I finished reading this classic about a couple minutes ago, and I have to be honest. I really liked it. This book deserves its place on the recommended reading lists. It's short so it should appeal to the casual reader. In fact, you can finish it in a couple hours. The edition I have is a mere 118 pages long, but each page is jam packed with emotional dialogue between characters, and vivid imagery that gives off the feel of that "backwoods America". It never gets boring (at least for me). However, this story does not have a happy ending. If books could make somebody cry, roll around the ground in agony, and feel depressed for a small amount of time afterward, this would be one of them.
The plot basically goes like this. Two homeless guys, George and Lennie; are traveling together looking for a job. They're like two dissimilar peas in a pod. On the one hand, George is intelligent, cunning, and level headed; Lennie is dumb, slow, obsessed with rabbits, and incredibly strong (which plays a key role in the story). George acts as a big brother (ironic considering their implied size differences) for Lennie, in the occasions that he accidentally goes too far. He isn't violent. He's just childlike with no way to control his strength, much like a kid a gun. He kills animals when he pets them (mice and a puppy) which foreshadows the fate of other smaller creatures he encounters. They both share one goal however. It's the quintessential American dream. The only thing they want in life is to start up their own farm and "live off the fatta the lan".
The book starts off with the two in the middle of a forest running away from something, apparently from lynchers that want to kill Lennie for trying to "rape" a woman when the reality was that Lennie was feeling her dress (he liked velvet). The duo figure out that they need to work for money and food, so they get a job at a farm. The primary problem comes in the form of an angry little man that loves to pick on bigger people, who goes by the name of Curley. He also happens to be the son of the farm owner. Then there's his promiscuous wife, who Lennie immediately finds himself attracted to, which kind of brings back the reason why they got in that mess.
It's not all bad for George and Lennie. They meet a one handed farm hand who goes by the name of Candy. He also wants his own farm and promises to pitch in his own money to make their combined dream a reality. You can't help but feel elated that they might actually live on their own, despite the unrealistic nature of it all.
Things start to look good but they quickly fall flat. Curley's wife manages to catch Lennie alone and despite his attempts to get away, he becomes enthralled by her hair. Of course, she screams, and Lennie (who innocently just wants her to keep quiet so George doesn't scold him) tries to muffle her, killing her in the process. You can already tell by now that the two are in some deep shit.
Lennie runs off into the woods while Curley; in a rage, forms a search party to find and kill him. George can only reluctantly follow along. Lennie starts to hallucinate and sees images of his Aunt and a giant rabbit; entities that he adores with all his heart. They start scolding him for dragging George along and at this point, the reader would probably stop and think "Why does George put up with Lennie?" The images fade and George (the real person) comes into to comfort Lennie. This leads to the most poignant part of the story. George now realizes that if he doesn't bring in Lennie, he'll be taken along and killed too. But if he does, Lennie will be locked up or killed by the enraged Curley. Left with no choice, he tells Lennie to turn around and envision their dream home in the distance. As Lennie does so, George brings out a gun, wobbles while positioning the muzzle at the back of the head, and finally kills his own distracted friend, execution style.
As the last pages start to come up, you realize that it probably killed George on the inside to do what he just did. After all, this was something that nobody should have to do. It becomes hard not to shed a tear at the way that these two men were already on the right track to achieving their goal in life only to have it be thrashed to pieces by a simple accident. When one of Curly's men utters the question "Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?" in the last line of the book, the reader immediately knows the answer.
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