The plot progressed swiftly so something compelling was happening on almost every page, and there was no extraneous fluff. Like the other books I’ve read by Steinbeck, I thought it was exceptionally well-paced. I guess Kino’s single redeeming quality was his love for his son, but he was still a total dick.Įven though I didn’t care much for the main characters in The Pearl, I did think the story was interesting. I just wished Juana had gotten up the strength to leave Kino or fight back. I wasn’t offended by this because it is, unfortunately, a key element of many violent relationships. I wished she had come into her own and maybe hit Kino in the head with a frying pan like in Fried Green Tomatoes, but she seemed completely acclimated to her husband’s abuse. She seems to be capable and rises to immediate action when the scorpion stings her baby, but she stays with a man who beats her and makes excuses for his actions. She existed firmly within the duel roles of loving mother and long-suffering wife, but she didn’t really feel like her own person. Juana was a potentially likable character, but I didn’t feel like she was particularly well-developed.
Kino in particular doesn’t want his son to have to live like he has. Coyotito is not even old enough to talk yet, but even though he doesn’t actually do much in a way he’s Juana and Kino’s biggest motivation. There are really only three major characters in the book- Kino, Juana, and Coyotito. She wants to dispose of it but Kino makes it clear that he has no intention of letting that happen. Unsurprisingly, things soon go horribly wrong and Juana starts believing that the pearl is cursed. Kino sees the pearl as a way to have a better life and pay for an education for Coyotito, his son. In what seems at first like a stroke of miraculous fortune, Kino finds an enormous pearl that he believes he can make a lot of money off of. I didn’t feel like the main characters were as well-defined as George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men, and it was pretty hard to care about Kino, the main character he was an unsympathetic brute who treated his wife like shit.Īt the beginning of the book, Kino and his wife Juana’s infant son gets stung by a scorpion and Kino goes hunting for pearls that he can sell in order to pay for the baby’s medical care. Out of the three books I’ve read by this author, this was the one I felt most apathetic towards.
In fact, I find myself wondering if John Steinbeck ever wrote anything remotely upbeat. My mom warned me that it was ‘miserable,’ and she’s right it isn’t exactly a happy tale. I was hesitant to write a review for this book because I didn’t think I had that much to say about it.
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