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Cannery Row: (Centennial Edition) [Paperback]

John Steinbeck
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (176 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 16.50
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Book Description

Feb 7 2002
Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love. Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.

First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is—both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive—creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles—human warmth, camaraderie, and love.


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Review

“Steinbeck has compounded a bitter and uproariously funny commentary on the futility of human aspiration and the barrenness of existence . . . an extraordinary mixture of wild laughter and searing pain.” The New York Herald Tribune

“It’s one of the most thoroughly enjoyable and delicious books you’ll ever have the fortune to read.” Chicago Sun Times

“Everything is always somehow overlaid with laughter, the special kind of laughter and contentment with one’s lot, however humble, that only John Steinbeck can put into words. . . . John Steinbeck sees his characters with deep compassion as well as amusement.” Chicago Sunday Tribune

About the Author

No writer is more quintessentially American than John Steinbeck. Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures.

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"Lee Chong's grocery, while not a model of neatness, was a miracle of supply." Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" May 19 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) wrote "Cannery Row" during a brief six week period during the summer of 1944. He wrote the book, he claimed, as "a kind of nostalgic thing.... for a group of soldiers who had said to me: 'Write something funny that isn't about the war. Write something for us to read -- we're sick of war.'" Steinbeck dedicated the book to Ed Ricketts. Ricketts was the model for "Doc", the main character in the book. Other characters, including Dora, the madam of the "Bear Flag Restaurant" were modeled or real-life individuals as well.
(The information in this paragraph is drawn from the Library of America edition of Steinbeck's novels -- 1942 -- 1952)

Cannery Row is set in Monterey, California during the depression. The title derives from a portion of Monterey notorious for the processing of the multitudes of fish harvested by the sardine industry. The book is loosely contstructed and consists more of a series of interconnected vigenettes than a fully developed novel.

The primary story-line of the book develops the character of "Doc" a marine biologist who collects frogs, octopuses, starfish, rattlesnakes, and other creatures for sale to museums, universities and others. Doc is highly literate, a lover of science, art and music. Doc also loves his beer and his women. He is also adored by Cannery Row denizens who live in a local flophouse (the "Palace Flophouse_-- a group of men headed by a character named Mack. Much of the book centers around the efforts of these characters to plan a party for Doc. There are many other interesting characters in the book, including Dora, the madam and Lee Chong, the proprietor of the local grocery.

There is much excellent descriptive writing in this book of a Monterey that is no more and of a collection of eccentric and too-lovable characters. There are portions of the book that seem to me to lag and not to advance the course of the story. The characters are vividly drawn, but in both the story and the characterizations I found elements of sentimentality and, perhaps, of over-simplification.

I think the heart of the book lies in chapter 23 where Doc philosophizes about his friendship with the residents of the Palace Flophouse and similar types of people on Cannery Row. Doc finds it "strange" that "the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concommitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, eogtism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

There were elements in this book that surprised me. I enjoyed the pictures of Doc and his devotion to classical music -- particularly the works of Monteverdi, Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy. Also, there are outstanding literary references. In a climactic scene late in the book, (chapter 30) Doc quotes a lengthy ancient love poem "Black Marigolds" originally written in Sanskrit and tranlated by E. Powys Mathers. The poem fits appropriately into Steinbeck's story and adds a great deal to the meaning of the book. With the music and the poetry, I found something in "Cannery Row" that I didn't expect to see there.

This is an enjoyable and readable book by a great 20th Century American novelist.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite of Steinbeck's works May 6 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Another book I used while preparing to the verbal section of the GMAT. I have this one on my list of all-time favorites. Nothing is more interesting that the life of simple people who don't busy themselves with the stockmarket, business school, or even electricity. They live in California, slip under the boats, and eat whatever God sends them. Great contrast for a bschool applicant with abmitions and desires to change to change the world and beat the strongest.

Favorites:
The logic; quite similar to that in the Tortilla Flat of striving for the greater "good" for a friend. I loved how the bums justify their crimes and glorify mistakes. Some paralells can be found in some corporate repots.

Nothing beats the frog hunting scene and the "new" monetary system.

