Of Mice and Men

       I had only ever seen the movie of this story, and thought it was a pretty good movie. Or rather, a good story line all together. Then I thought that I would go ahead and give the book a try as well. Of Mice and Men, is  a story about two very close friends, jumping from job to job on the hard road, rucksacks full of supplies, and minds full of the hope that one day they might make enough money to move to the paradise, thought up on the free time of the harsh jobs at hand. These friends are extremely close, might as well be biological brothers. This seems like it is a soon to be happy ending. Girls, riches, paradises and all. However, this is a false statement indeed. For you see, of the two travel mates, George, and Lennie, Lennie happens to have a mental retardation. He Slurs words, never remembers anything besides the paradise he has built in his head, has the mind and spirit of a young child, and he also has an unbelievable strength that he has a rather hard time controlling. This, is why they must jump from job to job. Avoiding the cleaning up of the messes Lennie creates with his strength and stupidity. No matter what the challenges of these two best buddies, they seem to slip by every problem they face. Almost.

       Of Mice and Men is a very touching story, that definitely brought me in, and attached me to the characters within the first few pages. Sadly, I happened to like the movie much more. Obviously you still have to give credit to the guy that wrote the thing in the first place, but sometimes the second making can be just a little better than the first. The movie just contained so much more detail in the story. And boy, do those little things add up. Also, Lennie was a much more interesting character to think about when his voice, and his expressions were put in my mind. It helped me really see how much trouble these two guys had to go through. Or more accurately, what George had to go through. All in all, it is a great story, movie or not. However, I am not rating the story, I am rating the book. So, i give it a b+, and would recommend any form of this story to anyone. (the movie is on Netflix, just F.Y.I)