Cannery Row

By: John Steinbeck

Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, and I have yet to find a work of his that was not worth my while to read.  His descriptive abilities, especially when it comes to the complexities of people, are unparalleled.  A lot of his work, due to his poignant skill of capturing just how lost man is, have a tragic undertone.  In this way, Cannery Row is quite unique in its sheer delightfulness.  There were countless times in reading this short novel that I broke out in laughter–out loud.  A bit embarrassing, but the characters in the book truly are that charming.  Steinbeck masterfully weaves his tale of Cannery Row, a place of inhabitants that are, “as the man once said, ‘whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,’…but had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, ‘saints and angels and martyrs and holy men.'”  The book is all about peeping through a hole at the lives of these inhabitants.  Below is a short excerpt of one of my favorite character descriptions.  Pick up the book for, as a good friend labeled it, a dose of “happy Steinbeck”.

Hazel cast frantically about for a peg to hang a new question on.  He hated to have a conversation die out like this.  He wasn’t quick enough.  While he was looking for a question Doc asked one.  Hazel hated that, it meant casting about in his mind for an answer and casting about in Hazel’s mind was like wandering alone in a deserted museum.  Hazel’s mind was choked with uncatalogued exhibits.  He never forgot anything but he never bothered to arrange his memories.  Everything was thrown together like fishing tackle in the bottom of a rowboat, hooks and sinkers and line and lures and gaffs all snarled up.