Of Mice and Men

I came across this little book while I was sorting through some books in the wardrobe today and decided on a whim to reread it this morning. I finished it a couple of hours later with tears in my eyes, just like last time.

I started reading it for the first time at school in year 9, I think it was,

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and was sure it wasn't going to be up my street. I ended up racing home from school and borrowing my stepdad's copy so I could read to the end NOW (and was glad I did so it didn't catch me off guard in class!). Second time round some of the urgency had ebbed away from the pull of the plot, but the tension was still there and I found it as moving as before.

I actually remembered a lot of what we'd learnt back at school as I read, which was a bit distracting, but Steinbeck drags the reader into the story of Lennie and George from the first couple of pages, and holds you there until he's ready to let you go. I liked the way there were two different emotional layers from very early on too: the top layer of Lennie's delightful innocence and the simple day to day existence of a ranch labourer, and the ominous undercurrent of foreboding and danger, which combine to create such a resonant atmosphere. It's humorous yet heavy, everyday yet profound, all at once, particularly with the realities of ranch life and race issues thrown in.

It's quite difficult to review 'Of Mice and Men' in a way that will do it justice - such a complex set of reactions and feelings about such a little book - but suffice to say, I will be reading more Steinbeck soon!

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George and Lenny are farm workers who travel together, Lennie is "slow" and George takes care of him. They were forced to flee from the last farm they worked on because Lennie had an incident with a girl that could have got him in a lot of trouble.

The two men dream of having their own land and

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Lennie constantly wants George to tell him about the crops they will have and the rabbits that Lennie will take care of as Lennie has a passion for furry things.
Lennie and George get a job working on a new farm and right off I got a feeling that things were not going to go well for them. The farm has a rich cast of characters and while Lennie and George's dream bring hope to the book, the background of the novel speaks of great depression.

This was a relatively short novel but it packs quite an emotional punch. I have yet to find a Steinbeck novel that I didn't feel strong emotions while reading and I just love how straightforward his prose is.

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I am not sure how it took me thirty-thee years to getting around to reading this book. Most people had to read it in high school. When I was in school, it was assigned to the lower level kids, but the college prep kids read different books. Consequently, it was never assigned to me. As such, my

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thoughts in the book might be different from someone who read it in school. Our perceptions of things can change greatly as adults.

One of the main things that jumped out at me was why teachers would assign this particular book to high school students. Steinbeck writes brilliant descriptions
that paint a picture in the reader's mind and uses a tremendous amount of foreshadowing. These would make this book particularly useful for a teacher trying to teach these concepts to students, but this leads to the question of whether it holds beyond an academic setting?

For me it most certainly did. Writing during a time period where many Americans knew what it meant to struggle after the American dream and to fail to reach it, Steinbeck captured what it meant to struggle and fail and for it to seem that nothing will ever work out for you. This is exemplified throughout the book by nearly every character in the book, which serves to show just how elusive the American dream can be. In doing so, Steinbeck manages to make the mundane seem sympathetic and almost heroic despite what the reader knows will likely be a tragic ending. while it took me many years to get around to reading it, i am glad that i finally did. It is a wonderful book that can still move readers in the twentieth century.

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I’m not quite sure how, but somehow I managed to make it to 45 years old without ever having read this book. My only knowledge of the characters came from the various cartoon treatments. Now that I’ve read it, all of those Loony Tunes spoofs really give me the creeps. I had always thought

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Lennie to be just a big harmless oaf. I had no knowledge of the evil undercurrent in him. And no matter what George may say, Lennie is a monster. And what makes it all that more unsettling is that Lennie doesn’t know it.

I finished it last night. I started it the previous evening, and almost read it through in one sitting. I just couldn’t put it down.

And I had a nightmare that first night. I haven’t had a nightmare since I don’t know when. Coincidence? Probably. It’s not like the book is horrific. But I did go to sleep with a feeling of unease. Like something bad was about to happen. And the book has left me with an uneasy feeling. How can such a short novel leave such a long impression?

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the novel of Mice and Men is a great novel about the friendship of george and Lennie. In this book they go through some rough times. Lennie has a mental Disease which creates the main conflict of the story. As George watches over Lennie as they have to keep moving looking for work it really tests

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their friendship. I think this is a great novel that shows just how far a friendship can go. i would recommend this book to anyone!

