J's Reviews > Cannery Row

Cannery Row is a little like Winesburg, Ohio, the nice collection of connected stories by Sherwood Anderson. Steinbeck's work is not made up of interwoven stories, but the vignettes that make up the tale are sort of isolated and many could stand alone.

Steinbeck had a knack for developing characters effortlessly, though I'd guess he would've said it took great effort. Doc, Lee Chong, Mac, Dora, and even the dog, Darling, are all well conceived characters.

Doc: the scientist/philosopher. Mac: the slacker with compassion. Hazel: the dimwitted but strong boy who was almost a girl. Dora: the sophisticated, pragmatic, well-dressed madam of the local brothel. And the place itself, the row of canneries in Monterey, CA, is a character, like London might be in a Dickens novel.

The plot is not the center of the action. There are some suicides and some sad souls. There is life, and there is beauty and pain. Love doesn't conquer all but makes the suffering less horrific. It's almost the same story in all the great works of literature. Every great writer is trying to aim their own personal microscope at life, yet most keep seeing the same little one-celled organism squirming around, trying to make sense of chaos, trying to brighten the darkest parts of existence with a little love, a little individuality, a little spontaneity, a bit of good cheer. Sometimes it doesn't work, and sometimes it does. Sometimes it just "is" and the little amoeba wakes up with a hangover and has to grab a beer first thing in the morning at Lee Chong's grocery.