Chapter 6 of CANNERY ROW opens with a rich description of a Pacific tide pool. "It is a fabulous place: when the tide is in, a wave-churned basin, creamy with foam, whipped by the combers that roll in from the whistling buoy on the reef. But when the tide goes out the little water world becomes quiet and lovely. The sea is very clear and the bottom becomes fantastic with hurrying, fighting, feeding, breeding animals. Crabs rush from frond to frond of the waving algae. Starfish squat over mussels and limpets, attach their million little suckers and then slowly lift with incredible power until the prey is broken from the rock. And then the starfish stomach comes out and envelops its food." The passage continues for two pages, reveling in grace and beauty, but also in danger, violence, and death, ending at last with the tide filling the basin once more while "...on the reef the whistling buoy bellows like a sad and patient bull."

In her fascinating but rather academic introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of CANNERY ROW, Susan Shillinglaw suggests that the tide pool is also a metaphor for Steinbeck's study of the inhabitants of the ramshackle buildings behind the old sardine canneries in Monterey, California. Certainly, these characters have a lot in common with creatures hidden under rocks that come out only at certain times of day. But they are fascinating when they do. Other readers have rightly commented on the wealth and humor of the loosely-connected series of anecdotes that make up the novel; this is a heart-warming tale that almost simultaneously brings a smile to the lips and a tear to the eye. The Steinbeck that could look with such sympathy into the gentle heart of simple Lennie in OF MICE AND MEN, or applaud the desperate will to survive of Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, paints this collection of marginal characters with affection and without judgement. Describing them as "whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches," he changes that in the next sentence to "saints and angels and martyrs and holy men" and means the same thing; the book proves his paradox.

But I look at the passage about the starfish quoted above, and read further in Steinbeck's description of the pool, "tranquil and lovely and murderous," to his account of the black eels, the snapping shrimps, the seductive anemones, and that "creeping murderer the octopus... [attacking] ...as ferociously as a charging cat." Although there is danger, death, and tragedy in the human tide pool of Cannery Row, it is relatively muted. Perhaps Steinbeck, writing at the end of WW2 with several tough novels behind him, wanted to leave violence behind. The pay-off is the warmth of what remains; the danger is occasional sentimentality. While there is tragedy implicit in the novel, it is suggested in softer tones.

The tide pool is seen through the eyes of the one character who rises above the others: old Doc, who makes a living collecting zoological specimens. As an observer of the human world as well, Doc might seem the writer's surrogate, but while Steinbeck treats him with empathy, he also keeps a certain distance; this is not autobiography. The character is based on Ed Ricketts, the book's dedicatee, a marine biologist whom Steinbeck accompanied on the extended study trip immortalized in THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ. Doc is well-liked but solitary, his life cheered mainly by classical music on the phonograph, occasional women, and continual beer. Although we meet him early on, we realize only gradually that Doc must be very lonely -- a realization that makes us aware of the essential isolation of most of the other figures in the book. A very few go under, but most manage to rebound by doing something at once outrageous and life-affirming. At the height of a wild party in his honor that brings the whole community to his door at the end of the novel, Doc recites an old Sanskrit poem of lost love. I am not sure that the actual poem completely works, but the combination of sadness and joy, like the two masks in the old theater, is a perfect summary of this marvelous book.

i thought this would be a stupid book becuz we had to read it for an english class, but it was actually pretty interesting. i read to the end before the class, for once

i thought this would be a stupid book becuz we had to read it for an english class, but it was actually pretty interesting. i read to the end before the class, for once

If you're a person who likes stories with lots of action and an exciting plot, then this book probably isn't for you. If you're a person who likes unique and fascinating characters, then this book is DEFINITELY for you. Cannery Row is about everybody's hometown. It follows the lives of a handful of townspeople--a group of bums led by Mack, a scientist, a whorehouse madam, a shopkeeper--and somehow Steinbeck manages to get me to sympathize with and understand each of them while at the same time making them very real and very flawed. While I might cross the street in real life in order to avoid an encounter with an aggressive "bum," I fell in love with Mack and his boys living in Cannery Row.

This book is more similar to East of Eden than to Grapes of Wrath. It's short, very easy to read, and I didn't want it to end.

