Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Description

“For some reason I thought Steinbeck would be grim and gritty and so I avoided his work, until a friend put a copy of Cannery Row into my hand. Yes there is grit, but there is life and laughter and great spirit too. A short gem!” Ann

‘Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.’

Meet the gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, during the Great Depression. They want to throw a party for their friend Doc, so Mack and the boys set about, in their own inimitable way, recruiting everyone in the neighbourhood to the cause. But along the way they can’t help but get involved in a little mischief and misadventure.

It wouldn’t be Cannery Row if it was otherwise, now would it? Packed with a ramshackle joi de vivre, Cannery Row is Steinback’s high-spirited tribute to his native California.