Fiction Literature Books

Literature textbooks like these are quite worth the price that you're paying for. First, it lacks the visual colorful photos of another textbooks and focuses in on literature. I am glad to see Philip Roth's story, Conversion of the Jews, to be included in the short story section. Primarily because Roth writes novels, his short stories are few. he should be in the anthologies because he is one of America's foremost writers and most American particularly New Jerseyans don't know who he is. In 2005, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Anyway, I picked this book up at a yard sale. This book is filled with tremendous assortment of authors, writers, and poets like Somerset Maugham, John Updike, James Thurber, William Faulkner, Katherine Mansfield, Toni Cade Bambara, Edgar Allen Poe, Katherine Anne Porter, Jamaica Kincaid, Margaret Atwood, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kate Chopin, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Anne Tyler, Stephen Crane, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., John Steinbeck, Shirley Jackson, Alice Munro, Leo Tolstoi, Raymond Carver, Anton Chekhov, Flannery O'Connor, Ambrose Bierce, Jorge Luis Borges, Willa Cather, Langston Hughes, Franz Kafka, D.H. Lawrence, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank O'Connor, Tillie Olsen, Edith Wharton, William Carlos Williams, Charlotte Bronte, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Thoeodore Roethke, Countee Cullen, Anne Bradstreet, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, John Milton, William Wordsworth, W.H. Auden, John Betjeman, Thomas Hardy, JOnathan Swift, William Blake, Robert Grave, John Donne, Herman Melville, Wole Soyinka, Lewis Carroll, Wallace Stevens, E.E. Cummings, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Oscar Wilde, Jean Toomer, John Keats, Walt Whitman, H.D., Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Denise Levertov, John Ashbery, Ben Jonson, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Paul Simon, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Aphra Behn, A.E. Housman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alexander Pope, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Olson, Louise Bogan, Anne Sexton, and so many countless other authors, writers, poets, playwrights, etc. that makes this book nearly perfect for a classroom without all the notes and nonsense that clutter some textbooks.

I'm using this for a Lit. class. There's a good collection of works here.

I had to pick this up for a college course...it has an excellent sampling of various literature written in different styles and at different time periods.

Whether you want to have a collection of short stories, poetry, drama, etc, this book deserves a place on your shelf.

Thanks, Doc Staley.

I picked this book up for a class, expecting to be perfectly bored. Instead, this book woke up my sleeping love of learning and literature. The book is easy to understand and contains MANY great stories and poems in it. It also has a great glossary and index was well. It came with an additional feature, MyLiteratureLab, which is an accompanying web page. That is also very helpful indeed.
This book is so good, there were even people at work wanting to check it out!

I wrote to complain about the 7th edition of this standard anthology because the editors had removed one of the world's truly great short stories, Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych," from the volume. I must now eat my words because the editors have replaced that work; I am pleased to say that I once again endorse and use the work. I wrote about the 7th edition; the Tolstoy restoration, I think, occurred in the 8th edition. I am writing now about the 9th edition, which is certainly strong and useful; I know the editors shouldn't try to please everyone.

I do not, however, retract my comments about the use of pop songs to teach poetry; I think the section on "pop" is a major flaw in the work. One person complained (in this space) about my wanting to restore Tolstoy to the textbook--from his comments, I gathered that the person thought Tolstoy (1828-1910) was an American writer, rather than Russian; he kept speaking about "multiculturalism" and "international literature" as though Tolstoy did not represent a "diverse culture." Frankly I think that all the currently popular songs (rap or rock or something else) represent a perverse culture rather than a diverse culture. The same person implied his disgust at "humanism" and "liberalism," labels that I would be proud to wear.

It does matter what is included in a textbook for introducing literature at the college level. I think the current edition of Kennedy and Gioia is a good, solid work. (And if someone is incapable of distinguishing between "poetry" and "verse," I have nothing further to say.) The student essays remain, but I will not quarrel with that. But let me see: if I were a carpenter and teaching students to build a house, would I show them examples of dilapidated, poorly-constructed ones because that is the extent of their current ability, or would I show them a house that was constructed by professionals?

When first in Russian business, I was told to read "Brothers Karamazov" to understand the Russian. As always, there are three sides to the Russian coin and this masterpiece reflects this fact about this land of 1000 years. The chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" is to me one of the greatest tracts in the world's literature and reflects on organized religion as well as a Russia about to implode. Absolutely essential.

