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Title: The Pearl by John Steinbeck, Hector Elizondo ISBN: 0-453-00875-5 Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks Pub. Date: April, 1994 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42 (355 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Pearl
Comment: When Kino and his wife, Juana, find an enormous pearl in the Gulf Oyster Bed, they expect great fortune, wealth, security, honor, and a education for their son, Coyotito. Ironically, this wondrously beautiful pearl brought everything but good. Whoever touched, saw, or heard of it was immediately, and sometimes subconsciously corrupted by its size, beauty and possibilities that it would bring. Many a night, Kino's meek brush house was broken into and his life was attempted to be killed. Finally, his house was destroyed, his boat was punctured and he was forced to flee with his wife and child. Stalked by trained "people hunters"driven up a mountain. With only one thing left to do to preserve the pearl, Kino killed them. Before Kino successfully destroyed them, a shot was fired at Coyotito and he was killed. I thought that the Pearl by John Steinbeck was a wonderful novel. He described everything so wonderfully that I could picture it in my head. I loved how he put the feelings of the family, the pearl and evil into song. This book was a short novel; this was another trait that I liked. Steinbeck put this exiting, suspenseful, story into a short number of pages making it easier to read. This book was not only enjoyable to read, but educational. I learned how the Indians of Central America were oppressed by the Spanish. They were treated as animals and forced to do manual labor. I have no criticisms for this book. It was a genuine masterpiece!
Rating: 5
Summary: The Pearl
Comment: By Nick
You have won the lottery. Your are instantly on a rise for the stars. Striding higher and higher, life can't be any better, right? John Steinbeck demonstrates a similar situation in the literary classic, The Pearl. It is a masterpiece of love, hatred, deceit, trust, and barriers unraveled in a plot where pain and misery is naturally part of daily life. The sorrow of the main character, Kino, can truly be felt, as he in his trivial pursuit to succeed, always fails in his attempts, falling back into an abyss of despair.
Kino is a poor Mexican peasant living in Baja, California in the early 1920s. His only companion in life is his wife Juana. They both reflect their lifestyle in their character, for they portray naïve, simple, uneducated commoners, shunned upon by the civilized and sophisticated. When a poisonous scorpion stings Kino's son, Coyotito, he must determine a way to pay for doctor's attention, so like so many others before him, he goes diving for pearls. Under the water what appears to be any ordinary pearl, turns out to be a gateway to a life of no labor and hope for dreams Kino always wished to accomplish. As Kino emerges from the sea and takes his first gasp of air, his eyes bestow on a pearl the size of a seagull's egg. He gazes in astonishment, as the water trickles from the surface the sun radiates its milky white color, it is as smooth as Kino's own skin, for it holds the promise of hope and its superior excellence catapults Kino into a state of amazement. Though its surface may reveal a guarantee of a better life, contained deep inside the crevices of the pearl, is a raging, horrid evil released upon those who simply touch it. This pearl almost cost Kino his own life, and the life of some one else.
Does wealth always deliver good fortune? Can we truly break from the shell of one's persona? Kino faced these issues in The Pearl. He learned greed is a sin; it brings jealousy and distrust into your life. Additionally, he learned no matter all the opportunities, he would still cast a forceful image of being unsophisticated and simple-minded. Though, this reality is true, and we face it almost every day. The Pearl is a book of an elaborate and dynamic tale of woe and anguish leaving a lasting and genuine impression upon the reader. The reader will truly treasure, and carry this story wherever life takes them. The Pearl is for those who love a heart felt story and for the ones that have read this book before, it will rekindle a love for a lost favorite. Its opaque beginning only contributes to its transparent message. I felt great affection for this book, and you will to. "And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappearance" - The Pearl
Rating: 3
Summary: Good story, well written, but negotiable message
Comment: Steinbeck makes some important and valid statements of true living with this book, but all in all, the main character, Kino, simply made some bad decisions.
The great pearl Kino finds isn't inherently evil in and of itself, as the story seems to try to point toward, rather, pearls are what these divers seek as a means of helping to survive- much like a prospector seeking precious metals. He knew quite well, (we are to assume being that he's been doing this for some time), that he knew the relative value of such a pearl, yet he engages in mind games with the pearl buyers and lets himself be intimidated and riled up by their discounting it's worth, he would have been much better off if he were to keep the news of such a wondrous find to himself, and go about seeking a more appropriate price quietly - did he not foresee the fact that others would be full of desire for his find as well, did he not foresee trouble being aroused simply by not keeping the knowledge of its discovery to himself or at least until a much later date?
In my opinion, the best lessons to be learned from this story is 1.) To protect your assets, 2.)Don't allow your worth to be publicly displayed unless you're capable of suitable protection of such and ready to deal with what that may bring, and 3.) Things are not evil, people are.
Kino simply should have handled things differently.
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Title: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140177396 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway ISBN: 0684801221 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 05 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140177388 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: The Red Pony by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140177361 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140042407 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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