Spoiler Alert!

A gripping tale from the very start. John Steinbeck managed to divide my affection and share it equally among all the characters, something I did not experience with a book in quite a while.

The imbalance brought upon George’s life due, not only to Lennie’s size, but his childishness and inability to stay out of trouble will have repercussions on their future projects. This is what keeps the story propelling.
The ending was slightly bland. When I drew nearer to the end and felt the scarce number of pages waiting to be read, I began to see potential scenarios and blurry closures to the storyline. But I didn’t see it coming. I wasn’t expecting Lennie to die, even less George being the one to take him out.
When described earlier in the book, the brush hiding out meant haven in my head, it meant a safe refuge for the pair who were human magnets for trouble. It meant a temporary station to sort things out whenever Big Guy messed things up a little. But I guess the last stunt he pulled wasn’t so little. And so, the protective aura of the brush broke to pieces when George planted Carlson’s gun in the back of Lennie’s head.
But if George didn’t pull the trigger, someone else would have. And in that case, would he have not had regrets like Candy did when they killed his dog?

A very enjoyable quick read. I think I might tackle John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ if only I had it in English. The inaccurate title translation to French (‘les raisins de la colère’) makes me put off reading it for some reason.