Frederick R. Andresen, Author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia."Walking on Ice: An American Businessman in Russia

At the beginning of my freshman year at college, a girl told me to read this book, it would 'change my life'. She wouldn't elaborate further. Now that I've read it, maybe I shouldn't either.

Read it.

Odd, its one of the most painful books I have ever read, it left me a wreck when I finished it.

But its...comforting. Not in the story, in my own life. That won't make any sense till you read the book. (And every synopsis/interpretation on the web misses the whole meaning completely.)

Take it as the last testament of a man who bounced from Christian to Socialist and back, "tormented by everlasting sin and injustice--both of one's own, and the world's" (quote from character in BK). "Thirsting for belief" and simultaneously very much "I will be a child of this age--a man of unbelief--till the lid of my coffin closes", and asking 'the parable of the prodigal son' to be read to him as he died.

The story is like life in general...beautiful and then ghastly, painful, loads of hatred and love twisted and not so twisted.

It hasn't got any pat answers, beautiful explanations for tormenting questions, or happy endings. But its...comforting. Read it.

________________________________

Actually, I couldn't stop crying for awhile after I finished The Brothers Karamazov. It was weird, it hurt so much, and yet it felt so true, like real life is like that. And then I felt this love welling up inside that didn't leave for awhile. Its like TBK hurt so much and at the same time gave this love inside and felt so true that the book was devastating and painful and comforting all at once.

This book will probably give you these common symptoms of many readers of the books. Namely:

1. took 3 weeks to recover from one of the books and become a functioning member of society again. Couldn't talk about the books with other people during that time, because it felt so intensely personal.
2. wanted to change your life after recovering from TBK.
3. shortly after recovering from TBK, found oneself choking up about the meanings of things too heavy for words.



******spoilers ahead****************
It says so much about life, and it is so true. Especially what it says about shame, hatred, strained virtue (Katya), torment, injustice, hope, and love. At the end of the book, I was bawling so hard because it felt so real. This sounds weird, but the book is so comforting precisely because parts of it are so painful and raw like life. I felt like it was saying: yes, there is so much wrongness, there is so much pain and defeat and death, and we have the choice to rage against earthly injustice like Ivan, or like Mitya and Alyosha, put all our hope in that inexplicable love that rushes into our heart at the darkest moment....to put our hope in it, and to love and forgive. Oh dear, I'm slaughtering it, this post doesn't do it justice at all.

In my opinion Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" is a seismic event in world literature because it puts God at the center of the discussion during a highly secular time, it is a tremendous piece of existential-psychology, and the characters are so unforgetable. Plus, it is a great murder mystery with several surprises and unforgetable scences. This is a must read!

"The Brothers Karamazov" left me speechless. It definitely merits a second reading because there is SO much to absorb here. Dostoevsky presents a perfect mix of philosophy, religion, social issues and a page-turner of a plot. This is one of the best books I've ever read. Highly recommended. The translation, by the way, is fantastic and I will read all of my Russian literature by this amazing team of writers. I loved this book so much that I immediately purchased a hardback copy of it for my family library.

A truly wonderful piece of fiction.

Dostoevsky's (1821-1881) classic work was written towards the end of his life (between 1879-1880). It is a tale of a dysfunctional Russian middle class family; the story follows significant events in the lives of the father (Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov) and his three sons (Dmitri, Ivan and Alexei).

Although the first half of the story is slow to develop it is well written and easy to follow (maybe this is a trait of this era of Russian writers, I found Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' had the same qualities.) The latter half of the book was, in my opinion, much more dynamic and interesting to read.

The translation of the work, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, from Russian to English, is well done; subjectively, to me, it seemed to captivate many of the subtleties and nuances that I can only assume Dostoevsky wished to bring forth in his novel.

However be forewarned, reading this novel is a true labor of love and a definitive exercise in perseverance. The book is 779 pages long and 'dense' with regards to the number of words per page. Some paragraphs go on for pages; some sentences can be difficult to follow because they are exceedingly long and punctuated with many commas. Also, Dostoevsky at times, uses his novel to expound (often, at some length) upon a few of his philosophical theories regarding such opposing forces as life/death, good/evil, and the existence (or not) of God.

