# Rediscovering Steinbeck



## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

After my sister mentioned watching Of Mice and Men, I opened my Kindle and previewed the first pages some of John Steinbeck's work.

Just amazing work. I think the last time I read anything from him was twenty years ago. 

Enjoying his work again – I even have my son picking up Of Mice and Men over his third round with Hunger Games   

I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath. Good stuff.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I watched _The Grapes of Wrath_ movie not long ago and thought "I really should read this." (I'm not sure I've read it, though I have read some Steinbeck. Read Cannery Roy after going to Monterrey, CA) Now you've made me remember that I thought that...

For those who have read Steinbeck, do you have a favorite?

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I read _Of Mice and Men_ in HS and again in College. Had to write papers on it . . . . . in college I re-worked the one I'd written in HS. 

In the college one especially, the teacher was not excited that I was able to make the point that it wasn't as depressing a story as most people usually thought. Not that it was roses and chocolate with rainbow colored unicorns, but that George did the best he could with Lenny and really cared for the guy. She told me I only had that optimistic point of view because I was so young. I was good with that.  I'm not exactly 'young' any more, but I still think George did the best he could for the guy and really cared for him. . .his final act was to protect him from worse in prison. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> For those who have read Steinbeck, do you have a favorite?
> 
> Betsy


_Of Mice and Men_ is my favorite Steinbeck novel.

It's a good, timeless story.


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Travels With Charley is a wonderful read.


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## BowlOfCherries (May 8, 2009)

I've read a number of his books and enjoyed them all, particularly "East of Eden", "Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men", and "Cannery Row".  I've also read one of his writing journals from when he was working on "East of Eden".  Never realized  when I was reading "East of Eden" that it was partly the story of his own ancestors.


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## Todd Trumpet (Sep 7, 2011)

LauraB said:


> Travels With Charley is a wonderful read.


Laura B beat me to it by about 20 minutes:



Book Description: "To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the tress, to see the colors and the light-these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years. With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. And he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, on a particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and on the unexpected kindness of strangers that is also a very real part of our national identity."

It's not his best-known book, but I enjoyed taking the ride.

Todd


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

I like Steinbeck. But I was a little disillusioned about Travels with Charley. Wasn't there a report that it was largely fiction?


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I really loved Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.  I also liked To a God Unknown, but not as much.  East of Eden should really go on my TBR queue.

There is a passage in Grapes near the beginning about a turtle that's simply great, but contemporary authors would have a hard time pulling off something like that nowadays.  Too bad, I love that kind of writing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> For those who have read Steinbeck, do you have a favorite?
> 
> Betsy


My favorite Steinbeck book is ALL of them. He is possibly the greatest American writer.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Interesting, I went on a craze for Steinbeck in my college days when an ROTC instructor, of all people, directed me to him.  I remember enjoying Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row, and some other books, but haven't thought of him in years.  I may have to check him out again.


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Jon Olson said:


> I like Steinbeck. But I was a little disillusioned about Travels with Charley. Wasn't there a report that it was largely fiction?


Not that I've ever read. I have read a collection of his journals and letters and parts of the experience are in there as letter form to a couple family members, and editors. I wouldn't beteverythi g I have it is 100% nonfiction, being Steinbeck, but I don't think any of this takes away from the story.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

I am not a fan of his big, rather melodramatic novels, but I like Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and Travels With Charley. I didn't read the Travels as a travelogue - more like a commentary to places and times that I find quite fascinating.


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## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

I absolutely loved Of Mice and Men when I studied it for GCSE. One of the very few pieces of work that I studied that I genuinely enjoyed! I loved how it unashamedly used plot devices to elicit emotions from the reader. It definitely worked.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Jon Olson said:


> I like Steinbeck. But I was a little disillusioned about Travels with Charley. Wasn't there a report that it was largely fiction?


Good question - I thought it was his encounters during the cross country travels. I found an image of the trailer he put on his pickup to travel. Gotta love Google Images.

BTW, some might find this funny. Wasn't until few years ago that I realized Cannery Row was a Steinbeck novel. Till then, had just thought it was a decent Nolte/Winger movie


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## Shana Norris (May 31, 2011)

Due to moving around during high school, I ended up having to read The Grapes of Wrath twice. Didn't like it either time (and I usually liked the books we had to read in school). But I read East of Eden a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Of Mice and Men is on my to read list.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I always had a soft spot for Steinbeck.  I had to read two of his books in school, but unlike a lot of books I had to read in school, I loved his.  I then remember a writing assignment for English class where the teacher said that my ability to describe the setting was, "potentially as good as Steinbeck" but that I had "better learn how to type because your handwriting is so bad, it's hard to read!"

I now have a bunch of books and type quite quickly...so, guess I learned something there.


