I've been procrastinating
updating of The Bookworm Saga and with a legitimate reason. I had
decided to read One Hundred Years of Solitude. Unfortunately, halfway through
the book I stopped. I am apparently not one of those people who would find the
book influential in my life.
I initially picked up this book to read because i'd heard a lot of praise for it. Initially i liked the writing style and thought i would like the book like everyone else. But i have to be honest, i started reading it with the most distinct form of confusion. I was waiting for a concrete storyline. It has everything within the first hundred pages, gypsies, magic, alchemy, insomnia disease(??), inappropriate relations, creepy little girls, overdone love proclamations, incest and im sure ive missed a quite a lot more. Then it got very very confusing, thanks to the parents naming all their offsprings after their grandfathers.
I returned the book immediately as I did not want to waste
precious days on it anymore. As I scanned through the library shelf(yes one shelf
of English fiction, just one) my eyes fixed on John Steinbeck's "Of Mice
and Men". I am a huge fan of the band Of Mice & Men as a matter of
fact and that is how I learnt about the book as well. So I picked it up
immediately along with another book by Gabriel Marquez ( how daring!) The
General in His Labyrinth.
Just now with steaming tears and a running nose, I finished
reading the book "Of Mice and Men" . I knew there was a controversial
ending, but did not expect it to be this. No spoilers of course, but if I you
haven't read the book yet, please do. I made the mistake of reading it a bit
too late. But hey, better late than never!
My eyes fill with tears even as I think about the story, to
re-narrate it here. It starts with George and Lennie by a beautifully described
river-side. For all you know, they could've been hiking. The real weight of the
situation is only revealed much later. George and Lennie are childhood friends,
but their closeness could qualify them as brothers I would say. Lennie is the big
guy with a brain of a kid and George is the caretaker. George seems frustrated
and annoyed with Lennie's antics (spoiler material, yeah) , he admits to it as
well but he would never consider for a second about abandoning his friend. The characters are so well written that you
start to imagine them as they are and feel as they feel and when tragedy of
sorts strikes, take my word, you will also be stricken as I was. George and
Lennie dream about working up a stake and buying a place of their own where Lennie
can pet his rabbits and be answerable to no one. This sets off the story and
the events that follow are casual, if not normal. But they are subtle that
gives the sense of unpredictability to the story. They work in a ranch owned by
a man who has crazy self-esteem issued son, wife who "gives eye" and
a bunch of other men all of whom have a story and nature of their own. Their
well intertwined stories is a brilliantly written masterpiece by Mr. Steinbeck. Lennie is so well described that your heart goes out to him and any unlikely thing he does seems normal to you, because it's normal for Lennie. You start to make excuses for his actions to be acceptable, because he's poor little(ironically cus he happens to be a big guy!) Lennie. Innocent Lennie who know nothin'!
I kept wondering why the book was called Of Mice and Men. Boy
was I surprised! Lennie here was always given mice to pet, as he was extremely
fond of petting things, by his Aunt Clara. Lennie being the book ruffian taken
over by "aggressive love" would end up killing the tiny mice by
squeezing them too hard. This IS why it's so named right? Let me know if I'm
wrong!
Now, as a tribute to the brilliance of the book, I shall
listen to "Of Mice & Men" the band and fall asleep without having
another teary flashback of the book!