Conclusion:
Many consider this one of the finest books ever written, and it may be so; this is obviously a very subjective opinion. I really enjoyed the book, especially the second half (beginning with Dmitri's tale). However, if your not an avid fan of Russian literature or if your simply reading it for pleasure then this book requires a degree of dedication to finish. But make no mistake about it, the quality is there, and if the story tweaks your fancy you'll be well rewarded by reading Dostoevsky's final masterpiece.

R.Nicholson

I guess the title says it all. I liked the writing style. However, this is probably one of the most boring books I have ever read. I couldn't even finish it. So maybe it picks up in the second half. I will never know and have no interest in finding out.

This book is full of grace. An old minister, who knows he is dying, writes letters to his young son, telling him who he is, what he observes and believes. The epistlatory format and slow moving narrative might put off some readers who crave overt conflict and action in a novel. For me, reading this book was like spending a summer evening on my grandfather's porch, listening to his stories, and watching fireflies.

The book arrived in excellent condition and in a timely manner. Thanks so much.
Jackie

Such a moving and powerfully sustained reverie. For a long time, when reading it, I thought its narrative voice was of an African American. To me, one of its most intriguing lines is: "He told me once that being blessed meant being bloodied, and that is true etymologically speaking, in English--but not in Greek or Hebrew. So whatever understanding might be based on that derivation has no scriptural authority behind it."
I feel this to be true based on my own dreams. If you care to visit my website, www.eveningsessions.com, I have written about dreams, the bible, and psychoanalysis in my book, Evening Sessions With Dr Priestly, in which I quoted this excerpt from Gilead.

The narrator, John Ames, is 76 and a preacher who has lived almost all of his life in Gilead, Iowa. He is writing a letter to his almost seven-year-old son from his second marriage. The letter is a consideration of John's life containing touching reminiscences and meditations on fathers and children, particularly on sons, on faith, and on the imperfectability of man. All the critics loved this one. I found it moving and thought-provoking generally but also a bit boring. I think my lack of full appreciation could be because I do not have any children.

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. We read it in my fourth year french class, right before graduation. It is such a simple tale wherein lies a deep and meaningful message. It is open for interpretation, which is part of what makes it so great. You really have to think in order to gather the entire message. I hope to purchase the french version soon.

this is a classic book -- a wonderful read. i bought this copy for some friends in Burkina Faso who don't get a lot of books. i figured that they might as well have the best.

I originally went into Borders to purchase this book, it was double the price. Not only was the amazon purchase priced better, but i recieved free delivery! One couldn't ask for more....

This book is perfect for French reading comprehension. It's an easy read, with an entertaining story!

I half-expected this book to be a children's book but it actually contained philosophical ideals people would often ask themselves in life. Highly recommended

The life lessons present in this book are invaluable. I highly recommend reading it.

There are very few American novels that can be called a classic, but the trails and tribulations of the Jode family during the Great Depression stands at the pinnacle of 20th century literarute. Nobel prize winner for this his master opus, Steinbeck has etched in the minds of the American public in the 20th Century what Dickens did in the 19th. One of your best bets in the classics department. Riviting.

Steinbeck's novel of social injustice was from the beginning considered a Great American Novel selling over 300,000 copies in its first year, "a phenomenon on the scale of a national event. It was publicly banned and burned by citizens, it was debated on national radio hook-ups; but above all, it was read." Steinbeck scholar John Timmerman sums up the book's impact: "The Grapes of Wrath may well be the most thoroughly discussed novel - in criticism, reviews, and college classrooms - of twentieth century American literature." Within a year John Ford made a major movie starring Henry Fonda and in 1962 the Nobel committee cited The Grapes of Wrath as a "great work" and as one of the committee's main reasons for granting Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Perhaps it's most fundamental message is the equality of life, there is no difference between the poor and rich, other than a bank account, all life is sacred. Treat a poor person with dignity and respect and they will and can do as well as anyone else. It is a timeless message and one that bears constant repeating, although Steinbeck's treatment is a bit folksy and sentimental.