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## D.A. (Mar 29, 2012)

Steinbeck is one of the strange writers for me who are book specific.  I love and hate him.  For me, Of Mice and Men was a brilliant richly characterized story that as stayed with me in memorized chunks for years.  I still feel something nearly palpable for those guys, whereas Grapes left me shrugging.  I had read Mice first, and then turned to Grapes with excitement, and was disappointed.  The emotional reach was not there for me.


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## Twofishes (May 30, 2012)

The differences and similarities between The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden fascinate me/


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## Grumbles (Nov 29, 2011)

bxs122 said:


> After my sister mentioned watching Of Mice and Men, I opened my Kindle and previewed the first pages some of John Steinbeck's work.
> 
> Just amazing work. I think the last time I read anything from him was twenty years ago.
> 
> ...


For those serious about rediscovering Steinbeck and who don't mind actual books, the Library of America has the best deal that I know. Check out http://www.loa.org/steinbeck For 16 bucks, you can pick up three volumes containing most of his major works; if you want to be a completist you can pick up his final volume for 30 more bucks. The LOA is a great organization that produces great volumes of classic american works. The 3 Steinbeck volumes are the "intro" deal to a subscription, but you can of course cancel immediately and owe nothing. Not involved in LOA in any way other than being a very satisfied customer.


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## Sporadic (May 1, 2009)

Jon Olson said:


> I like Steinbeck. But I was a little disillusioned about Travels with Charley. Wasn't there a report that it was largely fiction?


Pretty much but I still think it is a valuable story. His complaints back then of "everything is being sterilized and streamlined" are still being said today except now the people saying it are wishing they could go back to the period he complained about. It also gives a much needed reminder that we have made some progress regardless of how it feels sometimes.



wiki said:


> Bill Steigerwald, a former staff writer for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and an associate editor for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, followed the route as it is laid out in the Travels with Charley and wrote about it in the Post-Gazette, and published an article "Sorry, Charley" (April 2011) in Reason magazine. Steigerwald concluded that Travels contains such a level of invention, and Steinbeck took such great liberty with the truth, that the work has limited claim to being non-fiction.
> 
> He uses the dialogue with the itinerant Shakespearean actor near Alice, North Dakota to exemplify his point. On October 12 Steinbeck wrote a letter to his wife describing a motel in the Badlands where he was staying, the same date, October 12, as the supposed conversation in Alice. Given that the Badlands are some 350 miles away from Alice, Steigerwald concluded that the conversation with the actor was unlikely to have occurred. Even Steinbeck's son believes his father invented much of the dialogue in the book, "He just sat in his camper and wrote all that [expletive]."
> 
> ...


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## Kenton Crowther (Jan 5, 2012)

Loved _Cannery Row_, _Mice and Men_ and _Sweet Thursday_ (that I found a bit sugary-sentimental, but delicious). _Grapes of Wrath_, epic and superb. _East of Eden_ was boring though, and so was _The Winter of Our Discontent_. Just my personal tally and summation of books read years ago. The kicker is, I can now rediscover and re-evaluate the lot on the Kindle. Yay!


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> For those who have read Steinbeck, do you have a favorite?
> 
> Betsy


East of Eden, and then Grapes of Wrath.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

D.A. said:


> Steinbeck is one of the strange writers for me who are book specific. I love and hate him. For me, Of Mice and Men was a brilliant richly characterized story that as stayed with me in memorized chunks for years. I still feel something nearly palpable for those guys, whereas Grapes left me shrugging. I had read Mice first, and then turned to Grapes with excitement, and was disappointed. The emotional reach was not there for me.


I am starting to find the same - interesting difference between the two novels.


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## Alpha72 (May 9, 2012)

Very neat.


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## John A. A. Logan (Jan 25, 2012)

LauraB said:


> Travels With Charley is a wonderful read.


At school here in Scotland, Steinbeck was the first writer that really gripped me. OF MICE AND MEN. And THE PEARL. 
CANNERY ROW I read much later and was fascinated by the anarchic characters, as well as his analogy regarding the workings of the internal combustion engine vs certain facets of human anatomy.
In 1993, I worked my way from New York to Los Angeles, passing through Oklahoma City where I found TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY in a tiny, run-down second-hand bookshop where the owner offered me "a deal"...50 cents maybe. I realised on reading that I was not doing too bad a job, without realising, of re-tracing the trajectory he had taken across the States with Charley in the camper van.
I took the book back to Scotland that year, intending to cherish it life-long as a memento, only to have it borrowed by someone who never returned it (and they didn't even ask to borrow it, just left a note to say they had taken it!)
Good book though. 
I am still saving THE GRAPES OF WRATH and EAST OF EDEN up for some later day...find I'm doing that subconsciously with Dostoyevsky and Knut Hamsun too...read half their output...saving the other half for some "rainy day" later on.


