I borrowed this book from my son who is using it as part of his High School English.
This is pretty much different from anything I have read before and I don't know what to make of it to be honest. It is a well known classic and I can see why it us used so often in schools because it is a short novel and there are plenty of pickings for literary study. There aren't too many characters and the story isn't too confusing and it introduces metaphors and foreshadowing and you could probably study and discuss the moral repercussions of the book for the next half a century.
However I have to say that although I found the book sentimental and charming and although it wasn't boring, it didn't exactly rock my world either ! It wasn't the worst book I have ever read and it wasn't one of the best.
It focuses on two migrant workers during the great 30's depression who travel side by side to find work in the USA. One of them is a small, intelligent man and the other is a huge beast of a man with a heart of gold but the mental capacity of a child. Lenny, the big man often gets his friend in trouble because he doesn't know his own strength.
Maybe this is the kind of book which gets better after a few reads and it is a small inoffensive novel but it isn't the most exciting thing I have ever read. I think part of the reason is because it was written like a play and also because it was mostly written in the third person.I like books where you really feel like you are ' in the book' but with this I felt like I was watching it on a stage somewhere. If that makes any sense.
7/10
I felt the same on this one -- though I think the 'dryness' in the greater part of the novel really sets off the drama in the final moments. It makes for an interesting contrast. Not entertaining so much as shocking...
ReplyDeletePlus, I think the dryness might have been an itentional way to show some of the dullness the two men experienced, day after day, as they dreamt of escape.