Contemporary critic Carl Van Doren said "This novel did more than any other Depression novel to revise the picture of America as Americans imagined it." The American image of the frontier pioneer moving westward had shifted to the Joad family. The Joads encapsulated the American character and spirit of independence, scrappy can-do hard-working virtuous, an American hero archetype. Martin Seymour-Smith says the work is fundamentally flawed because Steinbeck can not show why the California businessmen's behavior is wrong - after all, they are just trying to make a living, would the Joad's in their shoes have acted any different? "There is a conflict in him [Steinbeck] between the philosophical unanimist and the humane socialist," in other word how the Joad's treat animals (as objects) but demand equality in humans. Thus the books message of all life being sacred, no matter its circumstance, is fundamentally contradicted.

In the end Grapes of Wrath is of epic proportions and a gripping story. It's often seen as the quintessential American novel of the 1930s and certainly one of Steinbeck's best (along with Of Mice and Men).

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Although it can be very depressing at times it is very well written and it truly captures the strength of the human spirit. From beginning to end this book captures the reader in a way few books ever have. The ending will blow you away.

Don't bother getting the sample of this book...all you're going to get is a long-winded intro and you don't even get all of that.

In my opinion, if your introduction needs CHAPTERS, it's too long!

The New York Times feels that over the last twenty-five years the most influential book has been Toni Morrison's Beloved, over the last fifty years perhaps Ann Ryands Atlas Shrugged or Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird. First of the 5-6 different editions available to read on Amazon provide the best print and paper so its easy to physically read and wears well so it will last the test of time. This latter point is important for those who wish our young children to read the books of your own library. I have only recently read this Pulitzer prize winning novel and was pleasantly surprised. It a story of two young children (Scout and Jem) of the local towns best lawyer (Atticus Finney). The novels story unveils itself with typical young children events the next door neighbors who never comes out of his home and perhaps the highlight is when the children notice the town dog acting like he has rabies and although beloved to the town they know he needs to be contained. Then Atticus a benevolent educated family man who in his younger years was the best marksman in the county shots down the town well loved dog and then bury's him. The plot continues with a African American with a deformed left arm is accused of raping a poor white young lady by her father. A trial unfolds were the blacks are segregated from the white in the stands of the courtroom. There are a few stories dramatically emphasizing the unjust discrimination that Blacks experienced during the mid Depression years (story takes place in 1935). He is found guilty and then the story takes off with the juxtapositioning Good and Bad and the payment of the evil things we do in life, how they can suddenly right themselves. It is a short masterpiece some 319 pages perfect for young children in 4th or 5 th grade. "You can shoot all the Blue Jays you want but remember its a sin to kill a Mocking Bird" is the famous quote from the novel.

This is a review of the movie version of this book which, except for a little confusion about who killed whom at the end (Boo or not), is fairly faithful to the spirit of the book. The main points apply here as well.


This film is an excellent black and white adaptation of Harper Lee's book of the same name. The acting, particularly by Gregory Peck (and a cameo by a young Robert Duval as Boo Radley), brings out all the pathos, bathos and grit of small town Southern life in the 1930's. The story itself is an unusual combination, narrated by Peck's film daughter (and presumably Lee herself), of a stage of the coming of age story that we are fairly familiar with and the question of race and sex in the Deep South (and not only there) with which we were (at the time of the film's debut in 1962) only vaguely familiar. That dramatic tension, muted as it was by the cinematic and social conventions of the time, nevertheless made a strong statement about the underlying tensions of this society at a time when the Southern black civil rights struggle movement was coming in focus in the national consciousness.

The name Atticus Finch (Peck's role) as the liberal (for that southern locale) lawyer committed to the rule of law had a certain currency in the 1960's as a symbol for those southern whites who saw that Jim Crow had to go. Here Finch is the appointed lawyer for a black man accused of raping a white women of low origin- the classic `white trash' depicted in many a film and novel. Finch earnestly, no, passionately in his understated manner, attempts to defend this man, a brave act in itself under the circumstances.

Needless to say an all white jury of that black man's `peers' nevertheless convicts him out of hand. In the end the black man tries to escape and is killed in the process. In an earlier scenario Finch is pressed into guard duty at the jailhouse in order to head off a posse of `white trash' elements who are bend on doing `justice' their way- hanging him from a lynching tree. On a mere false accusation of a white woman this black man is doomed whichever way he turns. Sound familiar?

