Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

17 reviews

goemonxiii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I love John Steinbeck, but this is one of his weaker works in my opinion. It was an interesting and new perspective on Californian history, and it did bring up three essential points of discussion (those being how disabled people have been treated historically, and how Black and poor people have been discriminated against in early Californian history), but it's far from my favorite novel or even Steinbeck novel. It's a quick read, and I do like Steinbeck's perspective on many topics, but aside from Lenny and the discussion on anti-Black, anti-poor, and anti-disabled sentiments within society, I didn't really care for the other characters or environment. Also I feel it beats you over the head with its foreshadowing so heavily to the point where the "twist" becomes obvious. I wouldn't say that you should skip this title as, once again, it is a really quick read (I finished it in about 2 hours), but please don't characterize Steinbeck on the basis of this book (characterize him by the opinions in this book, not the writing style).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Slavery, and Alcohol

a few deaths, sad ending, recurring animal deaths

, important discussions regarding racism, ableism, and classism, new perspective on early California history

alixbx's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I read this for my 2024-25 Re-Reading Your Childhood challenge. This was required reading in high school, so I did read this back around 2008/2009, thereabouts. Since I am using a reading journal I found on Amazon to reflect on eBook reads (I usually annotate in my physical copies), I'm going to break this down in the 3 Main Parts: Pre-reading Reflection, Essential Review, and Post-reading Reflection (reflections will be abridged).

Pre-reading Reflection:
-I was uncomfortable when I read this in school, but I don't feel that I really appreciated the purpose and message of the text for what it really meant. The gravity of the content wasn't missed, but not understood as deeply as I think it probably should have been.

Essential Review:
-This book was ahead of its time in many ways. That said, it's not a fun book to read, but I do understand why it is required reading. It teaches important lessons, even if they are subtle. My belief is that Steinbeck intended to show softness and humanity in the kinds of people society would look down upon for on reason or another. I believe he absolutely achieved that in this writing, which is remarkable given how short it is compared to many other classics that end up being required reading. Though he wouldn't have intended it at the time, the ending of the book also teaches current day readers how far we have come in our treatment of people of different disabilities and standings in society.

Post-reading Reflection:
-I realize now what I thought I remembered with clarity, I did not. While I had all the right details, I had them in the wrong order, so when I was re-reading it the emotions were intense as I realized the things I had wrong. Even though I knew the ending, I was in tears - the kind you cry when you feel defeated. I also was able to see even bigger of a picture in all that Steinbeck was commenting on through the decisions he made with character interactions, character behaviors, and character decisions. In this way, some characters are really lovable - Lennie, Candy, Slim, and Crooks - and then characters that you cannot stand - Curley, Carlson. Equally, the diversity of characters is there - well off, poor, white, black, male, and female - but when you have a book that uses the "n" word dozens of times, even with it being of the time when the text was published, it is hard to be glad that this black character is portrayed in a positive way with softness when you know how horrible that language used to speak to and about that character. The book is both so of the times and equally ahead of its time, but in different ways. More than every I understand and support this as required reading because good conversations about what has changed and what remains from then to now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Major Character Death

rat_king6767's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Slavery

Minor: Toxic relationship and Medical content

_p0ssum_'s review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Grief

lizkocher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Grief

the_ash37's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

the ending is kind of disturbing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

the_harlequin's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Stalking, and Classism

esalan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

presleyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Minor: Grief

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Read it for school as I'm sure most people did. It's alright; way shorter than I thought it would be. The writing is good, but it also comes across as a little bit whiney and pessimistic, and it ends up sounding like every other book written and set in that era of time. It's extremely hard to like any of the characters, which might be the point but it made it kind of a slog to read even though it's so short.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape and Religious bigotry