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I just love this book. Over the years I have read it again and again, and each time I feel as if I come away with something different. The disillusionment is what got me this time. George wants so badly to be able to make everything right for Lenny; he wants him to have the dream that he, George,

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paints with words for him. And yet, George understands deep down that they will never make it to that dream. Still, he refuses to just give up. Like many of Steinbeck's characters, George is powerless to effect the change that he wants; he cannot change their circumstances. And yet he does not give into despair; every day he gets up and once again applies himself to creating and maintaining a rhythm for Lenny. He reminds Lenny that life is fragile while also accepting and acknowledging that Lenny, too, is fragile - he has the mind of a young boy trapped within the body of a grown man whose strength is his biggest weakness. This cannot end any other way than badly - we know it, and George knows it.

"George's voice became deeper. He repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before. 'Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to.'
Lennie was delighted. 'That's it---that's it. Now tell how it is with us.'
George went on. 'With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit on no bar room blown' in our jack jus' because we got no other place to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.'
Lennie broke in. 'But not us! An' why? Because ...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.' He laughed delightedly.'Go on now, George!'
'You got it by heart. you can do it yourself.'
'No, you. I forget some a' the things. Tell about how it's gonna be.'
'O.K. Someday--we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and--'
'An' live off the fatta the lan', Lennie shouted. 'An' have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George.'"

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I read this in ninth grade. Steinbeck is such great required reading. My mom still remembers when I read this book, that I came out of my room in tears when I was through. It was the first book that ever made me cry. The imagery and the characters have stuck with me ever since.

Even if you've heard how it ends, this is still a great book. The title indicates as readers we should be on the lookout for any mention of mice and what comparisons are being drawn with men. Typically this comparison is used with bravery versus cowardice, but here it's employed as foreshadowing.

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George mutters how much easier his life would be without Lennie, as he throws away Lennie's dead mouse. This motif repeats later with Candy's dog in place of the mouse, putting another creature out of its misery. There's fair warning that the story is heading toward a dark end, since most of the people in the story are miserable too.

The misery is built on loneliness. Candy and Crooks express their jealousy of Lennie's companionship with George, seeking to obtain a role in its expansion that will encompass them. Even Slim, the story’s most even-keeled character who has his one-man-act together for now, admires it. George is aware of the value of Lennie's companionship, though perhaps without realizing it fully for lack of the personal experience shared by the other characters of traveling a lonely road. Lennie doesn't wish to even imagine a life without George, but he has no concept of what the others are suffering. By novel's end the circle is revealed: loneliness and the inability to escape a transitive life feed into one another. A correction in one half may correct the other, but not in this cycle.

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A curageous book about two friends Lennie and George. They are hard working farm workers who just can't seem to settle at one place. Lennie seems to get into trouble because of his mental dissability. With that George finds himself doing something he never imagined of doing. They both share the

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classic American Dream and are striving to reach it. This book teaches many lessons. In my opinion i think many people will be touched by how much they look after one another. This book is a wonderful book and I recommend it to many!

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About time I read this American classic that most students in US have been forced to read in school. And I’m glad I did read it - and glad I didn’t read it in school ;)

It’s a painful read. The two main characters George and Lenny are on the run from a job gone wrong - and you sense from the

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beginning that the road these two travelers are on will end badly one way of the other. All their talking about a tiny house and a little spread of land to farm, just enough to get by. It’s just a pipe dream.

We are in the middle of the Depression and Steinbeck comes down hard on the American dream, raging against this ideal like a mad man. No way George and Lenny will reach the end of the rainbow.

It’s touching to follow the brotherly love between these two characters - the protecting George, the devoted Lennie. That there’s a snake in the Garden that will ruin it all comes as no surprise.

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In the story Of Mice and Men. Two men named George and Lennie are looking for work on a ranch in California. They meet some of the people who work on the ranch named Slim, Candy and the boss's son curly a mean cold hearted man and his wife who has no name in the book and is simply called "curly's

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wife". The book is one of the best I ever read. It tells about friendship and love for your friends no matter what.

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In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote one of the most famous descriptions of tragedy: “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude… in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its

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katharsis of such emotions. . ..” (translation by S. H. Butcher and quoted in Wikipedia).