The other part of the story concerns the reactions by Finch's motherless son and tomboyish daughter to the realities of social life, Southern style. That part is in some ways, particularly when the children watch the trial from the "Negro" balcony section of the courtroom, the least successful of the film. What is entirely believable and gives some relief from the travesty that is unfolding are the pranks, pitfalls and antics of the kids. The tensions between brother and sister, the protective role of the older brother, the attempt by the sister to assert her own identity, the sense of adventure and mystery of what lies beyond the immediate household that is the hallmark of youth all get a work out here. But in the end it is the quiet dignity of solid old Atticus and the bewildered dignity of a doomed black man that hold this whole thing together. Bravo Peck. Kudos to Harper Lee.

A good book but not as good as the movie. The exact ending as to how the attacker was killed left too much doubt as to who actually was the killer--I don't think this was a good way to end the book. If Boo actually was the killer it should have been clearer to the reader instead of making the reader play a guessing game.

There is a reason that this book is extremely popular, and now that I've finally had a chance to read it, I know why: I consider it to be one of the most well-written books I ever stumbled upon.
Lee's writing is so precise and sharp that it makes me wonder exactly how long it took her to come up with the first idea of the story, and then finally to have turned in the final draft for publishing. A story with characters like this could take years to write.
For those who have never had the privilege of reading this masterpiece, do not overestimate this book by its mass popularity; unlike the countless books out there that are popular, no matter how bad they really are, Lee's book continues to thrive in both classrooms and bookstores alike because of the universal lessons it has to teach.
It can be enjoyed by both the young and the old, but I suggest that you wait till you're older to read it, as the mind may not be able to fully appreciate it until it is well seasoned.

I honestly have no idea how many times I have read this book. I read it first as an assignment in the eighth grade; most recently, at the age of 41, I read it aloud to three of my children. As with the more recent readings that I recall, I choked up a bit at the end as Scout is experiencing the tragedy and love that surrounds her in the form of her conservatively eccentric father, her mythically reclusive neighbor, and the whole Depression-era, post-Reconstruction sugary gothic Alabama town of her home.
There seems so little to add in reviewing this book. I will say that even as I read it I ponder the strength of its charm. What is it that is so powerful? Scout is herself quite endearing, although even a casual reading should tell the reader that the first-person voice that is speaking is not the voice of the eight-year old Scout; Harper Lee somehow conveys a tone that retains the childlike innocence of Scout (the child), but the story told is mature and the vocabulary is college-educated. So is this Scout (or Jean Louise Finch) as an adult? I don't think so, as there is very little biographical/autobiographical information provided beyond the timeline of the story (e.g, did Scout grow up and marry?; what happened to Scout's mother?; does everyone live happily ever after?).
I read once that Harper Lee considered this to be a simple love story, or something like that. I've wondered who she was thinking about: Atticus and his kids, or Boo Radley and the kids, or some other pairing. I guess it is all of the above. It's a simple story of relatively normal children with an independently thinking father who all live in the politely racist South of the 1930's. The circumstances that confront this family (racism of the lowest order and ugly poverty and dysfunction from the underbelly of society) are really not abnormal until the violent climax. Blood is shed; much blood. But it is all presented with a humanity and Southern nostalgia that draw us into a world - as ugly as it is - that makes us wish we were there, and that we could have changed a few things.
Highly recommended, if you haven't read it yet.

I think that this product had a little more highlighting and damage done to it than described. But the damage might of been done in shipping and handling. Other than that it was usable.

Needed item for school. Great idea to be able to purchase both volumes at a discounted price.

I received the book before the time stated, which is always appreciated, and it was delivered in perfect condition. Thanks.

I bougth this book out of necessity, because is obligated for my English class this semester. It turn out to be pretty good. It is all poetry from the romantic period to our time. It has great writers, so as T. S. Eliot and more. I got to admmit it thought it will be dull but I was wrong. It is a great book. One thing is for sure, half the poems that I read so far are all related to death, for some reason.

I needed this book for a college British Literature Class. There's a lot of poetry and great footnotes. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the romantic and victorian periods.

I almost put this book down after the first 100 pages. The writing was difficult to get into and I kept thinking to myself, "is it worth the bother?"

