“O.K. Someday we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple acres an’ a cow and some pigs and--” “An live off the fatta the lan’,” Of Mice and Men, is a novel that was published in 1937, about two ranch workers, Lennie Small and George Milton. The two men migrate around California, during the Great Depression, in search of new work opportunities. This novel is a tragic realistic fiction.  Although I was able to relate to parts of the novel, it was not a book that I really enjoyed.  I did like one of the novel’s themes of never giving up on hopes and dreams, but  overall I found the story a bit boring.  Lacking suspense, the dialogue was a bit dry for my taste and I did not like the broken dialect.  On a deeper level, I also struggled with the bullying and harassing of a man with mental issues.  Given the complexity of this novel, including death, I believe the recommended reading age for this book should be 9th grade or older. 
    Even though it was not a personal favorite, I do recommend that high school students read this novel, because it is a classic that has many lessons tied to humanity; such as, it is good to dream and that there is always hope for a brighter future.  However, for me, this book was not a page turner and I found it hard to concentrate at times due to the dialect and grammatical errors. I was able to connect with George Milton, the everyman in the story, who has a dreams of living of the land with his friend.  Similar to George, I am a dreamer.  When life is challenging my dreams are what keeps me going.  The setting and events that occurred were bit more challenging for me to make a connection, because segregation does not occur today.  Realistic fiction is a genre I enjoy, even though I did not love the novel. Steinbeck did do a good job realistically portraying the characters and did leave readers with an accurate portrayal of segregation and the hardships that occurred during this time period. I did not enjoy the way John Steinbeck wrote this novel, because the dialogue is choppy and failed to keep my interest.  There were a few surprises, but I often felt they were expected. The climax, of the novel, was when Lennie killed Curley's wife. Maybe I didn’t expect him to kill her, but I knew Lennie was going to destroy their chances of a brighter future just like he has in the past. Also, certain chapters were a bit boring and could definitely have used more action. The plot was believable, because during the Great Depression many men like George and Lennie were in search for work to support themselves. The appropriate audience for this novel would be high school or college students, because it shows that the world can be a cruel place and like George and Lennie you must grow up and learn how to survive.