Frances

This is just the second Steinbeck book that I've read and he's already starting to rub off on me. He writes about life with a microscopic lens, singling out individuals and their circumstances, all the while panning through the rest of the worldly distractions with a hazy eye, permeating into the everyday lives of his characters and inking the once-invisible thread that connects people. It will be a while before the image of Cannery Row fades into the back rows of my mind. For now, I will ride on through life in this bubble of romanticism, basking in my “hour of pearl”.

So you start out with a bunch of despicable characters who couldn't possibly have any stories worth telling as their lives are seemingly empty except when they happen to have some wine. Steinbeck proves us wrong. How many times have you seen a homeless drunkard sitting by the road staring at nothing and felt sorry for the guy? Steinbeck teaches us that there is no need to be, because that man is staring at the world in its entirety, and that man has more time than you'll ever have to tell the stories of the world.

It is difficult to stop reading this book no matter how painful it is at times, but it ended well and I wouldn't have preferred any other ending. I would say this is one of Steinbeck's best.

Interesting to read one of his earlier works. It reads different. I did not like the breaks where he addresses the reader. Offensive to a culture but then again one can say he a victim of his time. Also unrelated- but I am absolutely torn by the brutal fate he gave the character Diana. She did not need any more than what she already suffered.

Most of the stories here are some of his best. As usual, it is not easy to get through his writing. But it doesn't take long to run into a literary gold, over and over again. It was only the Mexico Fellaheen story that I did not enjoy, it was difficult to spend time on, and led me to dropping the book, picking it up again only months later, pushing with effort through to the end of that story. Obviously a worthy effort, as the next ones were astounding. Kerouac's writing is pure, effortless jazz.

Kerouac lays the Word down on what it means to be a beatnik and what makes one a hippie. I like the translation even though it doesn't give us the „raw“ Kerouac it at least makes this an easier read.

I enjoyed this immensely so i don‘t understand the poor ratings of this book. These people must be hipsters!