What John Steinbeck does so well, time and again, is show us real people, living real life. Nothing really fantastical, yet just a bit out of the ordinary. But real as dirt.
Reading him makes me wish I did not have to use the past tense when speaking of how he writes.
I just finished his 1945 novel, Cannery Row.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book is not so much about plot, as it is an evocation of time and place. Almost, at times, a panoply of connected vignettes.
Short, economic chapters; never a suffocating moment.
The "cannery" district of Monterey California comes alive, as we meet people like Lee Chong, the shrewd, yet good-hearted general store owner.
From aspirin to zippers, if Lee Chong ain't got it, you ain't need it!
Then there's Mack, the self-appointed ringleader of a veritable posse of down-and-outers. These guys don't work. [I envied them all the way through...] They just sit around all day and cause unintentional mayhem for the whole town, the main victim being Cannery Row's one seeming intellectual, the marine biologist known as "Doc."
The central thrust of Steinbeck's novel is that Mack and his boys want to throw Doc a party. Doc is such a "nice guy" and he is always out there helping others, Mack figures it's time to repay him with a bit of a shindig.
Amazing how such good intentions can go awry!
The first attempt at a party is a complete disaster. The second attempt, this time the event being Doc's alleged birthday, is not much better, but by now Doc has taken precautions. Getting wind of his own party plans, he himself does most of the organizing, and feigns surprise when people start arriving.
But what's the use?
At the end of this second party, his front door is again knocked off its hinges, and by now even the police have given up on arresting these well-intentioned hooligans!
It's a terrific little novel [almost a novella] in which my lasting impression shall be the fact that all friendships, indeed, all human relationships, must be willing to embrace imperfection. Not just in the other person, but also in our own self.
In a subtle way, Doc learns through his bumbling friends, that he is not an island. In fact, he may even need these guys, from time to time.
Even he, self-sufficient Doc, may be in need of someone!

I often look into Steinbeck's Letters [a book] to get a better appreciation for the time frame of some of his writings. Of Cannery Row, he said, back in 1943, to a friend... "I'm working on a funny little book and it is pretty nice."
I concur.
It is funny. It is nice.

The character of "Doc" was based on Steinbeck's real-life friendship with a man by the name of Ed Ricketts.
I read Cannery Row in preparation to reading a new book I recently picked up, entitled Beyond The Outer Shores: The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts, The Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell.
It's by Eric Enno Tamm, and I look forward to beginning it, next week.

I highly recommend Cannery Row, to all and sundry.
It's not East of Eden.
It's not Grapes of Wrath.
But it's definitely Cannery Row!

This is the seventh Steinbeck novel I have read, and also one of the worst (The Short Reign of Pippin the VII is worse). I loved The Red Pony and Of Mice of Men, so I branched out, reading some of his lesser known works. Big Mistake. This novella has no focus, no character you can relate to, no plot to speak of, no definitive climax, and no business being read. I daydreamed through most of it.
The reason I don't give it one star is because Steinbeck, like in most of his novels, provided a great description of post-war Cannery Row, and did a decent job of presenting violence on the periphery (kind of like the news today). We see glimpses of violence but we, nor the characters are ever directly affected. Furthermore, the novel's ending is decent, comparing Doc's lonely isolation to that of a gopher being attacked while trying to seek out a mate. Unfortunately, most things leading up until the ending is uneventful, constantly interrupted by dead-end subplots, and lacking in intrigue.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but it did not draw me in nor give me any emotional attachments to the characters. It seemed to be divided into shorter stories that make up the book in whole. This left me missing details and there didn't seem to be a smooth transition between stories. I enjoyed hearing about Mack and the boys and their adventures, but at other points Steinbeck seemed to introduce characters that don't play any part in the story. The look at the blue collar life and discussion of what type of work makes one happy did interest me as I am going through a career crisis.

"The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous - but not quite." J.S. "Cannery Row"

Like Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", Steinbeck focuses on a cast of characters that fail to consent to the rigid rules of our money-obsessed, Capitalistic American society that the rest of us automatons (myself included, unfortunately) blindly conform to. Like Kerouac's unconventional classic which would come out a dozen years later, "Cannery Row" doesn't have much a plot. It is essentially a short tale about the lives of the men and women who populate the cannery district of Monterey, California right after the great depression. And a truly unforgettable cast they are - Mack, Doc, Lee Chong, Dora, et al... Each character is real and unique, each character so exquisitely human. One of the main reasons why I enjoy Steinbeck so much is the fact that he is able to write about the frailties of the common American while not being as overly judgmental and self-riotous as other greats tended to be at times (i.e. Sinclair Lewis and Dreiser to name two). He was a writer who focused on the benevolence that resides in men's hearts and souls, despite all their imperfections and sins.

In my past life, before I became a well respected,'successful' business man. Before the ulcers, before the insomnia, before the apathy and ennui swallowed up my soul, I was your classic beach bum. It almost seems as if that past life of mine never really existed - surfing twenty to forty hours a week, living off of bad coffee and Top Ramen, working odd jobs a couple days a month so that I had enough money for beer and to cover rent, letting my hair go long and shaving only when I felt like it, partying five nights a week, etc... etc... What a bum I was back then! Yet back then, you never saw me sans a smile. Despite all the unhealthy food, all the beer, all the late nights, etc... I was never healthier in my mind and body. I was never healthier because I was truly at peace and happy. This is why I loved "Cannery Row", because it brought me back to that simple time and place. In many ways, reading this was quite a bittersweet experience. However, we all have to grow up someday don't we? At least that's what they all say...

