Cannery Row: (Centennial Edition) [Paperback]

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.

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.

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.