John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men

(The mouse, powerless against Lennie’s strength, represents the lack of control one has over life’s circumstances. Hence the dead mice represent the shattered dreams)

clara

Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em.

m ita

Lara Engle

Like most high school English teachers, I've read _Of_Mice_and_Men_ before. I haven't taught it before, though. I'll be honest. Despite its modest length, I was worried about teaching this to my on-level sophomores. My students have been known to suck the joy out of some of my very favorite literature. I'm still mourning their reaction the _The_Great_Gatsby_ two years ago. Besides, I really do want them to understand and connect with and enjoy the things we read. Luckily, the magic happened with this one. They had such dramatic reactions, I couldn't help but love the book even more. That's the thrill of great literature. This book makes urban high schoolers in 2016 think, feel, and argue just as it has for readers since its publication way back in the first half of the last century. We talked and wrote about the problem of Curley's wife, a woman so neglected she doesn't even get her own name, and about the loyalty between George and Lennie, and about the harshness of life as a lone laborer. This book is a masterwork of imagery, characterization, and conflict. But most of all, it unites us as humans.

I really disliked it, not even one star. 

Charlotte

 started extremely strong and then kind of dipped past the first 40 pages or so. The woman character is written bad but it's Steinbeck so you get what you bargain for I guess. Overall a enjoying, easy read. 

Derek Graf

Mahdis Riazikhah

Kathy Luo

Michael Springer

How does one rate a Holy Tome of English Lit, when one found the reading experience to be extraordinarily average. . . nay, even sub-par?

I suppose the real question is, am I, like some people, a vote whore who will slap the Big Uno on it, and then index all the book's inadequecies, ignoring all the things the author did well? This will probably gain my review the most interest.

Or shall I, like a dignified book reviewer, give it a Trio, and calmly explain both its flaws and its high points? 

Uno it is.

Here's why I thought Of Mice and Men sucked balls:

1. WHAT'S UP with the main character who has no personality other than being large and, like the lame interpretation of Frankenstein from the 30's movie, friendly-yet-stupid and unaware-of-his-own-strength? Super-lame.

2. WHAT'S UP with the other main character who seems to like nothing more than shitting on the big dude's self-esteem, and pointing out how much his own life sucks because of his friendship with said stupid friend? He's not an orgasmically charming fellow himself. In fact, he's Eeyore.

3. WHAT'S UP with the most interesting character being in one fraggin' chapter? I found the black character fascinating, and in this one scene he established himself as more intriguing than anyone else in the whole flippin' book. Then? We never hear from him again.

4. YET AGAIN, Steinbeck makes the main female character a sultry temptress. The way he makes all women into sultry temptresses, you'd think he had a Bible fetish or something. She's the least sympathetic character in a book full of characters I didn't sympathize with.

5. I'm now bored with the numbering system, and shall stop doing it.

Two Steinbeck novels have I loved: East of Eden is one of my very favorite books, and The Grapes of Wrath is also terrific. But this reads like a mediocre Tennessee Williams play, and I frikkin' HATE that guy. Why? It isn't just because of weak characters in this book. It's also because the whole premise of this book sucks, and the ending sucks even more than the premise. It's a snowball of suckiness, culminating in a bang that left me confused, yet simultaneously indifferent. 

Perhaps it's because similar plotlines have been littered around the modern age like horse shit at a circus, but DID ANYBODY NOT know EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN from page 10 on? Anyone? Beuller? 

Get it? Like. . . movie reference? Nevermind. 

Anyway, this sucked. There's no Wishbone episode of this'un, and it's because a Wishbone episode of this would've made kids commit suicide. It's depressing, yet depressingly lame as well. 

And there wasn't one damn mouse in the whole book. That's false advertising.

Bri Billaney

Another one that I had to read for school, but I actually loved it. I remember being really into it while most of my classmates hated it, but I really loved the way the story was told and the way the characters reacted to certain situations and people.

In my opinion, this book is overrated.  The POV was weird, and there was far too much description. The characters were alright, but the book wasn’t long enough to develop them let alone provide a clear plot. 

Heidi Finch

Had to read it for school. The characters are annoying and boring and the only character I really liked was Lennie. There was also a LOT of visual imagery and worldbuilding. Not terrible just very boring and I was not engaged. (also some of the *violence* scenes were a bit unnecessary) The writing wasn't terrible though. 

DID HE THOUGH? Did he had to do it in the end??? I don't think I would have...i did not expect that ending AT ALL, Goodness gracious 😭

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

Beatrix Haase

I read The Pearl by John Steinbeck and I disliked that book so I was kind of scared to read another one by him. This one was not as bad as I seriously thought. The ending kind of finished abruptly but it was still enjoyable. 

