Number 28 - The Pearl - John Steinbeck

 

Of Mice and Men was one of the two best books I read for school all those years ago. For some reason though, I've never really read much else by Steinbeck, despite owning a nice hardback set of 5 of his books.  for the record, since school I've read Travels with Charlie and Grapes of Wrath.

This is not one of the hardbacks as you can tell. This is a freebie I picked up as part of a set that someone was giving away on one of those facebook giveaway pages.

It might be short but it's taken me a couple of days to read it.  Not because it's a struggle to read, but because the prose is so good it demands to be savoured. 

I don't remember OMAM being written as poetically as this, which is probably a good thing.  Age 14 me would probably have hated it. Age 21 and a bit me finds it a great pleasure to read.

The story is based on an old Mexican folk tale about a man who finds a giant pearl. However, far from being the thing that changes his life for the better, it does the complete oppposite.

I genuinely felt angry at the side characters for taking advantage of, or trying to take advantage of, poor Kino, the man who found the Pearl of the World. For a work this short, the town and its people are amazingly well drawn. Kino is beautifully realised as a character with all his hopes and dreams for what this amazing gift from nature will get him.

The prose is as close to pure poetry as it gets. The ending is true tragedy. 

This is a great little book and I will have to pull down one of his others sooner rather than later.