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A review by carlacbarroso
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
5.0
I'd seen the movie a few years ago, which confirmed John Malkovich and Gary Sinise as some of my favorite actors. I was already interested in reading it since I've read The Pearl, which must be the only required reading that I really enjoyed reading, and the movie fuelled that interest. So I took advantage of it being a required reading for the CAE exam I had to take in June, and scratched it from the 1001 books to read before you die list. Unfortunately, having seen the film had its consequences and the end didn't have much impact on me as it probably would had I not seen the adaptation. Still, it left me teary-eyed.
In this small book we follow the story of two men who have been together from a very young age and complement each other. Working on farms, in crops, they're driven by a dream: to own a piece of land, taking care of it and living from it. Unfortunately, Lennie has the mind of a child and a tremendous strength, which makes them set off to another farm, where Curley, the son of the landowner, chases Lennie who's also a victim Curley's lonely wife. There, Candy, an old man with some money saved and who fears being put out from the farm for not being able to do his job, and Crooks, a black man casted aside because of his skin tone, also take part of the dream afraid of loneliness and wanting to live their lives with dignity, sowing what they plant. But the dream is shattered.
This is a short book and one easily reads it in a couple of hours. Since the story focus on issues like loneliness and dreams, it's impossible not to connect with the characters and share their hopes. But fate doesn't really care about hopes nor dreams and can be cruel. :(
In this small book we follow the story of two men who have been together from a very young age and complement each other. Working on farms, in crops, they're driven by a dream: to own a piece of land, taking care of it and living from it. Unfortunately, Lennie has the mind of a child and a tremendous strength, which makes them set off to another farm, where Curley, the son of the landowner, chases Lennie who's also a victim Curley's lonely wife. There, Candy, an old man with some money saved and who fears being put out from the farm for not being able to do his job, and Crooks, a black man casted aside because of his skin tone, also take part of the dream afraid of loneliness and wanting to live their lives with dignity, sowing what they plant. But the dream is shattered.
This is a short book and one easily reads it in a couple of hours. Since the story focus on issues like loneliness and dreams, it's impossible not to connect with the characters and share their hopes. But fate doesn't really care about hopes nor dreams and can be cruel. :(