Product Description

Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and jealousy - becomes a victim of his own strength. Tackling universal themes, friendship and a shared vision, and giving a voice to America's lonely and dispossesed, OF MICE AND MEN remains Steinbeck's most popular work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12167 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Customer Reviews

The only book that has ever made me cry
What a compelling, emotive, majestic novel. This book is so simple, yet so incredibly complex. It is very short with a basic story line but the sheer magnitude and intensity of the relationship between the two main characters, George and Lenny, is so brilliantly overwhelming.

Lenny relies completely on the guidance of George to get him through everyday life. The whole book follows the friendship between the two men - Lenny's 'gentle giant' representation and George's tough exterior with a soft heart. The ending is so swift yet so, so incredibly moving, that I fully wept at the last few pages. Once I closed the cover of the book, a wave of that warm, satisfying feeling consumed me when you know you've just finished a book you won't ever forget.

If you want to be the proud owner of such a classic and want an excellent read without the sheer weightiness of a pre-twentieth century 700-paged book, this short work of genius is just the ticket.

Twentieth Century Classic
First published in 1937, this masterpiece of the Twentieth Century still resonates strongly today. The book is ostensibly the story of two men's friendship, but the themes which Steinbeck explores extend much further than is normal for a book of only one hundred or so pages. Hope, fear, love, justice, and friendship are all touched upon by Steinbeck's flowing prose. The book is also interesting for its representation of agricultural life in 1930s California.

The story offers the reader a fly on the wall's perspective as the two main protagonists, George and Lennie, take up their new jobs on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley. George is small and quick-witted, while Lennie is large and simple-minded. George tries his best to look after Lennie and to keep him out of harm's way and Lennie rewards him with loyalty. In the end though, George is unsuccessful in his attempts at helping Lennie avoid trouble and Steinbeck leaves it up to the reader to consider the consequences of this failure.

As Susan Shillinglaw explains in her excellent introduction to the Penguin Classics edition, in 'Of Mice and Men' Steinbeck experiments with a genre of his own creation; the play / novelette. With this knowledge in mind, the book takes on a different aspect and the descriptions and dialogues appear to have been written with the stage in mind.

This book deserves to be read; for Steinbeck's hard-hitting prose and his use of realistic dialogue, and also for his classic exploration of what friendship means.

Of mice and men - John Steinbeck
Of mice and men is a great read! It is about two friends, George and Lennie, they are both itinerant farm workers (they go from place to place working on farms). Labouring from dawn til dusk, they both have a dream to keep them going, that some day they'll have enough money to own a small ranch and keep cows, chickens and rabbits. It is a very sad story because the dreams of two friends are shattered, as they drift apart, because they live in a world where friendship and dreams are alien.
The main two characters are George and Lennie, George is nimble minded and of quick wits, he ultimately has a good heart. Lennie is of huge physique, he is clumsy and soft, and can’t control his own strength; his heavy handedness leads to tragic consequences.
It isn’t written in any specific style, it is quite simply written, so you don’t have to sit next to a dictionary and keep looking up strange words. I enjoyed it because it is simply written and I could understand it. The narrative is quite confusing at the beginning because it lacks description but it ultimately gets clearer.
It is a modern classic set in rural areas, the countryside in southern California; it is set in farm areas and ranches.
I found this book really sad. It was interesting thinking of their dreams although they would seem quite ludicrous nowadays, but in 1930’s it would be quite a popular dream of many people. I think that the themes and emotions are very powerful. I was a little confused at the begging but it unravelled in the process of reading the book. It’s not like any book I have ever read before I think it was a good change in genre. I found it a good book and I think you will too.

By Rebecca Delahoyde