“Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody – to be near him.”
I’m not a great one for re-reading books. When it comes to
weighing up visiting a place I’ve already been or visiting somewhere fresh, it’s
the new pastures that usually win out. Maybe that’s a balance I need to adjust,
however. Going back to this Steinbeck was a wonderful experience that was just
as full and emotional as it was around thirty-odd years ago. In some ways it
was richer because of the miles I’ve collected on my clock simply by hanging
around. I’m not really sure, for example, that I fully understood the idea of
Curley’s ‘glove fulla vaseline’ and his need for a soft hand at my first visit.
I came back to Of Mice And Men (US) after enjoying Blaze by
Stephen King. The jump from one to the next was the obvious path to take and I
decided to follow the signs.
Of Mice And Men is so well known that I’m not sure I can add
anything to the weight of opinion and thought that already surrounds it. A
couple of migrant workers, George and Lennie, stumble into the book to take
rest down by a pool frequented by tramps. Lennie’s a gentle giant on the
surface, but he’s also prone to losing control. George is his companion, a
worldly-wise and weary soul who keeps everything straight and makes sure Lennie
can survive in a cruel and difficult world. They go to work on a ranch and it
becomes immediately clear that there are going to be problems between the boss
and the incomers, if for no other reason than that’s the way the power within
the economics works.
What unfolds is one of the juiciest and most perfect tales I
can imagine being told. Better still, it’s all contained within around a
hundred pages - for a lazy reader like me, that’s a blessing. The fact that
such a huge piece is done in such a small space is a testament to the quality
of the writing and the concept. There’s nothing there that doesn’t need to be
and that’s a real strength.
This book had me from the start. The seeds of menace and
doubt are sewn in the first few pages. The sense of foreboding grows with each
passage. As the tension builds, the feeling of warmth and love of the central
pair grows. The tension notches up because the more you want everything to turn
out right, the less likely it seems that there can be any positive outcome.
Ordinarily, that might be considered to be a spoiler. Not so here because
Steinbeck keeps telling you what’s coming. He marks the way at every step and
this makes the prospect of the end increasingly unbearable. It was so effective
in my reading that I almost couldn’t finish. The impending heartbreak was as
much as I could bear. I did make it to the final page, however, and the power
of the finale is stunning no matter how inevitable it has become. I was drained
when I closed the book. Sad as hell and totally satisfied.
It struck me that Steinbeck really does cultivate the story.
He starts things small and builds them up. Take the theme of Lennie’s love of softness.
First come the mice and then we grow to pups, girls and then to Curley’s wife.
They’re all part of the same desire; it’s just that the manifestations simply
lead to different consequences.
The book’s jam-packed with aspects of being human. There’s love,
obsession, corruption, injustice, friendship, loyalty, history and hope. I don’t
want anything else from a book that this, for what else could there be? Total noir!
For me, I hope this is a lesson learned. Those books I loved
many years ago, they still need attention and it’s about time I gave them some.
A joy.
Post Script - Of Mice And Men has 35 one star reviews on Amazon UK. Having gathered a few of them for my own work, I find this immensely reassuring.
No comments:
Post a Comment