March 1, 2013

Book of the Day : 'Of Mice and Men' John Steinbeck













today,  I would like to recommend you and say a few words about a novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck.







as for me John Steinbeck was, and still is, one of the most outstanding writer, with own writing style. he was just unique and every of his stories is just epic. the same is with Of Mice and Men...

Of Mice and Men is a novel published in 1937 and, just like East of Eden [ ], is one of the most amazing book written by him, and book, which is just a classic.

about what it is:
mmm, that's a good question. it's a story about life, friendship, dreams, own place in the world, bad and good things in the life, extreme emotions, hard decisions.

Of Mice and Men is a story about two friends - George and Lennie, who are so different from themselves, who've dreams and plans, who want to find 'their home' and just be happy. George is an intelligent but uneducated man, who loves his friend like a brother. Lennie is quite different than George - is a man of large stature and great strength but limited mental abilities, who absolute trusts his friend. both of them have the same dream - they want to settle on an own piece of land, where they'll have rabbits, which are Lennie's dream because he likes everything what's soft and he wants to take care of them and touch them almost all the time. Lennie likes when his best friend, George, is telling him about their future and their own farm where they'll be happy.
we meet them when they're fleeing from their previous employment because of Lennie's love to fluffy things, and this trip is the beginning of the end their big dream.
on the new ranch they're finding a job, they'll get to know new, interesting people, especially Candy who wants to give them money and go with them to their own farm, live there and help them. also we can find there Crooks -the black stable-hand. man, who's isolated from the other men because of the color of his skin, and who's proud, bitter, and cynical.
'everthing' s ending in the moment when Lennie accidentally kills his puppy while strokinglittle dog, and then after the conversation with Curley's wife [a young, pretty woman, who is mistrusted by her husband] and after her yells that he must stop touching her hair, he, frightened, unintentionally breaks her neck. and after that, George must decide what to do - kill his best friend and save him or wait and let kill him through other. sitting right of Lennie and telling him about their future, he's shooting him in the back of the head, so that his death is painless and quick. after that only Slim, realizes that George killed Lennie, his friend, out of love, and he took him discreetly from body of his friend, Lennie.

why you should read it:
why? because this book gives you extreme emotions, surprise, reflection, and answer for question 'what the real friendship is?'. the most important is fact that this book is about love, dreams, and about oown guilts, freedom and self-respect. no matter of or genes or place where we live - we are creating our own lives and dreans and to be honest, we are creating oneself and our minds.
and also questions 'what would I do, if I was George or Candy? what would I do, if I had to kill my friend?' are the best reasons why to read it.

things to look out for:
relation between: George and Lennie, Curley and his wife, Curley and his workers, Crooks and other workers, Candy and his dog. all their conversations, ideas, problems and dreams. emotions - yes, I think that it's a real base.

where / when you should read this:
everywhere! but I think that it would be really good if you had a little peace around yourselves to think about the story, about words inside the book.but you can read it everywhere and anytime, trust me. it's not important where or when but what will you feel when you will be reading it. after all Of Mice and Men isn't a long book [mine book has only 120 pages]. it's too short as for me :)

favourite quotes from the book:


* I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I get old an' a cripple.

                                                                                                               Candy


* At about 10 o'clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars.



* Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other.



* Maybe you guys better go. I ain't sure I want you in here no more. A colored man got to have some rights even if he don't like 'em.

                                                                                                                               Crooks


* Trouble with mice is you always kill them.
                                                                                       George



* S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.

                                                                                                                          Crooks


* >You said I was your cousin, George.<
>Well, that was a lie. An' I'm damn glad it was. If I was a relative of yours I'd shoot myself.<

                                                                                                 conversation between George and Lennie


* The red light dimmed on the coals. Up the hill from the river a coyote yammered, and a dog answered from the other side of the stream. The sycamore leaves whispered in the little night breeze.



* … every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head.

                                                                                                                       Crooks

* Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him.

                                                                                                                         Crooks


* I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to have let no stranger shoot my dog.

                                                                                                                            Candy


 * All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house.

                                                                                                                          George




yes, in my opinion Of Mice and Men it's just an another great book and it's something like 'must to read', even once in a lifetime.so add it to your future list of books which you should to read one day :)

one thing I can promise you - this book can change your lives, your world view... and it'll happen when you read it - trust me.

P.S.
what would you do, if you were George or Candy? what would you do, if you had to do the same as they?

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