evaluation



Many critics have described this book as one of their favourites, for all its ultimate melodrama and for the fantastic description of the life of two special farmers. But I had a different opinion- at least in the beginning. In the opening pages I found it very boring, and I was tempted to exchange it for another book. The book had many difficult words and John Steinbeck’s way of putting these words and the sentences wasn’t the easiest way. But I had heard that this was a great story, and it also had been made a film of it, so I threw away my negative thoughts and continued reading.

Gradually the book started to get more interesting, even though there were a lot of difficult words, and I didn’t quiet get all the conversations. But soon I found it more and more exciting, and eventually I couldn’t put the book away. When I started to ‘’know’’ the persons in the book, and when I figured out what the story was about, the novel became more interesting for me. The language is one of the things that made this book eventually more fun to read. Steinbeck uses dialect or slang, such as ‘’what ya want“, “you gonna”, “I ain’t”, “oughta do’’ when the characters in the book talk to each other. This makes the language more varied, and you feel that the story is more ‘’real’’ because the dialect connects the story to a distinct place in America.

But the ultimate thing that makes this a wonderful book is the plot in the story. Following George and Lennie, two very unlike persons, from their dream of having their own land some day, through their staying at the ranch, to the sad ending is very entertaining. And the whole story is held together by their special friendship. Especially the ending of this novel is very strong, when George shoots Lennie, because he wants to protect him from a more painful dead.

I believe that the theme in this book tries to explain the nature of being human. It’s a about dreams and loneliness and how two different persons can have a special friendship, and fight their way trough the late depressions in the late 1930’s.

All in all, this was a great book, even though it was a bit hard to read. I will recommend it to older, more experienced readers, but also younger advanced readers will find this book very interesting and fun to read.