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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Possible Life Changing Set of Books. A must for anyone!, April 21, 2002
Before ordering this box set, I had only read Mice of Men and watched the Grape of Wrath. I can't believe that I have been missing out on the great books by John Steinbeck. I can not urge you enough to buy this box set. It is cheaper than buying all the books separately. On top of all that, the books are very nice and high quality, so they will last a long time and can be passed down or around to friends or family. I must commend Amazon for the great price, and the praise the publisher for the excellent box set. It was delivered to my house on Friday. By the end of the weekend, I had read three of the books. I read The Pearl, Cannery Row, and Of Mice and Men. The Pearl is a wonderful novel. It is short and a good primer to get into the set. I don't want to give the plot and etc. The novel deals with wealth. The problems that come with wealth. It makes you think about wealth in a new way and confirms some of the widely known problems that come with sudden and unexpected wealth. The main message of the story is profound and subtle at the same time. It makes me think about those people who just won the Big Game Lottery for over $350 million (roughly). In Georgia, a twenty year old woman won, and the jackpot was split three ways with two other winners. She told her friends and her friends told other people, and the whole world shortly knew about it. She has people chasing her for money. The phone was ringing of the hook with creditors and other people wanting to sell her something. The Lottery Comm. told her (and her family [mother and father and etc.]) to get out of the state or at least town because of the threat to her family being kidnapped and held for ransom. People know what she and her family looks like because they went on television, and they know, as a result, were she lives at. Jay Leno on television is making fun of her and family. I know you're asking yourself, "Ok. So what. What does this have to do the book and the set?" If you read the book, you will understand, and it will make sense to you. You can see the book applied in real life. If you win the lottery or a great sum of money some other way, you might handle it better because you read this book, or you might just be contempt and happy as you are right now. Canner Row is a riot. It takes three chapters to really get in the story, and it gets better as you go along. By Chapter 15, I was laughing my *ss off, and it continued for throughout the middle of the book. Then it gets more serious, and you are left with a profound message at the end. Mack and the boys are funny as hell. It will change your impression and thoughts about people you would look down on and etc because of societal norms and common beliefs. I don't want to give anything away about this book. It was worth the price of the set alone. YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY, IF YOU READ THIS BOOK. BUY THIS BOOK, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. Everyone knows about Mice and Men. I not going to go over that. If not, then read it, and you will like it.
Within a weekend, I have 3 of the 6 books, and I'm not a book fanatic or worm. I might just turn out to be one. Well, if there are more books like these. I can't believe that throughout my high school career and college (still going) that one professor never suggested that we read any of these books. For the most part, I have had to read a bunch of crap for the most part that consist of feminist or love and other works except for Shakespeare, Sophocles, Cold Mountain, Huck Finn, and Animal Farm. I can tell you why students don't like to read. It's because (beside the time factor and other compelling media) we (students) are forced for most part to read crap that is part of some indoctrination, not good old classis like John Steinbeck and several other authors like Swift, Faulkner, Stoker, Dafoe, Conrad, Tolkien, Hemingway, and so on. It is politics that is killing the love for the written word, so keep politics out and try to foster the love for the written word so interest will lead them on to new books. I use to hate to read books, but I started reading books that I have never read and , now, love to read and can't find enough time to read. Use this to examine the books that you read to provoke further thought about the book and it message or meaning.
http://www.greatbooks.org/library/guides/index.shtml
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by John Steinbeck
by J.D. Salinger
by John Steinbeck
by Ernest Hemingway
by Ray Bradbury
