I wanted them to have it desperately. Proof the incredibly sad ending isn't hopeless is that on a reread I could still hope it would end differently. Oh, it does happen, loneliness and cruelty and mass mob hating mentality. The possibility that it won't, that people might come through, is still a chance. Otherwise why bother reading a book such as this one.

Lennie dying alone like a dog haunts me. The dying with honor issue I've read about in other stuff isn't an issue with me. Dignity, yes, because in this case the dying was robbing his life of dignity. Lennie had precious little of it as it was. I know that in those times that kind of thing was not unheard of (or much later than that). Still, depressing as shit. Maybe those kinds of hateful things make some kind of a stain on the atmosphere, like a ghost. (If ghosts exist, I imagine they'd come out of something like that. Why are ghosts usually from like Colonial usa or Civil War times? Not the 1970s?) So the dying and the living are the same as both are long over. It should never have to be that way.

Curly's wife haunts me. I related her to Lennie in their inability to think and mourning what happens without any possibility of understanding why. I see in her other abused women and find it heartbreaking and frustrating and reminding.

Of Mice and Men touched on a lot for such a little story. I find that I think of it for comparions when thinking about things like what we owe other people, and expectations of ourselves and others. George's exhaustion of taking care of Lennie, and how everybody else let him down. It's awful to be completely alone, and awful to have to carry so much yourself. Burdens can also make you feel weighted to something. I don't know, I just think about George sometimes. I catch myself being suspicious of what people want, want, want from everybody and those expectations and then I remember George and how it wasn't all bad having someone else to think about like he did for Lennie. It's scary to rely on anyone else. I get why George wanted his little place.

Read this the first time in a middle school science class by holding the book under the desk and ever so slightly ducking my head to read my lap. (Probably as subtle as kids today text messaging.) I had a hard time keeping it together. (Any time they talked about their little place with Candy made me squirm in my seat in excitement.) (I stopped reading books under the desk after that. Did it all the time in elementary school, but for lighter fare like Ramona Quimby series and Dr. Suess.) [I read it on the sly. The smart kids were forced to read it. Maybe those kids were sneaking in The Outsiders inside their textbooks?]

...more

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Dec 21, 2016 Rebbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2016

Oh God. I want more. I *need* more.

I'm a giant ball of sheer emotion right now, as many people must've been when they finished this story. Dang it, John Steinbeck, how could you do this to us? How could you write something so heart-wrenching, and manage to leave us wanting more?

Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment...but I can't be the only one who's had such a visceral reaction to this story.

Lennie and George.
George and Lennie.

Two lonely men who live on the fringe of society, desperately ...more

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About John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

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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 up in the Salinas Valley 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 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. ...more