The emphasis within the quotation is mine, because from the very first page, that’s exactly what I felt—first the fear, then the pity. Of Mice and men is a tragedy, one the more deeply felt because we can see, from the beginning, that this is where the story is going. The only surprise is how.

Steinbeck wrote affectionately and with great insight into the transient workers who roamed up and down the valleys of central California during the 30s. In this book, he explores the dreams that such men had—and the personality characteristics that kept so many from realizing those dreams. If indeed they were nothing more than fantasies to keep the men going under difficult conditions.

George and Lennie are unusual, in that they travel together and “look out” for one another. Given Lennie’s mental slowness, one can only guess why George sticks with him, although there are feather-light hints of what has happened in the past to bond the two men, and to give George such a sense of responsibility.

Nothing is as it appears, and the tragedy unfolds because of the difference between perception and reality, of fantasy and reality.

Steinbeck, although empathetic, can be remorseless in where he leads us with his seemingly casual stories. This is one such work.

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George and Lennie are two labourers wandering through California from job to job during the Dirty Thirties dreaming of finally owning their own piece of land. But on their newest job, events are set into motion which will alter George and Lennie's dreams forever.

Steinbeck is one of a few authors

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that I have strong negative feelings about due to some junior high English class encounters with The Pearl and The Red Pony. But I decided to pick up another Steinbeck as an adult and see if my opinion would change and as Of Mice and Men is a novella of just over 100 pages, it wasn't a scary commitment. So what was the verdict now that I'm not doing question sheets on every chapter and analyzing a brief book to within an inch of its life? Let me just pick up the scattered pieces of my heart and I might be able to tell you. I doubt it's a spoiler to say that a Steinbeck novel doesn't end well for its characters (do they ever? Seriously, I'm asking) but this one tore my heart out and then jumped up and down on it for a while. Steinbeck creates beautiful prose, deftly provides insight into the internal lives of a handful of characters, and builds towards a devastating climax that lingers long after the last page. I appreciate the artistry of Steinbeck's work, but I'm not sure I could handle the emotional wringer of another one of his books.

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In this book it is about two mens friendship. It talks about them sticking together through think and thin. Lennie and George have a dream that they can live of the fat of the land and have cows and Lennie gets to tend the rabbits. They go to a farm and Lennie gets into alot of trouble with Curley

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and his wife. They have alot of great characters in this book that i like. I didnt like the end of the book that much because it just didnt seem right for that to happen. But something happens in the end which nobody expected that to happen. This is a really good book that i think has alot of life leasons in it. I advise that alot of teens read it if you are mature and can handle the language in it.

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I really enjoyed this book. Great quick read.

I read this book in high school because I had to, but now being older I love it and see the good that comes from reading it.

I took this off the bookshelf last night when I was looking for something short to read, having a miserable head cold and not wanting to start a long novel. First off, there is nothing happy in this book. If a person is looking for a cheerful, light read, they should probably keep looking.

John

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Steinbeck is a wonderful writer, painting a full picture with words, but doing so without being too wordy. This story flows so well, it can easily be read in one sitting or over the course of a couple of hours.

George takes care of Lennie, a very large man-child who doesn't know his own strength. Lennie loves to pet soft things and "loves" the poor little mice he catches to death. He doesn't mean harm; he just doesn't understand things. George feels saddled by Lennie, forced to watch over him and is perpetually getting him out of situations when he does something "bad," but the two are very close. The other men working the farm remark on their closeness as if it's something unique and special; so many of the farm workers travel solo, relying on themselves, not trusting others.

The two are itinerant farm workers but long for the day when they can get their own piece of land to work and live by their own rules, where Lennie can take care of their rabbits.

When the two men arrive on the farm and are introduced to their bunkmates, they're warned about Curley, the owner's son, a mean spirited, cruel man with a Napoleon complex who looks for bigger guys to harass. This does not bode well for the men. The reader feels the tension and futility of their situation.

This is a beautifully written but bleak story.

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This was an awesome book. I really don't know why I waited so long to read it, but I'm glad I finally did. It's a quick read that takes a look into the lives of two wondering laborers, Lennie and George. It gives little background, instead focusing on the relationship between these two men and

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where they end up and why.

