7/10I read this around seven years ago. It is Steinbeck's last novel and it is really good. The title of the book is from the opening line of Shakespeare's Richard III (see the annals of this blog to find my post on Richard III).
The book is about this grocery store clerk and his humble fam. He is an honest guy who works hard for his living while those around him (even his own little family) feel that money can be made in any way, even through dishonesty, and that happiness will result. Soon, he bends to some of this pressure and faces some opportunities to make a quick, dishonest buck, but he does not break. However, he gets pretty down on himself for not being able to instill these ideas on his family and just about loses it in the end. Much of the blow coming from finding out that his son won this huge writing competition but that his essay was plagiarized.
It's a cool book and very well written.
Quotes:
"Piracy is out, but I guess the impulse lingers....Something for nothing. Wealth without effort....It's all dough, no matter how you get it." "I don't believe that. It doesn't hurt the money to get it that way but it hurts the one who gets it."
"A little hope, even hopeless hope, never hurt anybody."
"You who handle poverty badly will handle riches equally badly....In poverty she is envious. In riches she may be a snob. Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms."
"You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway."
"There's nothing blacker than a wick....It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone."
No comments:
Post a Comment