Last Impressions: Of Mice and Men

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” Of Mice and Men is a novella telling of the adventures of two Californian ranch hands, Lennie and George. The two men share a dream to someday retire and have their own place together, living off the “fatta the land” with no worries. But one unexpected event will change George and Lennie’s lives forever and shift their focus from dreams to reality. In my opinion, Of Mice and Men was a deep but rather mediocre novella. I feel as though this book could have been better if it was longer and more descriptive, giving me more time to get to know and feel for the characters. I feel that I was not able to empathize for any of the characters and for me, being able to put myself in a character’s shoes makes a novel much more fun to read. However, I am glad that I read Of Mice and Men when I did because it opened my eyes to sexism, racism, and how much times have changed over the years. If I had been any younger when reading this novel I feel as though I would not have understood or comprehended its key concepts as much as I did at this age, so because of this I would recommend it for ages 14 and older.

Overall, I would not recommend Of Mice and Men. Although I did learn a great deal about society from reading it, this novel felt like a classic “English class” read: something that was written to be analyzed. Although I usually like novels with meaning behind them, Of Mice and Men just didn’t grab me. I found it slightly hard to read because of the slang and jargon used by the writer; although this was used to show the time period, it made reading the novel a little more difficult to understand. Although the style of writing was new to me, the genre was not. In fact, realistic fiction is one of my favorites-- another reason why Of Mice and Men kind of disappointed me. In addition to the difficulty that the writing provided for the reader, I did not feel as though I could connect with any of the characters, which made the novel harder to connect to and less entertaining to read. The plot was believable but not very interesting, and I feel that there were not many times when I was genuinely surprised with a plot “twist”. As well as a lack of ups and downs in the plot, chapters were rarely finished with scenes that compelled me to keep reading in the way that some other works I have read this year, such as The Odyssey, have done. In the end, Of Mice and Men just wasn’t a great novel for me, but if you enjoy going back in time and learning about the way things used to be, it might just be the novel for you.