I just got finished reading the novel and have to say both the film and the novel are high on the top of my list. The novel runs long in some parts (the fixing the car part - Oy Vey!) but overall a very good read. I give it a 9/10.
He won. Get over it.
Just read it for the first time a few days ago. For some reason I expected it to be boring but I couldn't put it down once I started reading. Very very good book.
shareRead it in high school...1968. Read it twice since. Seen the movie at least 5 times. Like you, love them both!
Hickman looks like the only actor from the film that's still alive. It's amazing the some of these actors were born shortly after the civil war! While I was young, my grandfather told me that life was short. Didn't quite relate to that, but I sure do now.
I read the book before seeing the movie and was crying by the end. Steinbeck had an amazing way of portraying characters that we might not care about normally. He makes they into everyman, all of us. He does not get preachy though he does get a little lengthy. The movie is a little hokey--but I never felt the book was. Steinbeck created quintessential Californians from real life, not Hollywood, and you could really feel their humanity, lack of pretension, humility, and their hope for the future no matter how badly life treated them. He was amazing.
It's my favorite book. Too bad the code kept the film from being true to the book but perhaps the book was too long to film anyway. I love the movie too.
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