The Pearl

Rating:
Summary: An underrated book about today's society
Review: I thought "The Pearl" was a remarkable book. I had to read it in high school and I just now finished reading it again in my spare time. It's a real short book, but it's still a classic. Kino and Juana are normal poor people who don't have any money and have to rely mainly on themselves to survive. One day, Kino finds the most remarkable pearl that anybody has ever seen. The pearl could turn them from rags to riches in the wink of an eye. But before they know it, the pearl makes them enemies to just about everybody because most of the other people want to get their hands on the pearl so they can become rich. Kino and Juana must decide what to do with the pearl before something bad happens to them and their son, Coyotito.

"The Pearl" is a book that has a lot of meaning with its message, especially these days, even though the book was written in 1947. Some people will do what they can to take advantage of you, especially if you've got something they want. And "The Pearl" greatly expresses that. If you like good books that have a message to them, I recommend reading "The Pearl."

Rating:
Summary: An over-rated story that benefits only from being short
Review: This repugnant insult that Steinbeck has slung upon his readers has nothing to recommend it except for the author's name. This short, nasty and brutish little tale is completely predictable, and I expect that this was the case when Steinbeck first foisted this on his unsuspecting public. It is only 90 pages, which means that the misery does not go on for too long. Teachers like to assign it, which no doubt helps explain the popularity of television among the adult population. (If this is "Literature," then give me a nice "ring around the collar" commercial, please.) Although many people refer to small books as short and sweet, this one would be better described as short and shoddy. Our copy went on top of the junior high school's roof, where it doubtless is now enjoying the lofty station that it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: A Pearl of a Book
Review: This is a great book. It shows how greed and selfishness can corrupt someone and cause so much trouble. also, it's a tiny book; it's only 90 pages, I read it in a day. But, the downside to this is that you pay 5 dollars for 90 pages when some other books have 400 pages for the same price.

Rating:
Summary: The Pearl Review
Review: The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a good book. The book expresses a good theme:Money can not buy happiness. The main character in the book, Kino, a poor man who lives with his wife and new-born son are somewhat satisfied with their lives. Kino, a fisherman, goes out to fish. While fishing he finds a valuable pearl. With this pearl he thinks he could buy him and his family happiness. He soon comes to realize this pearl has brought his family more trouble then they had to begin with. Steinbeck uses his ways of writing to get the reader to feel the same emotions as Kino and his family feel. The book was interesting and makes the reader continue it. The Pearl was a well written interesting book and should be recommended to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: THE PEARL
Review: The Pearl is a book about an Indian family who lives in a small fishing village. The main character, Kino, is an oyster fisherman who everyday goes out in his canoe to catch oysters. One day his baby, Coyotito, gets bitten by a scorpion. Unable to pay for the doctor to help take the poison out of his son Kino takes his canoe out into the gulf in seach of a pearl. After making a few dives to the bottom and collecting all the oysters he could, he found an oyster with a pearl. Rushing into shore everyone in the village stood there to greet him, but the pearl didn't just bring good, it would soon bring evil. Kino brought the pearl to local jewelers to sell it but the tried to cheat him out of a lot of money so he decided to make a trip to the capital to try and sell it for more money. Before making his trip he was attacked many times by people trying to steal the pearl, and the last time he was attacked, Kino killed one of the attackers. Realizing the seriousness of what he had done, Kino, his wife Juana and Coyotito ran away from the village. While running they were afraid of being followed so Kino kept covering his tracks and changing directions in the way they were walking. One night when they set up for camp the saw people following them and Kino knew they would be found if he didnt do anything. I recommend reading this book if you want to find out what happens. This was a very good book with a lot of suspense. It kept my attention throughout the whole story and the ending was very surprising. Anyone who likes a book with suspense and a little action should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Not that bad
Review: I had to read this book for a summer reading for Honors English. Althought the book is very short, it felt like it took an eternity to get through the first chapter. It wasnt bad though. In the book, Kino, Juana and their son Coyotito are pretty poor, until one day Kino finds a pearl in the Gulf. And basically after that, Kino is driven crazy from the pearl; bad things such as people trying to rob him, their hut burning down, and the baby was killed, but Kino seems obsessed after a while. He refuses to give up the pearl, which the pearlers said was worthless because it was too big. I found the last chapter the most intriguing. One drawback I found was that Steinbeck describes EVERYTHING in such detail, which probably wasnt necessary. But overall.. I say its pretty good.

