cluricaune 2008-11-08
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Cannery Row is a rundown street in Monterey, California - one that, presumably, takes its name from the sardine canneries based there. It's home to much more besides, though - honky-tonks, grocery-stores, flop-houses and whorehouses, even a laboratory...and a whole host of likeable, memorable characters.
Lee Chong, who runs Cannery Row's grocery store, is the first to be introduced. He's a fairly astute businessman, though probably a little unorthodox at the same time. He's willing to extend a line of credit (within reason) and he'll accept some alternatives to cold, hard currency when it comes to settling up. When Horace Abbeville comes in to settle what is reputedly the biggest grocery bill in Monterey, he offers a small warehouse across the way as payment. Although it's not much of a building, Lee knows it could be worth quite a bit if one of the canneries decides to expand - and, therefore, he quite happily accepts.
When word gets out, Mack - the leader of Cannery Row's small group of homeless men - pops in for a visit. The boys kindly offer to move into Lee's warehouse...Lee agrees, even though he knows that 'token' rent of five dollars a week will never be paid. On the other hand, he has willing bunch of security guards on call, guaranteed (legitimate) custom whenever the boys have money and absolutely no pilfering when they don't...which is more than the other grocery stores in Monterey are able to say. It also means that his warehouse - subsequently renamed the 'Palace Flophouse Grill' - is always well looked after. No-one ever breaks in, no windows are ever broken and it never 'mysteriously' burns to the ground. Mack's group - despite what you might think - are a good-hearted, likeable bunch. They're all unmarried and only Eddie - who fills in fairly often as a barman at La Ida - has anything like fairly regular work. When they need some cash, they're happy to collect frogs and cats for Doc, over at Western Biological.
Dora, meanwhile, runs the 'Bear Flag Restaurant. Here, you'll be able to negotiate for the one thing you'll not be able to buy in Lee Chong's Grocery Store - and, despite the name of her establishment, we're not talking about hot dinners. Nevertheless, the restaurant's twelve female members of staff are all kept pretty busy. Despite earning the wages of sin, Dora proves a lot more charitable than many who work in a more respectable trade. Then there's Henri the French painter - who, technically, isn't either French or a painter. (He explores art through alternative materials). For the last ten years, he has been living on a boat he has built himself...though, since the boat isn't complete, it's still moored on dry land. (Henri never intends to complete it - while he loves boats, he hates the ocean).
The book's lynchpin proves to be Doc - a kind, gentle, generous and sympathetic soul, who runs the Western Biological Laboratory Doc. Despite having dug himself right into the heart of Cannery Row, he still appears a rather lonely character. He sometimes has a few lady friends over, but he never visits Dora's. He only has a few simple pleasures in life - the occasional beer, a touch of poetry and a spot of music - and everyone who meets him wants to do something nice for him. 'Cannery Row' follows what happens when Mack and the boys decide to throw him a party.
Oscar Wilde - who, interestingly, is buried in Paris - once quipped 'when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life'. I suspect, had he read a little more Steinbeck, he'd have been quipping about Cannery Row instead. Life may not always have been easy there, but it proves to be a 'quiet and magical' community with genuinely likeable characters - a place where people look out for each other. A very easy, very enjoyable read.