Hakeem থেকে Notre-Dame-du-Rocher, Prancis
Now I've come that long way, so I'll finish it
Review originally published at Love Literature Art and Reason book review blog. Of Mice and Men was fantastic. I can’t believe I never read it, but I was in the English classes that read other books in high school. I always thought it would be like a short, awful version of The Grapes of Wrath, which I thought was hard to get through. But I think maybe The Grapes of Wrath was too long and the author’s strength was in the smaller, more compact stories because it was much better than I anticipated. I really enjoyed the book. George and Lennie were both likable characters. Lennie didn’t know any better and I admired George for being so loyal and not wanting to abandon him. Lennie was.. different. He was like that guy in The Stand who thought everything was spelled M-O-O-N. He caused problems because he didn’t understand the world, but he was so hopeful that something could change. Lennie’s naïve hopefulness was contrasted by the bleak circumstances of their lives and the lives of many other people like them during that time period. I expected the awful slow “English class” kind of book, especially having only read The Grapes of Wrath, which was long and drawn out and kind of awkward (It ends with the weirdest scene ever in classic fiction?). I did not expect to be completely engrossed and unable to put the book down. I didn’t expect to shed any tears, either, but I did. I don’t know if I should be upset I never got to read it in school or glad that I got to experience it without it being ripped to shreds by analyzing every word. This is a great book and I highly recommend it. It is terribly depressing and sad. I’m still reeling from that ending. It’s one of those “but why?!” moments except you really know it couldn’t have been any other way or it would have been even worse. It’s just so tragic. *cries*
I went into this book with higher expectations and was a little dissapointed. It isn't my favorite of hers. If you have never read her book then it's probably better but when you've read almost all of them it becomes very predictable, although there were a few things I didn't see coming. Picoult is very captivating and a great writter and I enjoy reading her books, but I didn't like the ending of this one. It's very controversial and at times made me kind of mad but still worth reading for Jodi fans.