I am SO glad that I did persist through the book, because it certainly was worth it. Woolf's writing is very lyrical and flows so freely (and so scattered!) that I sometimes had to re-read sentences multiple times to make sure I'd understood things correctly. It was slow going compared to my usual reading; but it was so beautiful! There's a passage in the book where Mr. Ramsey is reading, and it explains my approach to the book rather well:
"He read...as if he were guiding something, or wheedling a large flock of sheep, or pushing his way up and up a single narrow path; and sometimes he went fast and straight, and broke his way through the bramble, and sometimes it seemed a branch struck at him, a bramble blinded him, but he was not going to let himself be beaten by that; on he went, tossing over page after page."

Woolf's brier patch of words is thick and convoluted, but it was completely worthwhile picking it apart in spite of the slow start.

A beautifully and thoughtfully written novel examining and comparing life and art during the WWI era in Great Britain and contrasting those who experience life primarily through deeds and action (Mrs. Ramsay) and those who primarily experience life through thought and reflection (Mr. Carmichael)--and the underlying contempt and misunderstanding each has for the other.

Lauded as a staple of the modernist canon, Woolf's stream-of-consciousness novel of alienation is better appreciated for its exquisitely delicious prose and her ability to invoke the tragic beauty of striving for intimacy and immortality (symbolized by the eponymous lighthouse), only to find it always just beyond one's grasp. Is there a sadder line anywhere in Western literature than when Mrs. Ramsey is tucking her young son James into bed? "In a moment he would ask her, `Are we going to the Lighthouse?' And she would have to say, 'No: not tomorrow; your father says not.' Happily, Mildred came in to fetch them, and the bustle distracted them. But he kept looking back over his shoulder as Mildred carried him out, and she was certain that he was thinking, we are not going to the Lighthouse tomorrow; and she thought, he will remember that all his life."

Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse" is about the inner psyche of the Ramsay family and friends as they progress over a ten year period. It is written in an stream-of-consciousness style except for an interlude between the two major time periods. I did not find this book very interesting. Although there is a lot of prose on the pages, I found that in the end I knew very little about the major characters. This book just wasn't worth the read for me.
For those of you who don't like "spoilers" (there is one shocker at the end of the first time period), don't read the introduction by Eudora Welty found in this version. It reads like a book report and essentially summarizes the entire plot.

The idea of Virginia Woolf's fiction being read aloud effectively has struck me as an impossibility. The very interiority of Woolf's style seemed to suggest that readers hear the narrative voice within themselves. This reading proves me dead wrong. Virginia Leishman's reading--and interpretation--added much to my passion for a novel I have always loved. Readers--and listeners--new to Virigina Woolf need to be able to listen for long stretches of time in order to follow the stream of consciousness that propels the story. This commitment will be amply rewarded.

I am glad I purchased this. I will listen to it many, many times.

This is a big book but well worth the price and time if you are a serious reader of short stories or trying to write them (as I am). You will find a comprehensive collection of the finest stories from the first efforts down to the present. There is also a wealth of commentary and criticism on the story in general and those in the collection. The Story and Its Writer has to be one of the best single sources of short story material that's yet been assembled.

My book arrived when it said it would and it was in perfect condition. Thanks.

This anthology was something I stumbled upon in college and completely changed the way I approached reading and writing. The stories are a wide variety and the writers writing about writing is a fantastic resource. This is one of the most precious pieces to my library and a must for any serious reader and writer.

This compilation of short stories was used for my Intro. to the Short Story college course. Our professor only picked out certain stories but I found myself reading unassigned stories myself. Some of these stories are wonderful. My favorite was "The Widow's Son" by Mary Lavin. Some other noteworthy stories: "Hills Like White Elephants" Hemingway, "Girl" by J. Kincaid. Too many more to list, a course book I am actually keeping so I can finish reading it. Usually I can't wait to close them after the course and not see them anymore! :)

This is a very comprehensive compilation of the most important classic short stories as well as some newer stories from today's writers. I thought the book was very well organized, especially with the case files and interviews that accompany several of the stories.

There are a few omissions of some classics but nonetheless I felt it was a very good collection.

A must have if studying Fiction.

Walking through middle school corridors, I'd spy kids in the grade above mine carrying John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" and think them lucky. Judging from the cover it was some kind of sea adventure, probably involving sharks and Jacqueline Bisset. This was back in the 1970s, and I was obviously confused.

