Cannery Row (Cannery Row - John Steinbeck)

Member Name: jane08

Product:	Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
Date:	07/07/08 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Short, entertaining and an easy read

Disadvantages: None

John Steinbeck is considered by many, inclusing myself, one of the 20th centuries greatest novelists. For those unfamiliar with him you may have heard of his more notable works; 'Of Mice and Men', studied by countless GCSE students today and 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

Cannery Row is the third Steinbeck novel I've read. It's a fairly short book, little over one hundred pages long, focussing on the lives of the residents of a strip of land known as Cannery Row. The main plot is simple, everybody loves Doc, everyboy including the tenants of the Palace Flophouse, Mack and the boys. The novel follows these characters as they try to 'do something nice', namely preparing a party, for doc.

It's astonishing that for such a short novel Steinbeck is able to create an entire community, complete with interesting and uniqe characters. That is part of what makes Cannery Row such an intersting and entertaining read, as Steinbeck tells of the adventures of not just the main characters but the ones we only ever see in the background.

A sequel to Cannery Row called Sweet Thursday was written in 1954 which is set in this same strip of land, about the same characters after World War II.

Summary: A lesser known Steinbeck novel that's worth the read