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A review by acsaper
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
4.0
What an incredibly enjoyable book!
This was the first Steinbeck that I've read without being assigned or force fed and boy was I glad I did! Scouring the cluttered shelves of Itaewon's What the Book I found my self inexplicably drawn to the Classics section. Perhaps it was because at least the authors seemed familiar while the fiction shelves were packed with cheap romantic novels and sci-fi reads left behind by the plethora of LBH's to pass through Seoul.
While I've never purposely been driven towards Classics, my pleasurable happen-chance encounter with Jack London convinced me that I might be missing something. So, recognizing Steinbeck's name and remembering that I must have enjoyed Of Mice and Men as well as The Grapes of Wrath to some degree, I decided I'd give Cannery Row a spin!
It took me a few pages before I realized that I was ready about 'cannery' row and not 'canary' row but in the end it all makes sense!
In such a short story, Steinbeck manages to develop such interesting characters and paint a scene that is so vivid I can't help but put the book down every now and then to just watch what is happening. What I really liked about this book was how easy it is to read. The prose are so simple that is almost comes off as a children's book. Even so, the story itself is so wonderful wound around such interesting characters that I couldn't help but fall in love with the people of Cannery Row, even the good intentioned but maligned residents of the Palace Flophouse!
If you're a human being with half an interest in other human beings I don't doubt this book will tickle you as much as it did me!
This was the first Steinbeck that I've read without being assigned or force fed and boy was I glad I did! Scouring the cluttered shelves of Itaewon's What the Book I found my self inexplicably drawn to the Classics section. Perhaps it was because at least the authors seemed familiar while the fiction shelves were packed with cheap romantic novels and sci-fi reads left behind by the plethora of LBH's to pass through Seoul.
While I've never purposely been driven towards Classics, my pleasurable happen-chance encounter with Jack London convinced me that I might be missing something. So, recognizing Steinbeck's name and remembering that I must have enjoyed Of Mice and Men as well as The Grapes of Wrath to some degree, I decided I'd give Cannery Row a spin!
It took me a few pages before I realized that I was ready about 'cannery' row and not 'canary' row but in the end it all makes sense!
In such a short story, Steinbeck manages to develop such interesting characters and paint a scene that is so vivid I can't help but put the book down every now and then to just watch what is happening. What I really liked about this book was how easy it is to read. The prose are so simple that is almost comes off as a children's book. Even so, the story itself is so wonderful wound around such interesting characters that I couldn't help but fall in love with the people of Cannery Row, even the good intentioned but maligned residents of the Palace Flophouse!
If you're a human being with half an interest in other human beings I don't doubt this book will tickle you as much as it did me!