I could not stop laughing while reading - one of the funniest and profound pieces.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully descriptive, deeply moving Mar 12 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I have become a big Steinbeck fan over the last few months, having read The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat, and Cannery Row during that time. The beauty of Steinbeck's style that is evident in all of these stories is that, much like a masterful boxer, he will float and spar while filling the reader in on the transpiring events, and then a paragraph comes along that literally jumps to life, like a well-timed barrage of attacks. Either in the form of layers and layers of description that make you feel as if you are feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing everything the characters are, or in the form of a humorous antecdote that causes you to read about four times faster than normal, the barrage carries you through the story.

Cannery Row is set in Monterey, CA during the Depression and focuses on a handful of characters, but the main ones are Doc and Mack. Doc runs a place called Western Biological and works collecting animals for other scientists and doing other work at his lab that is not really specified. He is rather an enigma in the town, and he is a Renaissance Man. Everybody in Cannery Row knows and loves him, including several ladies, and he is just generally a good guy that seems to be extremely intelligent. He is also a flawed character, though. He drinks beer for breakfast, is afraid of commitment with the ladies, and seems to fear genuine intimacy with anyone. He stays up late reading and listening to classical music and gets up early to do his studies/work.

Mack is a "bum" by our standards, but he fills a role that Steinbeck loves to explore. He is extremely intelligent and gifted in some areas, yet lacks the motivation to hold a steady job. He is a leader and natural salesman and politician, yet he chooses to lead a group of other bums that he calls "the boys" and lives in a shack that he finagled out of the local grocery store owner.

Through the medium of extremely well-developed characters and beautiful, descriptive narrative, Steinbeck also instructs us about the nature of humans. One of the basic things that I learned about this nature is that people who are in "down and out" circumstances are often very capable and intelligent people who simply prefer not getting caught up in the social rat races of life. This was evident in the story of the parade, and if you read the book, Doc will do a better job of explaining what I mean than I can. Steinbeck also takes subtle jabs at those of us who turn our noses up at these people, like the town people who taxed (read:extorted) the "illegal" whorehouse at an exorbitant rate in order to stay open and then frequented the establishment through the side door.

I highly recommend this book because it affected, instructed, and entertained me, and it will do the same for you.

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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Small but Wonderful!
This is a small and quick read, but it is wonderful. I read it first in high school and then again in college and then maybe three times since just for the joy of it. Read more
Published on July 16 2004 by Grozarks
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant in its simplicity
Cannery Row is a series of vignettes of life on the California coast in the 1930's. The recurring theme Steibeck seems to explore is the nature of friendship - be it the... Read more
Published on July 16 2004 by doc peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Joyfully Wise
This tale, my very favorite Steinbeck novel, combines lyricism and unforgettably warm characters. The whole 'plot' (or lack thereof) seems adrift in a sea of humor. Read more
Published on July 13 2004 by JOHN J. MCGRAW
3.0 out of 5 stars Doing Something Nice for Doc!
Steinbeck's starkly realistic portrayal of Monterey's 1940's working class offers universal appeal as a 20th century classic. Read more
Published on Jun 6 2004 by Plume45
5.0 out of 5 stars The Players Tell the Story
At the outset of this book, Steinbeck tells the reader that the only way for the story of Cannery Row to be told is to let the characters tell it. Read more
Published on Jan 20 2004 by Richard A. Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars Steinbeck's best?
John Stienbeck had experimented with loosely structured tales of noble drifters before, but his musings on the theme peaked with the classic Cannery Row. Read more
Published on Jan 11 2004 by P. Nicholas Keppler
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection in a small package
I'm still on a high from reading CANNERY ROW, a good 24 hours after finishing it. This is a short book that says volumes about humanity and philosophical matters through the... Read more
Published on Dec 12 2003 by C. Ebeling
5.0 out of 5 stars Steinbeck's Most Delightful Story
This is not a single story, but many stories woven into a cohesive novel. What makes this novel so enjoyable is the way one can relate to the characters. Read more
Published on Oct 21 2003 by Andrew H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it AFTER Tortilla Flat
The trilogy, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, and Sweet Thursday are my favorites of his tomes I read just for the joy of reading them. Cannery Row is the second of the set. Read more
Published on Sep 19 2003 by Jack Purcell
4.0 out of 5 stars The Humility of Being Human
Cannery Row is a montage of different little stories that all take place within or in close proximity to Cannery Row in Monterey, CA. Read more
Published on Aug 8 2003 by B. Garwitz
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