Cannery Row
John Steinbeck
I’ve been on a Steinbeck kick for the last few months, and this is one of my friend S’s favorite books ever. I borrowed it from him and read it. I enjoyed it a lot, but there are definitely Steinbeck works that I like better. In the same style (a series of interrelated vignettes about a group of people living in the same place), I think “The Pastures of Heaven” is better, and feels more modern. Cannery Row felt a bit dated to me in that Steinbeck spent a lot of it dwelling on the wisdom or goodness of people who are considered outcasts by modern society. I think at the time of its writing that might have been a novel perspective, but it feels a bit traveled to me reading it today.