Ratings79
Average rating4.1
Set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California, Cannery Row revolves around the people living on a street lined with sardine canneries that shares its namesake.
Reviews with the most likes.
This is wonderful. I'd only ever read one book by Steinbeck, which was Of Mice and Men a million years ago in high school.
All I really want to comment on is how much Doc ate on his drive from Monterey to La Jolla. That's a 6-7 hour drive. Maybe highways were significantly different enough that it was a much longer drive back then? He ate 3 days worth of meals. I was dumbfounded reading it. Anyway, great book. It's so descriptive and there are so many wonderful artifacts from the 1930s and 1940s.
Lighting a water heater. Soap chips. Beer cans you open with a can opener. I could go on.
Another wonderful Steinbeck novel. I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I had trouble connecting to the characters, and despite the charm of the community, I felt that there was a kind of stagnant melancholy also coloring the book—a kind of cheery monotony. I would not recommend this to people who haven't read Steinbeck before; I don't think it's the best example of his abilities, though it's certainly a good read for anyone who has read his works before.
Not my favorite of his, but the characters are real as ever. I enjoyed following them.
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