Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Of Mice and Men

After having to leave their previous town, George and Lennie find themselves on another ranch as a stepping stone for their own future ranch.

This is the first time I've read this book independently since leaving school. School definitely made this book feel longer but it was a quick evening read of 120 pages.

Reading it in Secondary School, I used to think Curley's wife was the villain of the story. But having read it now as an adult, there are no villains. It is just a concise social commentary on life in 1930s America:
1. Sexism: Curley's wife didn't even have her own name and based on her conversation with Lennie, she didn't even have her own life - she just married Curley to get back at her mother. Dreamt of being an actress and making a name for herself.
2. Racism: Crooks also didn't even have his own name. He lived on his own, segregated from the rest of his colleagues based on the colour of his skin. He put up with racist slurs being hurled at him constantly.
3. Ableism: Crooks' nickname comes from his injury. Candy and Lennie get left out of the men's outing to town. And George frequently tells Lennie that Lennie is a burden.

The book is not well-written by modern standards for sure: racist, misogynistic and ableist terminology is rife. The repetition also becomes a bit painful at times. But in little over 100 pages, you understand the characters and there is no need to continue it much further than where it ends.

The story is wanting the American Dream. Everyone in this story wants it, dreams of it, works for it. But in the end, no one really achieves it.

Content Warnings

emmajh91's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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pony23's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Reading this in school was an awful experience which I can still remember. As a disabled student, watching your peers laugh at the death of a disabled person and have their idea of disabled people as dangerous and animalistic is disheartening to say the least. Of course, adult readers can have different takeaways of the book and come away it’s a more nuanced understanding; however, I found that the book doesn’t convey the injustices well enough to be required reading, and does more harm than good.

Content Warnings