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## aecardenas (Dec 16, 2011)

I think for me, Steinbeck was one of those writers who kind of got overshadowed by the Big Three—Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald—who were the ultimate stylists. Compared to those three, Steinbeck always felt "lacking" somewhat, or, rather, not as stylistically innovative. 

So it was with some great pleasure that I, too, kind of rediscovered him some years ago, after reading East of Eden and finding it a powerful (yet somehow flawed) novel. I read Of Mice and Men and Grapes of WRath. Loved Mice but thought Grapes to be too much of a deliberate "masterpiece"...I mean, it's a great story, but a little too preachy. Of Mice and Men, though, is a beautiful book. Timeless and perfectly written. Someone once recommended Cannery Row, so I think i may have to read that one, too.

I find Steinbeck to be a really great writer, who tells a story in a very simple, straightforward manner. And I think it's because of this simple manner of storytelling, he kind of gets overshadowed by Faulkner and Hemingway and Fitzgerald. But I think his writing can be just as powerful sometimes.


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## Mark Young (Dec 13, 2010)

John Steinbeck's works are near and dear to my heart. I grew up in Pacific Grove and spent a lot of time along Cannery Row. In many ways, his characters still haunt that part of Central California. Those who have not read his novels are in for a treat.


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## Stan R Mitchell (Feb 26, 2012)

I know I'm late in answering this thread, but I've really enjoyed reading everyone's perspectives.

I'm in the same boat. I was like, "meh," on Of Mice and Men, and I couldn't even get through Cannery Row.

BUT, I think Grapes of Wrath is an epic masterpiece. I have a copy I read about once a year that has lines and lines underlined, notations I've written throughout, etc. That book is very valuable to me -- both because it's a brick-like hard back that's older than crud and because of all the things I've written in the margins. 

But the greater point is I wonder what causes a writer to have such an effect on people with his/her own works. You know, where you hate some of their stuff and love others? 

And why doesn't this seem to happen with mainstream authors much? (Or does it and I'm just an idiot?)

For instance, Lee Child, Stephen Hunter, Robert B. Parker, Tom Clancy -- these are just some of my favorite authors -- all their stuff seems to be pretty much the same. You either love it or hate it.

I do know John Grisham has written a couple I've hated, while loving the rest, so anyway, not sure what all this means, but I'd love to hear some wisdom from some of the more experienced writers in here on what causes this to happen. And if it happens less today than it once did. (I have the same experience with Hemingway as I do Steinbeck... I love some of his stuff and hate others...)


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## LadaRay (Apr 6, 2011)

Both amazing stories by Steinbeck.


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## MadCityWriter (Dec 8, 2011)

I recently (just a couple of months ago) read Of Mice and Men because I had read an article in the New York Times by a NYC high school teacher who said it made her students -- even her toughest boy -- cry.  I was surprised at how complex the characterizations were, and how I was drawn to the story.  It's very much a "guys'  story," but I had difficulty putting it down!


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

East of Eden. Lee is one of my favorite characters in literature.


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## pamstucky (Sep 16, 2011)

East of Eden is a STUNNING work of art. One of the best books of all time - and I said that long before Oprah did!


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## Stan R Mitchell (Feb 26, 2012)

All right, that does it. I've never picked up East of Eden, but I will now. The comments here have sold me. 

Thanks all for what I hope is a GREAT read!

P.S. I'd still love an answer to the question of what causes some writers to have some of their stuff loves and other pieces hated, while many contemporary authors seems to have either consistent love or hate.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Stan R Mitchell said:


> But the greater point is I wonder what causes a writer to have such an effect on people with his/her own works. You know, where you hate some of their stuff and love others?
> 
> I have the same experience with Hemingway as I do Steinbeck... I love some of his stuff and hate others...


There's not just personal taste involved here. Most people acknowledge that some of Hemingway's novels, especially the later ones, are well below his best. I love Hemingway, but like most stylists he wound up imitating himself. You just have to thankful for the really great ones ... Old Man and the Sea, Farewell to Arms etc.


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Tony Richards said:


> There's not just personal taste involved here. Most people acknowledge that some of Hemingway's novels, especially the later ones, are well below his best. I love Hemingway, but like most stylists he wound up imitating himself. You just have to thankful for the really great ones ... Old Man and the Sea, Farewell to Arms etc.


