Of Mice and Men

By John Steinbeck & Susan Shillinglaw

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck & Susan Shillinglaw
  • Release Date: 1937-01-01
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 4,008 Ratings

Description

A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression

A Penguin Classic


Over seventy-five years since its first publication, Steinbeck’s tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America’s most widely read and taught novels. An unlikely pair, George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California during the Great Depression, grasp for their American Dream. They hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.

Of Mice and Men represents an experiment in form, which Steinbeck described as “a kind of playable novel, written in a novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands.” A rarity in American letters, it achieved remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films. This edition features an introduction by Susan Shillinglaw, one of today’s leading Steinbeck scholars.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Reviews

  • Be prepared to cry

    4
    By Noob4Slayer
    This book will break your heart. Just be prepared for that.
  • Desecration of an Innocent Laypeople

    5
    By Dr. Strangelove!
    Of Mice and Men is a phenomenal vehicle for complex themes due to its simplicity and brevity. It explores communal communism’s ideological competition with capitalism, the difficulty and rarity - if not infeasibility - in creating a communist utopia, and the people caught between these ideological and power struggles. It also comments on the inhospitality of modern civilization and how it drives the poorer, migrant class into social isolation. But, above all else, it’s a requiem for a dream and a parting of ways with the people and things that keeping the modern man humane.
  • Great short novel

    5
    By archilny
    How beautiful and sad.
  • A great book

    5
    By UNCTarHeel2019
    Good book!
  • Not that great

    1
    By mandy_7890
    I did not find it that interesting, but that maybe is just not my type of book. For other people they might have an interest in reading this book.
  • Book Of Adventure

    4
    By life is an enigma
    This book shows us Lennie and
  • First book I didn’t mind reading for school

    5
    By EvanQ...
    Usually I hate books I read in school, I usually hate all books, it this was different, I can’t explain it but you HAVE to read it’s!
  • Best Book Ever

    5
    By Alpuca :P
    I haven’t read a good book in quite a while and this is amazed me. The ending was... Holy crap it was sad.
  • Read it in one sitting.

    5
    By Ozcrome
    It’s a quick read. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a single evening.
  • Read this freshman year.

    5
    By JustMeee🎀👑
    I’ve only cried over books a handful of times, but I actually cried on this one. It’s touching and strong. I thought it would be boring because of the date it was written, but obviously I was wrong