I’ve always been interested in reading John Steinbeck. In high school I had the option of reading The Grapes of Wrath or Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I chose poorly, as the Grail Knight would say. Anyway, I’m wandering through a Maui Friends of the Library bookshop and am browsing through the classics when what to my wandering eyes should appear, but this tiny book. I had no idea this one was so short. And I thought, maybe this would be a good introduction for me to John Steinbeck. But was it, though? Read on and find out…
Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
Pages: 107
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Published: February 24, 1937
Publisher: Penguin Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: January 10, 2024
My rating: 
Synopsis
This is the story of George and Lennie. George is small, cunning, and smart. Lennie is big, strong, hard working, and not too bright. But George and Lennie stick together. George sticks up for Lennie. George speaks for Lennie most of the time. And Lennie has a lot love and deference to George.
George and Lennie want to buy some land and Lennie especially wants to raise rabbits. He loves rabbits. And puppies. And mice. He loves petting small, soft things. But recall that Lennie is big and strong. Yeah…
The problems really arise when a woman, a woman married to a bit of a hot head, wants to get frisky with Lennie. Things don’t really turn out well. And George? Well, he’s loyal to two people: himself and Lennie. In that order… so yeah…
Thoughts
I was able to read this over a couple hours. Not only is it quite short but it’s also a much easier read than I anticipated. Especially given it’s a work of “literature” written in the 1930s. George and Lennie were very easy to like. Their loyalty to each other was inspiring. Although I could kind of see that George may eventually lose interest or something in Lennie, I honestly didn’t see the turn coming until the last few pages happened.
There really wasn’t a lot I didn’t like about this except for the heartbreaking ending. I really wanted to see them succeed and get their land. I wanted to see Lennie get his rabbits (well, kind of).
This reminded me in some ways of The Green Mile. The movie; I haven’t read the book(s). The gentle, or in this case the no-so-gentle, giant.
Conclusion
Overall, I would give this 4.5 stars. So on Goodreads it’s a 4. This is short and really a great gateway for me into the writing of John Steinbeck. I’d like to note that a few days after reading this, I was at a different Maui Friends of the Library bookshop and picked up a copy of The Grapes of Wrath. I’ll read that in a couple months I think. I have a feeling it’s about as much of an upper as this.
