A Blonde's Thoughts On....Of Mice and Men

"when she was shoving her legs around, you weren't looking the other way neither"

okay, so I'm not going to get all American Lit on you in this blog, I mean I loved English class and reading and creative writing and all that junk but I LOATHED talking about themes, foreshadowing, deeper meanings, symbolism, blah blah blah....it like so totally ruined the enjoyment of reading, like you know what I mean? like, for sure!

hahaha ANYWAYYYY...

don't let your senior thesis paper take the joy out of just reading books!!!! I LOOOOOOOVED "Of Mice and Men" when we read it in high school. We had a kick ass teacher, who was super hot, and told us whatever answers we gave, we were right because reading is subjective! I LOVED THAT. and in turn, understood the book SO much better because the teach would give us the textbook answers of what was what but also every student added their own interpretation.

so here's mine...

1) I will say I enjoyed the movie 10x better than the book! maybe that's the blonde in me or the horny teenager in me (John Malkovich and Gary Sinise sweating doing hard labor....HOTTTTTTTT) but I've always been more visual, not to say the book wasn't GENIUS...cause it is.

anyway, its about George and Lenny, two friends in the depression era who travel together and look for work together. Lenny is slow and very off and it frustrates George but he keeps em around because a) he promised Lenny's family he would and b) he admits he gets lonely....don't we all? their friendship is more of a brother bond and I LOVE that. they are ride or die. and while I don't want to give away spoilers, their relationship will bring you to tears on multiple occasions!

now getting technical, the "themes" of this book are all very brilliant and still resonate so strong to today in 2013. the main ones being loneliness, isolation, and relationships and how each one could help you or destroy you. I, for one, like to be in isolation, doesn't mean I'm lonely but I do get bouts of loneliness. if I didn't force myself to go to my cooking class or visit my family who live 3 hours out of town, I would go crazy. as much as I love being by myself, human existence is based on being around other people. in the case of "Of Mice and Men", being around other people is both a bonding experience, a growing experience, and a life changing experience for the good, the bad and the ugly. in the book and movie you can see themes of good vs. evil and those who try to be good but can't, no matter how hard they try. "Of Mice and Men" is not suppose to be the fool good book of the year but rather be reflective of the lives we are living, the relationships we build, and what we are doing for or to others. are we building each other up or just trying to bring others down to get ahead in life?

there are more "themes" to discuss but I want to leave it up to YOUR interpretation. if you've already read the book, let me know how you read it. if you haven't, please download it on your kindle right now! its amazing! and if you're not a reader, download the movie off of itunes, you won't regret it.

what books do YOU recommend? were there any other I may have sparknoted by way through high school? I love revisiting classic literature now that I'm not going to be tested on it afterward ;)

anyway, that's my random babble for the day. different for me, I know but I've just been loving this book lately and wanted to share!

have a blessed Friday and a happy weekend :)

xo

Trish