My first Steinbeck novel, and referenced by Sawyer in a number of LOST episodes, most notably early in the third season, when Ben takes him up to a lookout on Hydra Island after conning Sawyer with a fake pacemaker to let him know that he has nowhere to run even if he did escape his polar bear cage. It sounds kind of ridiculous when you think about it. How on earth did this television series get to me?
Before I go into Of Mice and Men, I should point out that I have been without a television for over 18 months now, and currently only have the final LOST season on DVD with me, my other copies with the rest of my DVD collection on the other side of the country. So if I seem a little out of touch, this is probably why. But I will say that in my absence of the idiot box, the times when it has graced my presence I have been dissappointed with drama quality, and disgusted with comedy. I may be getting jaded, but you try living for a year without TV, then watch an our or so of one of the commercial stations and my bet is you will understand. TV is utter garbage.
Enough of my current soapbox.
I was dissappointed that LOST actually gave away the ending of this short novel. Not a fan of spoilers. So the entire time I was reading it, I was thinking 'I'm pretty sure X happens...the only question is when?'. And no, I'm not telling you what X is on principle!
It is so refreshing to read something well written though. I reacted to this similar to how I reacted to Carrie. Just enjoyed reading a story that wasn't over the top and concerned more with characters than plot. I have been spending a lot of time plugging away at The Wheel of Time and boy does Jordan get bogged down in plot and lose his characters sometimes!!
OMAM had simple characters I guess, and a simple story but powerful themes. The idea that came accross strongly to me on the first reading was that all the characters had dreams - pies in the sky that they could never attain, and didn't always believe possible. When George and Lennie's dream becomes closer to reality, it tastes good, only to be snached away by inevitability of character choices. Nothing was going to change Lennie, who he was and how he reacted. I would have liked some more backstory on the two characters though. There were always comments about the oddness of them being together, but they were never realised. I guess that only plays into the final scene, and gives more questions about why George did what he did.
Conclusion. A simple story with simple characters, and a powerful, thought provoking conclusion. Worthy of the LOST list - although I can't quite see the paralells between it and Sawyer. May have to read it again. LOST could have learnt more from this book about simplicity.