Rating:
Summary: "The Pearl" is a short gem...
Review: Steinbeck wastes no time getting to the point in "The Pearl." He narrates a story that illustrates how sometimes what we consider "success" can have less than advantageous results for the right individual. This short story, originally published in a ladies' magazine in 1945 was later published in a slightly more than one hundred page novel.

Although I remain unsure of some of the particulars, a small village of Indians or Mexicans or what-have-you is home to a man, his wife and infant child. One morning, the infant encounters the possibly fatal sting of a scorpion. Mother and father seek the help of the town doctor who avoids helping the peasant couple because of their lack of ability to render payment for his assistance. The couple ventures to the local oyster beds in hopes to find enough pearls to be able to obtain sufficient payment for the doctor's services. They find at first that an unexpected discovery may offer more hope than they had ever imagined. They find "The Pearl of the World." This huge and flawless pearl may offer not only the funds necessary to help their ailing child, but also make for a life that they had only dreamed of, because of the certain riches that it promises to bring. Or so they thought...

Sometimes the gift of bad fortune comes wrapped in pretty paper.

Steinbeck presents a short story that reminds dear reader of what advantages and disadvantages financial success may bring. An interesting story in the very least, it is over soon after you start and can be read in one sitting. Although brief, I was left with no feeling of the need for more and certainly couldn't recommend that it be condensed. Enough was written so that dear reader can enjoy a story that questions the real definition of success and happiness for us all.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent allegory of today's society
Review: John Steinbeck's The Pearl is an excellent tale of a pearl fisherman, his wife, their newborn son, and the power of greed. When Kito (the fisherman) finds the Pearl of the World, he sees in it a life far better than the one which his family and his people miserably live. Similar in style to Lord of the Flies, in the sense that the general theme is things uncontrollably and inexorably falling apart. The life of Kito and his family becomes far worse than before they found it. Instead of being wealthy and elite, they end up right back where they started, but in worse shape. The parable that Steinbeck tells is a wonderful description of today's greedy corporate society. This is a book that needs to be read many many times.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing
Review: This is a depressing story of the dark side of human nature. It mihgt be all right if Steinbeck did not insist on describing every detil of the clothing, houses, and waves, but he does, and then some. I don't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A lesser-known pearl (sorry) from Steinbeck's canon.
Review: This is another one of those books I doubt I would have come into contact with, were it not for public high school. And while that doesn't distress me, I'm not sorry that I read it. Compared to the rest of Steinbeck's work, this brief novella seems stylistically austere, and that makes it a much easier quick-read.

WARNING --PLOT SPOILER--- (except that, as in a great many classics, the plot doesn't matter so much as the writing and the observations and the methods that get you through it).

What I recall is this: Steinbeck delivers a sweeping observation of the process by which wealth will inevitably corrupt. When Kino, a fisherman in the small village of La Plata, finds an enormous pearl, his life is irrevocably changed. The village in which he lives begins to transform, and along with his wife Juana and baby son, Coyotito, Kino begins to fear the intentions of the people around him. In the end, as the family is forced to flee the village, pursued by hired assassins, the baby Coyotito is killed. This horrible turn of events forces Kino to reexamine the situation in which the pearl has placed him, and the way in which it has corrupted his values, his community, and his life. Condemning the stone which has destroyed his life, he hurls it into the sea and renounces the wealth which it might offer him. And in this movement, Steinbeck seems to be offering a personal judgment on the importance of wealth: whatever else money may bring, it will never bring peaceful happiness. While this work was not long, or studied with the depth it probably deserved in class, I personally found it both well-written and moving.

There's something to be said for an author who can make his point so clearly in such a short novel without ever actually stating it, and Steinbeck has pulled it off beautifully.