The Pearl (Centennial Edition)
by John Steinbeck
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Book Summary Information
Author: John SteinbeckBrand: Penguin Group USA
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01-08
ISBN: 0142000698
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780142000694
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Pearl (Centennial Edition)
Book Review: Moral fable or political diatribe? You decide!
Summary: 5 Stars
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 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 they should presume to step out of their 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, exceptionally 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 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 would have been, to say the least, unpopular in the USA such a short time after the end of WW II.
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
Summary of The Pearl (Centennial Edition)
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In this short book illuminated by a deep understanding and love of humanity, John Steinbeck retells an old Mexican folk tale: the story of the great pearl, how it was found, and how it was lost. For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to the tragedy.
Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club.
Simply enter the coupon code STEINBECKPEARL at checkout.
This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase.
In this short book illuminated by a deep understanding and love of humanity, John Steinbeck retells an old Mexican folk tale: the story of the great pearl, how it was found, and how it was lost. For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to the tragedy.
For Steinbeck, Kino and his wife illustrate the fall from innocence of people who believe that wealth erases all problems. Originally published in 1947, The Pearl shows why Steinbeck?s style has made him one of the most beloved American writers: it is a simple story of simple people, recounted with the warmth and sincerity and unrivaled craftsmanship Steinbeck brings to his writing. It is tragedy in the great tradition, beautifully conveying not despair but hope for mankind.
The Great Books Foundation Discussion Guide for The Pearl is available at www.greatbooks.org.
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