The Pearl (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck
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Book Reviews of The Pearl (Centennial Edition)
Book Review: Not my favorite from him
Summary: 3 Stars
I want to first start out by saying I understand why this book was written. I also understand his message of how greed and wealth kill. I was just not excited about the way the book was presented.
I think the main reason for me not liking the book was Kino. Being a poor diver from Mexico, it is understandable why Steinbeck chose to fill most of the novel with descriptions rather than dialogue. This was thought out and deliberate but I just plain didn't like it. Steinbeck made Kino the perfect character for the intent of the book. There was nothing wrong on the author's part.
I feel like Kino had a definite paralysis in which he suffered a great deal from. On one hand, his very ill son needed to see a doctor which requires money, but, he never wanted to lose his appreciation of his family. Sadly, he had to pick one or the other, and in consequence had to say goodbye to his son. I'm sure for his entire life he longed to be rich which to use a terribly overused saying of "The grass is greener on the other side", is true to Kino. It's heartbreaking that he had to lose a son to see if the grass is greener.
Going from GRAPES OF WRATH with vivid descriptions and ample dialogue and the gripping tale OF MICE AND MEN, it was very hard for me to settle down and pay attention to the details and look at descriptions with limited dialogue that made me not like it. I appreciate the variety of writing Steinbeck has given to the American public but I very much had a hard time with this style. I came out feeling awfully depressed and so sorry for this family. Though wonderfully written, this was my least favorite writing of Steinbeck so far.
Book Review: Disappointing for a Steinbeck novel
Summary: 3 Stars
As a fan of Steinbeck, I had high hopes for The Pearl. Unfortunately, I found the moral of the story to be disappointing and disheartening: Poor people must remain poor. This message is etched in Of Mice and Men too, but at the very least, Lenny and George's dream was viable. In The Pearl, it is clear from the start that there is no hope for Kino and Juana, so I read a story with no twists and turns. Moreoever, there is an element of magic in The Pearl, and I don't mean this in a good way. I like fantasy and I like Steinbeck, but they really do not mix.Book Review: The Pearl
Summary: 3 Stars
On scale of 1 to 5, I would rate The Pearl by John Steinbeck a 3. The first part, when Kino found the pearl was good, but I did not like the next part. When Kino, Juana, and their baby Coyotito escape the village, I did not like that their adventure in the desert and mountains was so short. I also did not like the ending of the book. Overall, the book was OK, but I would not suggest it to someone who likes adventures or someone who does not like sad books.Book Review: Marginally entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
The Pearl is a cute little story and is reasonably well-written so I give it three stars for that. I can't recommend it though because it is so predictable and frankly a little boring. I kept waiting for some twist or spark that would deviate from the script if you will, but it never came. Paul Gehrman, Author, KaleidoscopeBook Review: Keeping It Sad And Simple
Summary: 2 Stars
Walking through middle school corridors, I'd spy kids in the grade above mine carrying John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" and think them lucky. Judging from the cover it was some kind of sea adventure, probably involving sharks and Jacqueline Bisset. This was back in the 1970s, and I was obviously confused.
Flash forward to the present. Feeling nostalgic, I decide to take the book on after years of wondering. It was certainly short, and Steinbeck is a classic writer, so it seemed a good idea.
A terse morality play about the pitfalls of materialism and the depravity of man, "The Pearl" is clearly a think piece rather than a conventional novel focused on characters and storyline. It made me think, too: However bad middle school was, it could have been worse.
Kino is a poor Mexican Indian who lives off the meager pearls he finds swimming for oysters in the Gulf. One day, desperate for a miracle as his infant son squirms from a scorpion bite, he finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen, large as a gull's egg and jet black. Kino sees a brighter future for himself and his family, but the jealous villagers and the plutocratic pearl buyers conspire to keep him in his place.
"The pearl has become my soul", Kino tells his wife, who begs him to get rid of it before someone gets hurt. "If I give it up I shall lose my soul."
Steinbeck does nothing to make you care about Kino, his soul, or his wife and child, other than relate their poverty. They aren't people with personalities, but constructs designed to trot out points Steinbeck wants to make. Published in 1947, when socialism was fashionable and Steinbeck a recognized purveyor of the worker ideal, "The Pearl" might pass as a message about the folly of wealth and the value of living within one's means. Yet Kino and his family are clearly living below any decent standard. Collectivist comradeship may be the hallmark of socialist society, but the village Kino lives in is full of thieves and cheats.
As the novel moves slowly on to a finale obvious from the midpoint of the book, one wonders what Steinbeck is trying to say. "The Pearl" is not supposed to be just a story, it's so unsatisfying in that department its clear the Bard of Salinas had other fish to fry. But what?
You are left in the end not really knowing. As a classroom exercise, I guess it can provide some lively discussions if the teacher isn't too much of a tool. There's bits of good Steinbeck prose here and there, like his description of a watering hole where cats take their prey and lap water "through their bloody teeth" and the last image of the pearl itself, which captures a sense of otherworldly menace quite unexpected from this otherwise realist story. As an account of cruel nature, it works in a reductivist way.
But I can't see it as a "classic" in the same sense as other Steinbeck novels I've read. It's no "Grapes Of Wrath". Maybe because it's short it makes for a more popular scholastic reading assignment than "Grapes Of Wrath". But "The Pearl" is no easy read, nor is it satisfying.