I had to read this for school.

xoxo,
Bebe

“No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” I don't recommend reading this book in a café - it's quite difficult to enjoy your flat white with an omnipresent feeling of sorrow the ending brought

matus

— lae

Drifters in search of work, George and his childlike friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except the clothes on their back - and a dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, but their hopes are dashed as Lennie - struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy - becomes a victim of his own strength. Tackling universal themes of friendship and shared vision, and giving a voice to America's lonely and dispossessed, Of Mice and Men remains Steinbeck's most popular work, achieving success as a novel, Broadway play and three acclaimed films.

tiff

I enjoyed the book but was looking for more...I don't know exactly what I expected. I think I liked Lenny as a character more than anyone in this book. His slowness really appealed to me as I've known some people like that. Maybe my opinion is biased based on this, but it really was a good book, very sad. It was a breeze to read and a little too light to me, considering the plot of the book. The ending was the saddest part. I'd recommend this book for someone looking for a quick, light, heartbreaking read.

I can’t believe it took me so long to read this but I basically read it in one sitting. Lennie and George’s relationship was so deep and touching in such a short story, it was so simple but very impactful. 

Billie Fogarty

Dave | Storyphoria

Of Mice And Men was the very first work of John Steinbeck that I ever remember reading… waaaay back in junior high school. I loved the story then, I loved the film adaptation from 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, and I am thrilled that this is the final novel in my journey through these five Steinbeck novels.

Revisiting this story hits on so much pure emotion, the joy of Lennie as he dreams of the farm and his rabbits, the struggle and love from George as he tries to do right by them both and keep Lennie out of trouble, and the ultimate heartbreak at the conclusion of the story. 

Look for the full review at https://aicpod.com/category/blog/

Ryan LaFerney

Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's most beloved short stories. It's about two itinerant ranch hands (George and Lennie) who arrive in California's Salinas Valley during the Great Depression, after being run off from their last assignment up north. Lennie possesses great physical strength but has the intellectual capacity of a child. George is the more calculating of the pair, but even he gets caught up in Lennie's dreams of owning a farm. George and Lennie's dream is the American dream. As they find work and try to build a stake that will bring them closer to their dream, George and Lennie discover how easily Fate can upset their best-laid plans. 

George and Lennie, of course, do not achieve their dream in Steinbeck's despondent novel about the bonds of friendship and the plight of the mentally challenged. The ending, of Mice and Men, is shocking. The reader is left asking a deep moral question: Is Lennie innocent? As Lennie is mentally handicapped with no ability to understand abstract concepts like death. Is George's response to Lennie's actions the "humane" response?

These are hard questions to ask but ever-so thought provoking and this is why this novella endures.

George and Lennie are migrant American labourers. George protects his strong but stupid friend and shares with him a dream of one day settling down and farming their own land. Lennie will look after the rabbits and they will be answerable to no-one. Can the great American dream come true for this hopeful couple? --back cover

Gayathri Jinesh

I am a rarity here.
The last chapter, had my teardrops peeking over my eyelids. The strong friendship and the tragedy later, gives a warm fuzzy feeling. The first 5 chapters, as such didn't really grab my attention. You won't get the point of the story, until you reach the end. So don't leave it midway.

Tindra Sjöqvist

felicity yoon

John Steinbeck really can portray not only the characters, the imaginative and descriptive setting but also the MESSAGE in only 100 pages distinctively. 

“Because I got you an’—” 
 “An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,” Lennie cried in triumph.

I can understand and have sympathy more for people who have autism and are vulnerably weak in emotion. 

Surely after you read this book you will questions a load of questions to yourself. 
[What does it mean to protect someone?
Why is a dream important to one's life? 
Can dream comes true?
What does it have to do with the mice?]

Steinbeck includes colloquialism in characters' dialogues which I feel realistic towards them and almost feel like the characters are talking in my head mimickingly. 
Also got a hint of the parallel with the movie named The Green Mile. The human beast's innocence and how it ends for him. 
My kinda book!!!!

Lacey

** spoiler alert **
           This book even though i read it for school, actually has so much thought behind it. The way Steinbeck presents the characters and the way he shows the fact everything ends the same no matter what you wish for is so incredible, like i said i read it for school so i wouldn’t normally pick up a book like this one but i did quite enjoy it. Xx

I low-key hated this book, I had to read it for my GCSE’s

Of Mice and Men

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