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"Tell me about the rabbits again George." I read this book in the ninth grade as an assignment for English class. At first I wasn't thrilled about the teachers pick, but then I found myself reading way ahead of the rest of the class. This book is that good. Great story about what true friends will

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do to keep another out of TRUE harms way. George is faced with the ultimate choice, one that others would crumble under, and he was strong enough to carry through.

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This heart-wrenching American classic holds my interest every time I read it. Only great writers like Steinbeck can make you feel all the same things over and over again as if you've just read the book for the first time. It's funny how I always let myself think things might turn out differently;

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only to be surprised as the drama unfolds "just like it had always done before."

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Yes, somehow I'd made it to middle age without ever having read this book. Though I knew what it was about, of course, and what happens in it. Who doesn't? This is probably one of the top five most spoiled works of fiction in the English language. At the beginning, I thought this was going to be a

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problem, finding it a little difficult to concentrate on the story itself with a zillion crude parody versions sitting between it and me in my mind. But it's a testament to the sheer power of this story, the vividness of its characters, and the universality of its themes, that all of that quickly faded away. All the goofy parodies I'd seen didn't make the story less painful or poignant, and never mind that I've seen the ending played out facetiously at least a dozen times, it still wrecked me.

This is the first Steinbeck that I've read, and I'm deeply impressed by his writing. The prose here is never showy -- pretty much the polar opposite, in fact -- but it is perfectly crafted.

This is one that deserves its reputation.

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Awards: Nobel Prize
Summary: A trip about the desperate longing of men for some kind of home - roots they can believe in, land they can care for - and the painful search for self.

It's interesting how I struggled to tag this book (always interesting trying to classify fiction). When I thought about it - what is this book actually about? It's brilliantly written. The use of adjective is sparse - which I really like (not as sparse as Hemmingway but at least every word earns

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its keep). What was the moral though? Don't flirt? Don't keep your new bride on a farm full of working men? Don't help out people? Ok - so the last one was a bit faceteous but, my point is there are loads of morals that you could take from this because so many of the characters are at fault in some way. In another way, you can understand why the characters are at fault and forgive them. No one can really blame Lennie as he doesn't poses the self awareness to be morally responsible for his actions. Curley's wife is bored and lonely and maybe doesn't understand the potential consequences of her actions so you can't really blame her either (was it me or was she always just referred to as "Curley's wife"). Curley's a bastard but he sort of gets what's coming to him and you can't really blame him for the final outcome. If anyone is to blame, it's George, the most likeable character, because he is aware of the potential trouble that Curley's wife might cause and also of Lennies past actions. You can't really blame George though as he looks after Lennie out of kindness and he does everything he can to keep him away from Curley and his wife. Maybe that's Steinbeck's point. That sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I think there's a counterpoint between Candy's assertion that he should have been the one to kill his dog (that he shouldn't have let a stranger do it) and the final act of the book - what does this echo in the story tell us about the authors beliefs? I'm a bit uneasy about some of the possible messages from this book but without reading more Steinbeck it would be wrong of me to speculate on the authors motives. This was a really good read and it made me think - which is all you can ask. I'll be looking out for the other two in this trilogy.

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John Steinbeck can do in a hundred pages what a few authors might be able to do in a book three times that length.

... nah. I'm not really into comparisons, or even rating books out of five, but this book is a perfect example of pure craftsmanship. Steinbeck's words are beautiful and rhythmic, and

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they have a real signature to them.

It's simple, but it's not plain. It's sparse without being empty. There isn't a word out of place, and it is exactly as long as it needs to be. He takes a lot of the themes of American authors - the Great American dream - and makes it something fragile and tangible all at once.

He takes genuine real human emotions like hope and love and loss and pieces them together in a way that makes me not feel alone as a reader. It doesn't matter who his characters are, or what quirks they have, because at their core they have this humanity that surpasses everything else.

Of Mice and Men resolved itself in the two or three final sentences, in my edition. It was vivid. It was beautiful. It made me cry. It still makes me cry to think of it now. I don't really remember the character's names, but I remember how they made me feel.

I bought a lot of his books after finding this book (although I'd read Cannery Row before) and it's probably a great place to start if you're unsure about Steinbeck, because you'll know if you want to read him by the end of this book.

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