The Pearl
by John Steinbeck
List Price:
Our Price: $4.15
You Save: $4.85 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John SteinbeckEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-06
ISBN: 014017737X
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780140177374
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Pearl
Book Review: "... and ignorant armies clash by night."
Summary: 5 Stars
I am almost surprised to find THE PEARL published as a book in its own right. While I suppose that we can correctly classify it as a novella, its brevity suggests that one would expect to find it in a collection of Steinbeck's short stories rather than as an independent publication. Both the length and the straight-forward prose make the story a fast read, but its powerful imagery and strong message also make it a valuable and important read.
Taken as a whole, THE PEARL is the most wonderful example of irony that one can find. Finding the one object whose value, when sold, would raise Kino's family from its abject poverty and subsistence living should be cause for rejoicing, but the Fates are fickle and care nothing for what "should" happen to men. Rather than saving the family, the great value of Kino's find results in its utter destruction. Under the influence of what should have been the most fortuitous discovery in the lifetime of any pearl-diver, Kino is metamorphosed by forces beyond his power to comprehend, much less control, into a striker of women, a killer of men, a fugitive, and, we are left to assume, an executed criminal. His son is dead, and his wife has already said that she cannot live without a man, so her future destruction is also assured.
Within the overall framework of this huge irony are smaller ironies. Kino's son is named Coyotito, which, to me, suggests "Little Coyote." The tracker whose rifle bullet ends Coyotito's tiny life thinks that he is shooting at a coyote pup in the dark.
Sharing the stage with life's ironies, both great and small, are many observations on the nature of man, and none of them is positive. The local pearl buyers are all secretly employed by the same uber-buyer, and their apparent competitive bidding is a sham. The doctor, his eye on a hefty fee, creates the appearance of illness in Coyotito, whom he then "cures." Honest townsmen, or perhaps neighbors, skulk in the night to attack Kino and rob him of his treasure. The local priest displays his hypocrisy by thinking more of the fee his church will receive for baptizing Coyotito and for marrying Kino and Juana than of any spiritual benefit to the family. The vice of avarice overwhelms any inherent goodness that may otherwise exist in the townsmen, and their malicious natures are loosed by their greed.
At length, the treasure is returned to the sea that spawned it, but the damage has been done. Is man's nature so perverse, so readily sinful that he cannot control good fortune? Is man's destiny so dark and so doomed that the Fates can effortlessly turn good fortune to bad? THE PEARL affords the reader a clear and sharp view into the murky and sordid depths of man's soul and offers no promise of redemption from the universe. This---his treatment of his fellow man-is mankind's "original sin" and it is most thoroughly destructive.
Depressing THE PEARL may be, but it offers the reader valuable and all-too-often accurate insight into the mind and soul of his neighbor. For that, it is truly deserving of being read.
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.86
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.10
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
A Leader's Legacy (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/ Posner)by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2006-08-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.85
Price in other shops:
The Heart Aroused : Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate Americaby David Whyte
Crown Business; Published: 1996-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.62
Price in other shops:
The Princeby Niccolo Machiavelli
Penguin Classics; Published: 2009-11-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.74
Price in other shops:
The Nibble Theory and the Kernel of Power: A Book about Leadership, Self-Empowerment, and Personal Growthby Kaleel Jamison
Paulist Press; Published: 2004-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
The Future of Managementby Gary Hamel
Harvard Business School Press; Published: 2007-10-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Theft of the Spirit: A Journey to Spiritual Healingby Carl Hammerschlag
Touchstone; Published: 1994-08-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times, New and Expanded Editionby Jon M. Huntsman
Pearson Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-11-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.90
Price in other shops:
Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Upby Patricia Ryan Madson
Bell Tower; Published: 2005-05-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distractionby M.A. Rebecca Z. Shafir CCC
Quest Books; Published: 2003-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.75
Price in other shops:
The Path of the Everyday Hero: Drawing on the Power of Myth to Meet Life's Most Important Challengesby Lorna Catford, Michael Ray
Creative Quest Publications; Published: 2004-11-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops: