Book Review: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The novella made me cry. It only took two hours to read since it’s so short, but it somehow is packed with so much power.

This is my second Steinbeck, the first being East of Eden, and I am thoroughly impressed with him as an author. The writing in both books are impeccable, the characters are so vividly described and developed, and the narratives so well planned. 

In Of Mice and Men, I was drawn so gently into the story, and I stayed invested throughout the short but impactful book. The novel has so many themes, the main ones being loneliness, brotherhood, and unrealized dreams, with social themes of prejudice, disability, and even women’s issues thrown in there. The book somehow explores so many truths in such a short novel without feeling overdrawn or suffocating. He does this by relaying all of his subtle messages through the simple story of Lennie, a gentle and dull-witted giant, and George, Lennie’s intelligent and protective counterpart.

As usual, the characters and their development are the shining point for me. I loved the dynamic between the unlikely pair of George and Lennie, the loyalty between the two and how they care for each other. I loved Slim’s character and the insight and leadership he portrayed. But I think the nameless character in Curly’s wife demonstrates Steinbeck’s true genius. In such a short novella, he managed to convey such complexity, a misunderstood woman who garners a general opinion which she seems to subtly defy but also use, a character who undoubtedly draws controversy to the novella. There can be (and are) so many different readings of her character alone.

She didn’t seem as much of a tramp as the other characters seemed to think. She mostly seemed to want to avoid her husband, and while she did crave attention to belay her loneliness,  and it was self-absorbed to put the other men in the path of Curly’s raging and irrational jealousy, she didn’t seem like a cold seductress to me. I think studying her character would be an interesting literary analysis, and maybe in conjunction with Cathy Ames, the villain from East of Eden.

Side note: I went into the novella knowing nothing about it, and while I was reading, it vaguely reminded me of a Bonanza episode I saw when I was a child. After a quick search, it’s “The Ape” of season 2, episode 14. It undoubtedly was influenced by Of Mice and Men, and apparently, a lot of media is based off of this friendship, which just goes to show the influence and timelessness of the book.