George Milton and Lennie Small travel together through California during the Great Depression, picking up work on farms and ranches. George is small, sharp and impatient; Lennie is enormously strong but has an intellectual disability and a childlike love of soft things. They arrive at a ranch near Soledad after trouble forced them out of their last job.
What keeps them going is a dream they repeat like a bedtime story: a small farm of their own, with a few acres, a vegetable patch and rabbits for Lennie to tend. On the ranch they meet the ageing swamper Candy, the isolated stable hand Crooks, the boss's aggressive son Curley and Curley's restless young wife, each of them lonely in their own way.
Steinbeck built the short novel almost like a play, with tight scenes, heavy dialogue and few settings, and he later adapted it for the stage. Its power lies in how much it compresses: friendship, loyalty, the precariousness of itinerant labour and the way hope sustains people with little else. It is one of the most widely read books in American schools.
Book details
| Author | John Steinbeck |
|---|---|
| First published | 1937 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Classic |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 107 |
| Setting | A ranch near Soledad, Salinas Valley, California, 1930s |
Themes
- Friendship
- Loneliness
- The American Dream
- Disability
- Powerlessness
Who should read it
Anyone wanting a short, emotionally powerful classic that can be read in an afternoon and remembered for years.