This is one of my favorite reads of all-time. Right up there with "Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden" (the latter being my second favorite novel of all-time) and of all his novellas, this is definitely the best in my opinion. I haven't read them all, but I've read the majority of them, and although there are plenty of other jewels in that bunch, "Cannery Row" is the gem among gems. It is a simple story, but sometimes simple can be sublime, and this short story is all the proof one needs to back up that statement.

So great, I read it twice!

I will just say this: When I finished reading Cannery Row, I turned the book over and read the description on the back cover, which ends "...and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love."

Those last four words, "unexpectedly finds true love", were my key to this story. At first I thought they made no sense (I will not say why so as not to spoil the ending for anyone), so I went back and read the book again, particulary the last three chapters, and thought about the story as a whole. And there I discovered the true genius of the book, the subtle and mysterious layers of meaning beneath the surface of this seemingly lighthearted tale.

Breathtaking. Beautiful. Sublime.

That's all I can say. Every chapter and word counts in this story. It all adds up if you pay attention, so read it, with your eyes and with your heart.

Although not a moralistic epic like "Grapes of Wrath", "Cannery Row" delivers a short, entertaining tale of the many lives in Monterey, California, circa 1940s. There is no one character that stands out as the protagonist, as Steinbeck paints an elaborate portrait of the characters that make up this rundown, seedy part of town. This ensemble of characters and their intertwining stories serve as the foundation of his novel.

Throughout the novel Steinbeck paints a vivid picture of life in this lonely port town. Although the Great Depression is over, most of the characters are still downtrodden and poor off financially. However, Steinbeck generally focuses on the better aspects of these people. Yet, there is not all glowing praise for these outcasts and misfits. Steinbeck infuses his generally optimistic view on Cannery Row with flashbacks and vignettes that are dark and disturbing. Death and suicide are an occasional subject, as Steinbeck pierces his otherwise uplifting book with morbid accounts. Of course, this helps to contribute to the realism of his book.

Overall, "Cannery Row" is a short yet poignant story of life for the downtrodden living in a rough port town. Although we can generally sympathize with the characters, Steinbeck lends just enough realism to prevent us from having an overly utopian view of Cannery Row. It's ironic that the real Cannery Row in Monterey has now been gentrified into an upscale shopping area. Yet, Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" lives fresh in the novel that he wrote more than 60 years ago.

Steinbeck's Monterey is an entrancing place. Starting with Tortilla Flat (New Longman Literature: Steinbeck) through Cannery Row and into Sweet Thursday (Penguin Modern Classics). Cannery Row is less about a story with a central character but more about this small section and its inhabitants. It's a book about a community with a variety of smaller stories intertwined to make it one of Steinbeck's most overlooked books. The characters are entertaining and the vividness of the setting is fully fleshed out by Steinbeck. Certainly worth reading.

Being a Steinbeck fan, and having read a number of other Steinbeck titles, I (thankfully!)stumbled upon Cannery Row. This is a fantastic book! What struck me about this book, perhaps most profoundly, is Steinbeck's sense of humor. More than his other titles, I found this book to be quite comical and clever throughout.

I've always admired Steinbeck for his placement as one of the great American authors, yet his books are wonderfully approachable and available to the average reader. Don't let the "classic" distinction scare you off, read him - and put Cannery Row at the top of your list.

For anyone who's not familiar with Steinbeck, please
read East of Eden or Of Mice and Men before this. This
book is extremely slow and goes into a LOT of details
about California's Salinas Valley. It's about an odd
assortment of characters trying to make it through
life. Think "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" meets
"On the Road," except without all of the moving around.

The writing is fantastic; it's just the story moves along
very slowly, almost at the pace of a rowing boat. I'm
giving the author three stars for effort. The story wasn't
bad but it's not quite as impactful as his other works.

Probably the easiest read of all John Steinbeck's books. I knocked this one out in one day after fighting my way through The Grapes of Wrath in my last read. I'm working my way through the author's California books and I'm about to start East of Eden. Only one more California book after that - Sweet Thursday. Cannery Row is so easy to follow, especially if you have seen the Nick Nolte movie which is a combination of Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

This is the fifth time I have read it. There will be more. See the Nick Nolte movie if you get a chance. It's pretty faithful to the book and narrated (I vaguely remember) by John Huston, one of the all-time great narrators.
A young daughter of a friend told me that she too had read "Canary Row" thinking it was about birds! LOL.

If you read some of Steinbeck's work, you will soon discover that he has some wonderful short stories and some interesting novels, i.e.: his writing is much more extensive than a few good novels. The present work is an novel but it is under 200 pages in length.

