Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Cannery Row - 4.5/5
A beautifully written hangout book featuring those living at the fringes of inter-war Depression Era California as they make their home in the bastard countryside, the edgelands, of Monterey's beachfront near the old cannery. The book's famous, it's vibes are immaculate, and the picture it paints varies from beautiful, funny, sad, sentimental, and romantic throughout. In between the main "plot" chapters Steinbeck writes these little bits of microfiction about the lives of Cannery Row's other residents and these were some of my favourite parts, being able to see such a small snapshot of a life in 2 to 4 pages and learning so much about them and the place that is the Row.
Some parts have aged, whilst for 1945 Lee Chong is a very well rounded character there's still some aspects of him which haven't aged gracefully and there are a lot of "my wife!" bits here that made me roll my eyes a little, but overall Cannery Row still stands up in 2024.
So yes, an understandable classic. Definitely recommended.
A beautifully written hangout book featuring those living at the fringes of inter-war Depression Era California as they make their home in the bastard countryside, the edgelands, of Monterey's beachfront near the old cannery. The book's famous, it's vibes are immaculate, and the picture it paints varies from beautiful, funny, sad, sentimental, and romantic throughout. In between the main "plot" chapters Steinbeck writes these little bits of microfiction about the lives of Cannery Row's other residents and these were some of my favourite parts, being able to see such a small snapshot of a life in 2 to 4 pages and learning so much about them and the place that is the Row.
Some parts have aged, whilst for 1945 Lee Chong is a very well rounded character there's still some aspects of him which haven't aged gracefully and there are a lot of "my wife!" bits here that made me roll my eyes a little, but overall Cannery Row still stands up in 2024.
So yes, an understandable classic. Definitely recommended.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
sad
I like Steinbeck a lot but I just didn’t totally connect with this one. It felt like it was missing something and was incomplete.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When I first started reading Steinbeck's books and I told someone about it they told me that it was surprising how I liked such a "manly" and "strong male power" author. But Steinbeck has such a human and simple approach to his characters that I feel reading his books makes me acknowledge a past that did exist and real people who did suffer - from toxic masculinity or not - (but for sure) from a toxic society. The first quote below says it all...
--------------------------------------
“They might call him a watchman but he was a pimp—a dirty pimp, the lowest thing in the world. And then he thought how he had a right to live and be happy just like anyone else, by God he had.”
“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.”
“It’s all fine to say, “Time will heal everything, this too shall pass away. People will forget”—and things like that when you are not involved, but when you are there is no passage of time, people do not forget and you are in the middle of something that does not change.”
“He never forgot anything but he never bothered to arrange his memories.”
“Who wants to be good if he has to be hungry too?”
--------------------------------------
“They might call him a watchman but he was a pimp—a dirty pimp, the lowest thing in the world. And then he thought how he had a right to live and be happy just like anyone else, by God he had.”
“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.”
“It’s all fine to say, “Time will heal everything, this too shall pass away. People will forget”—and things like that when you are not involved, but when you are there is no passage of time, people do not forget and you are in the middle of something that does not change.”
“He never forgot anything but he never bothered to arrange his memories.”
“Who wants to be good if he has to be hungry too?”