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The Pearl (Hardcover)

by John Steinbeck (Author) "John Steinbeck was the type of author who liked to know his material firsthand ..." (more)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (394 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Library Journal

Kino, a poor Mexican pearl fisher, finds a valuable pearl. Yet instead of bringing blessings, the pearl acts as a harbinger of misfortune to Kino and his wife, Juana. Ultimately, it is returned from whence it came. Steinbeck's parable, originally published in 1947, is a well-written retelling of an old Mexican folktale. Hector Elizondo, with his fine voice and great diction, reads with sincerity, keeping this simple, tragic tale moving toward its inevitable conclusion. Highly recommended for all collections.
Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From AudioFile

In intimate, whispery tones Elizondo relates the tragic tale of how a priceless pearl brings greed, treachery and loss to a poor Mexican pearl diver, his wife and their infant son. Although Elizando's breathy, dramatic reading won't be to everyone's taste, younger readers, in particular, should respond to this interpretation. The narrator's tone lends weight and urgency to the telling and underscores the mythic quality of Steinbeck's classic novella. D.M.L. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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394 Reviews
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3.5 out of 5 stars (394 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Simple Story Simply Told, April 12 2009
By Oliver (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Pearl (Paperback)
The Pearl is essentially a morality tale about how the pursuit of wealth can lead to unhappiness. Perhaps that is unfair; putting it that way conjures up images of preachiness and boredom. The Pearl is neither preachy nor boring. It is a simple, short story, well told. It is well worth the short time it will take you to read it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars The Worst Book I Have Ever Read (And I Read a Lot of Books), July 5 2004
By Julia (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pearl (Paperback)
I know it seems impossible to dislike a book where the moral is "try to better your position in life, and you will have to bring home your dead baby in a bloody sack," but somehow, through Steinbeck's writing, this story turned out to be the worst I have ever read.

The dialogue between the characters struck me as very awkward and forced. It was even hard to read because it was so unnaturally written. I found myself needing to read sections over again in order to get the point they were trying to convey.

While the writing is tedious and unenjoyable, the story itself is also unpleasant. As I said before, the moral doesn't make much sense, yet it is beaten into the reader from line one.

I hate to say it like this, because I know I won't be taken seriously, but this is really a stupid book. I would never suggest it to anyone (I would actually warn people to stay away from it). Don't waste your time. You'll regret it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Moral fable or political diatribe? You decide!, Aug 7 2009
By Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Pearl (Paperback)
Kino is a pearl diver in La Paz, Mexico, eking out a meager subsistence living for his wife, Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito. When Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, Kino is both embarrassed and angered by the fact that the arrogant, self-centered town doctor is unwilling to help because they are unable to pay. Diving long and deep, perhaps to cool off his anger or perhaps to find an extra pearl or two so that he might have the money for his son's care, he emerges from the Gulf of Mexico with the largest, most exquisite pearl that his community has ever seen. It is quickly labeled as "The Pearl of the World".

Thinking it to be the future source of his family's future health, comfort, happiness and peace, Kino seeks to sell it to the local pearl buyers who attempt to swindle him, offering only a fraction of its real value. When the pearl becomes the target of sneak thieves in the middle of the night, Kino kills the thief defending himself, his family and the pearl that is now the central focus of their lives.

Kino and Juana realize that the doctor, the priest and those already possessed of wealth in the town are angry that he should presume to step out of his station. While their friends, the other pearl fishermen, are happy for Kino's good fortune they are also jealous and convinced that Kino's sudden wealth will change him into a new person - a person that, in some fashion, will choose to distance himself from the people he formerly loved and valued.

Steinbeck's story writing skills are eloquent, compelling, and impossibly tight and concise but, at the same time, astonishingly profound and moving. Steinbeck's writing is the very antithesis of the style of Charles Dickens, for example, another consummate storyteller, but one who never failed to write astonishingly complex sentences and paragraphs using an enormous number of words where one would do.

For example, when Kino said, "I am a man", insisting that he must defend his family and his goods, Steinbeck perfectly described a woman's understanding of what a man meant when he said that:

"It meant that he was half insane and half God. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it."

On the flip side, any female reader today would appreciate Steinbeck's brief but powerful statement of his admiration of their good sense:

"Sometimes the quality of woman, the reason, the caution, the sense of preservation could cut through Kino's manness and save them all."

Read on the surface, "The Pearl" is a beautifully told, sadly moving parable that expounds on the often repeated childhood mantra, "Money can't buy happiness". A slightly more sophisticated reader will also take away the message that wealth is equivalent to power which, as we all come to know, can be its own evil leading to corruption and deceit. A deeper analytical reading, perhaps from a world-weary, more cynical adult, may give rise to the conclusion that, writing in the early 1960s, Steinbeck was also indulging in a political criticism of the wealthy class and the authorities. Perhaps he was even expounding on the virtues of socialism, a political posture that was, to say the least, unpopular in the USA at that time.

However you choose to read it, "The Pearl" is a short novella, easily read in a mere two to three hours, that deserves to be in a library of classic American literature.

Paul Weiss
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Kino and his wife, Juana, have a beautiful baby boy, but one morning he gets stung by a scorpion. He is rushed to the doctor, who will not treat him because they have no form of... Read more
Published on Sep 7 2007 by TeensReadToo.com

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my recent reads
I recently read three excellent books and felt I must share them with other Amazon readers. First came Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day," which was possibly the funniest book... Read more
Published on Sep 26 2006 by Seabold

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Parable, Amazing Plot, Powerful Message...
The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, is truly a timeless, well-crafted masterpiece. Steinbeck, the winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize for literature, uses vivid descriptions to portray an... Read more
Published on Oct 28 2005 by lovepoke

3.0 out of 5 stars Review of "The Pearl"
I rated this novella three stars because I felt that the story was a little bit rushed and the author left some important details out. Read more
Published on Oct 27 2005 by Pop D.

3.0 out of 5 stars The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The story is set in a brush hut in a town in Mexico with a pearl fisherman named Kino. Kino wakes up to find a scorpion next to his son's cot and he desperately tries to remove... Read more
Published on Oct 22 2005 by Mrs. S. A. Eckersley

4.0 out of 5 stars No Happy Ending
A tragic ending for an almost to good-to-be true story
It happens, you have 5 of the 6 numbers needed too win the lottery. Read more
Published on Nov 11 2004 by MiCh_L

4.0 out of 5 stars No Happy Ending - A tragic ending for an almost to good-to-b
It happens, you have 5 of the 6 numbers needed too win the lottery. At this point, you think to yourself: what is it that you most desire? Read more
Published on Nov 11 2004 by MiCh_L

4.0 out of 5 stars Great fun and as usual, great Steinbeck
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. No, it's no GRAPES OF WRATH or EAST OF EDEN, but it is better than most other books I've come across. My summer reading list? Read more
Published on Aug 5 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Review
I thought this book was pretty good. It supplied many twists and turns and it also kept me interested all through it. First, Coyotito was bitten by a scorpion. Read more
Published on May 19 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars a pretty good book
I think that this book was very short, it was only 6 chapters long and the first two were horrible, uneventful and completely boring! But from then on it was O.K. Read more
Published on May 15 2004 by aryeh lev

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