Flash forward to the present. Feeling nostalgic, I decide to take the book on after years of wondering. It was certainly short, and Steinbeck is a classic writer, so it seemed a good idea.

A terse morality play about the pitfalls of materialism and the depravity of man, "The Pearl" is clearly a think piece rather than a conventional novel focused on characters and storyline. It made me think, too: However bad middle school was, it could have been worse.

Kino is a poor Mexican Indian who lives off the meager pearls he finds swimming for oysters in the Gulf. One day, desperate for a miracle as his infant son squirms from a scorpion bite, he finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen, large as a gull's egg and jet black. Kino sees a brighter future for himself and his family, but the jealous villagers and the plutocratic pearl buyers conspire to keep him in his place.

"The pearl has become my soul", Kino tells his wife, who begs him to get rid of it before someone gets hurt. "If I give it up I shall lose my soul."

Steinbeck does nothing to make you care about Kino, his soul, or his wife and child, other than relate their poverty. They aren't people with personalities, but constructs designed to trot out points Steinbeck wants to make. Published in 1947, when socialism was fashionable and Steinbeck a recognized purveyor of the worker ideal, "The Pearl" might pass as a message about the folly of wealth and the value of living within one's means. Yet Kino and his family are clearly living below any decent standard. Collectivist comradeship may be the hallmark of socialist society, but the village Kino lives in is full of thieves and cheats.

As the novel moves slowly on to a finale obvious from the midpoint of the book, one wonders what Steinbeck is trying to say. "The Pearl" is not supposed to be just a story, it's so unsatisfying in that department its clear the Bard of Salinas had other fish to fry. But what?

You are left in the end not really knowing. As a classroom exercise, I guess it can provide some lively discussions if the teacher isn't too much of a tool. There's bits of good Steinbeck prose here and there, like his description of a watering hole where cats take their prey and lap water "through their bloody teeth" and the last image of the pearl itself, which captures a sense of otherworldly menace quite unexpected from this otherwise realist story. As an account of cruel nature, it works in a reductivist way.

But I can't see it as a "classic" in the same sense as other Steinbeck novels I've read. It's no "Grapes Of Wrath". Maybe because it's short it makes for a more popular scholastic reading assignment than "Grapes Of Wrath". But "The Pearl" is no easy read, nor is it satisfying.

Had to read this book in the 9th grade....did not enjoy it...at all. Very frustrating...

I listened to this book on audio. The story focuses on a very poor man with a sick son who finds a gigantic pearl that is destined to change his life forever. The story is short (the print version only takes 96 pages) and action-packed. It is well written, but I didn't find that I sympathized all that much with the main characters.

I will caveat that my 3.5 stars may be due to the fact that I listened to this book in the final hours of a 24 hour car ride to Virginia. Also, the previous book that I listened to was very similar. In both stories (one being fiction and the other non-fiction), the main character stumbles across a great fortune, and in both stories, it ultimately ruins (or at least makes much worse off) their lives. That similarility may have led me to not like the second iteration as much.

I love this book but wish Penguin would put a bit more effort into a decent binding job. Charging $9.00 for a slim paperback that will often not survive a single reading in the hands of one of my students seems excessively high.

This book is criminally unknown. In just under 100 pages, Steinbeck weaves the immortal truth that worldy wealth cannot guarantee happiness or joy into a classic tale of a South American native couple who discover the joys and woes of finding an incredible pearl. They first think that the pearl will change their lives (which is correct) by bringing them happiness and opening endless possabilities for themselves and their infant child. They soon discover, however, that the pearl awakens darkness both within themselves and especially those around them. The setting (a poor fishing community) adds greatly to the telling of the tale, as it somehow adds a tangible sense of the timelessness of the truth it is conveying. John Steinbeck is truly a master story-teller, one who earns my respect not only for the magnificent method of writing (which is very similar to Hemingway), but also because he dares to tread where very few authors do: into unhappy endings. The truth is, things don't always turn out for the best, and not every story has a happy ending. It is always refreshing to find someone who has does not fear to go against the popular obsession with happy endings, and who is actually able to use an unhappy ending to further enhance the impact of their message.

Overall grade:

A