I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ve already read this book. If you haven’t, go and read it then come back. It’s a classic for a reason!

I spent the day after I finished to book wondering how I became so emotionally involved in the story. It wasn’t the murder, although the pathos is rich. It wasn’t the injustice of it all—although the renegade “justice” made me cringe. It was the death of a dream.

This book is riddled with characters with crushed dreams: the woman who could have been in pitchers [sic], George’s little plot of land, the boss’s son who was still thought of himself as a famous boxer. I think what disturbed me so much about this book was this certainty: when George pulled the trigger in the last chapter he wasn’t just murdering a friend—he was destroying the part of him that kept his dreams alive. Now there’s nothing left but despair.

The book is brilliant and moving. It’s short enough to read in a couple hours. Everyone should read this one.

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Bantam Books, 1984.