John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968) was among the best known American writers of the 20th century. His 1939 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "Grapes of Wrath," has over ten million copies in print. Steinbeck was born in rural California, went to Stanford, and spent most of his life in California. He has been associated with the plight of farm workers and others. His books have been very popular and many were made into movies and stage productions. He won an Academy Award nomination for best story in 1944.

I have read a number of his novels and am still surprised with the stories, which are exceptional. In general, his stories are very detailed and descriptive, and it is clear that he had a natural flair or gift for writing.

The story dates from 1945 and is primarily the residents of Cannery row in Monterey, California. The street is near the ocean and used to process or can fish. The story is about a resident Mack and a biologist called Doc, both who live on the same street and the interaction between those two and others, including Lee Chong who owns a general store. Doc makes his living by picking up sea creatures from the beach and selling them by mail order. This is not an intensive nor a dramatic story but rather it describes a few weeks in the life of the street. The prose and character descriptions are excellent. The story takes place mostly in the Monterey and Carmel areas, and in an era before commercial development.

This is a quick short read and an excellent introduction to Steinbeck. It is among his better works and one of his top selling books. In any case, do not stop with the present work since he has many more great novels including "The Grapes of Wrath," and "Of Mice and Men," or any one of a few dozen novels and short stories.

Is the length of this book the reason that English teachers assign it? I suspect so, but Cannery Row is definitely not a good introduction to Steinbeck. However, as a character study, it's miles above just about any American book out there.

I had read most of Steinbeck's books, but somehow I missed reading this one until now. It was as good as any of his other works--almost as good as my favorite East of Eden, but in a different way. I highly recommend it to any Steinbeck fan.

"Cannery Row" is an unusual book in that it has almost no plot, which would seem essential to a short novel. However, rather than focusing on constantly moving forward in time, Steinbeck uses the novel to explore his setting in three dimensions and in all senses. The interchapters, which at first are rather bewildering and seem basically irrelevant, are entertaining and serve to enlighten the reader as to what is going on outside of the adventures of Mack and his boys, a few of the many inhabitants of Cannery Row. "Cannery Row" is highly underrepresented and undervalued in the world of literary criticism. It's a very rich and rewarding book in all its layers.

john steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, and this is the book of his that is most dear to my heart. a somewhat rare thing here: a great book that didn't depress the daylight out of me. mr steinbeck's cast of losers, whom revolve around the protagonist "Doc," are completely compelling, original and lovable fictional portraits. Doc, himself, is one of the great characters in american literature. this short book can be easily read in a day and just might stay with you for a lifetime. there is a sequel to this novel, called "sweet thursday," and some people will tell you that it is worthy of the first. I do not agree at all. sweet thursday is a big let down, seeming not much more well done than a tv sitcom. another steinbeck book that IS close to as good as "cannery row" is "tortilla flat," which has a somewhat similar cast of characters, and a similar theme. both "cannery row" and "tortilla flat" are tremendously enjoyable american classics that no book lover should miss.

It isn't my favorite Steinbeck to date, but as always I can still admire it. He has such a fantastic home-grown quality to his writing. Each chapter is like a short story set in the same place sometimes using the same characters sometimes introducing new ones that are only tangentaly related to the characters we have met in previous chapters. There is an over arching plot--but each chapter is self contained as well.

The boys of Cannery row want to throw a party for Doc, the nicest guy they know. Throughout the book they try various ways to acheive this and each misadventure is filled with more heart and soul than the next.

Unlike alot of the books from this era that high schoolers are forced to read this book is overall, pretty uplifting and certainly has a happy charm to it that "Grapes of Wrath" lacks (which is a genius work, but is never going to win feel good book of the year)

In this book you can see Steinbeck's genius as it is still gestating you can sense as the reader that he still has even better things to write, but this is still an amazing work. Well worth the read.

I was given this book by my bishop and I'm glad I read it. Today, Monterey California's Cannery Row, where Steinbeck told of poor folk and sardine canning, has been developed into a world of quaint shops, high prices, and quizzical tourists.Doc's Western Biological Company, where he collected lab animals for science, has morphed into The Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the worlds great aquariums and conservation organizations. (A very favorite place of mine.) The freewheeling life Steinbeck depicts at the Palace Flophouse is today thought of more sordidly as "homelessness." Too bad. Poor folk have stories and grace; indeed, their stories are deep and diverse. The grace of the lives within this book is abundant, the sense of life as scaps in a quilt, not "lifestyle." This is a book about men. Women who are not whores with hearts of gold are domesticators and nags. Its central image is the tidepool, battered, changeable, and full of life and hidden tragedy. Its scene stealer is a spoiled pointer puppy named Darling.

I found cannery row to be one of my favorite steinbeck novels. The characters are very easy to relate to, and the way he worked in the theme of contentment is perfect.