Maybe I read your post to quickly but it confuses me  . I don't think "most people acknowledge that some of Hemingway's novels, especially the later ones, are below his best." The last novel _he completed_ before he died was The Old Man and the Sea. And it won the Pulitzer Prize. There were a three novels published after his death, but they were not completed by him. A Moveable Feast was submitted to his editor with a letter saying he wasn't finished with it, and hadn't finished his revisions and hadn't decided on an ending. But he died before he was finished with it. His fourth wife did the revisions, rearranged the chapters, and selected an ending. The newest version had the same thing done by one of his Grandsons. And Island in the Stream was found in a stack of his things by his fourth wife, but he never submitted it, leading one to wonder if he was finished with it, or if he thought it publishable. There was a novel published in 1999 that Hemingway had left even more incomplete at the time of his death.

Maybe I am to generous, but I don't think I will judge a writers "later works" as being "well below his best" when they were incomplete upon his death  . Like any novelist he may have had inconsistent writing, but I've never read a bad Hemingway (or Steinbeck) and I've read a lot of both.

From the two examples you give I am confused, he didn't write enough, past your examples, to imitate himself.

edited for typos


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

Seleya said:


> East of Eden. Lee is one of my favorite characters in literature.


And mine too, Seleya.

Another discussion asked "What's a NOVEL that has changed your life?" and why. Here's what I said, quoting from the novel:

I can't remember when I first read the book, sometime in high school probably.

The servant Lee talking with Samuel and Adam about his vacation trips to San Francisco and discussing philosophy and religion. "Timshel." A person has a choice of which way to go, which path to follow.

"...this was the gold from our mining: 'Thou mayest.' The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in 'Thou shalt,' meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word timshel-'Thou mayest'-that gives a choice. For if 'Thou mayest'-it is also true that 'Thou mayest not.'  It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if 'Thou mayest'-it is also true that 'Thou mayest not.'

"...Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win."

What a wonderful book that has stayed with me through many decades and many decision in my life.

Deckard


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## dinojay2 (Jul 12, 2012)

I re-read Grapes of Wrath every 3 or 4 years for some reason, even though I actually preferred East of Eden. Tortilla Flats was pretty memorable for me too.


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## Stan R Mitchell (Feb 26, 2012)

Thanks, dinojay2, for the recommendation. I'll try Tortilla Flats, as well.


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## sealy (Jul 15, 2012)

I'm sold.  I'm off to pick up a copy of East of Eden.


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## philstern (Mar 14, 2011)

Maybe we'll call this the Old Man and the English Teacher thread. (Or would that thread be about old Hemingway novels?)


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## Alexandra Sokoloff (Sep 21, 2009)

I agree with Tony Richards - the best work of Steinbeck's is ALL of them.  I read everything he'd ever written the summer I was sixteen and it still happens the same way - if I pick up one, I end up working my way through all of them.

But Betsy, to start - "Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men", and "East of Eden" are the can't miss, IMO, and from there it depends on what kind of read you're looking for - they're all very different reading experiences.

And no one's mentioned "In Dubious Battle", but for me, even though it's not the masterpiece "Grapes of Wrath" is, it packs even more of a punch in some ways.


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## Aaron Scott (May 27, 2012)

I really liked his King Arthur book.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

LauraB said:


> Maybe I am to generous, but I don't think I will judge a writers "later works" as being "well below his best" when they were incomplete upon his death  . Like any novelist he may have had inconsistent writing, but I've never read a bad Hemingway (or Steinbeck) and I've read a lot of both.
> 
> From the two examples you give I am confused, he didn't write enough, past your examples, to imitate himself.


Okay, I'll give you two points here. One, I was not aware that he had never submitted _Islands in thre Stream_, one of the novels I was thinking of. And two, I ought to have said 'some' of his later novels. Obviously, _The Old Man and the Sea_ was a huge return to form. But _Across the River and Into the Trees_ is widely acknowledged as being an example of Hemingway mimicking his own style. He didn't write enough to do that? How much do you have to write, exactly? Is there a word limit that you have to exceed?

Hemingway is one of my literary heroes, but he was far from flawless ... who is?


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

I was going by what you wrote. You didn't say some of his later ones. You said his later ones.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

LauraB said:


> I was going by what you wrote. You didn't say some of his later ones. You said his later ones.


My humble apologies.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

_Grapes of Wrath

Of Mice and Men_


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## raychensmith (Jul 11, 2012)

Recently read Travels with Charley.  Interesting slice-of-life deal of 1960.  Needless to say, great writing, and Steinbeck's observations are often witty (I like how he describes interstate truckers as being like sailors in submarines). It's also interesting to see what he gets wrong (e.g., the uniformity of food, which, of course, totally changes with the influx of non-Western immigrants from the mid-'60s onwards). The ending of the story, when he travels through the Jim Crow South, was horrific, something straight out of Black Like Me. Overall, a truly great book, esp. anyone who's interested in learning about mid-20th-century America.


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## jasonzc (Dec 23, 2011)

The Pearl, which I read in 1982 or so, fifth grade, still sticks with me to this day.

Stupid gigantic pearl worth a fortune...


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