Evex’s Weblog

Clare’s favourite book and her recommendation as our first read. We all loved it (which turned out to be a rare occurrence). Some of us felt that it anticipated the writing of the beat movement, with its positive focus on people who were living a different kind of existence; others felt that it reminded them of magical realism. We wondered whether it overly idealised some of the characters’ lives ( which it does) but decided that there was definitely an undercurrent of violence and threat, which questions and undermines this. We thought that the overriding message of the book (which links back to the beat movement comment) is that an ‘experience’ is always worthwhile, whether it was good or unpleasant – my favourite example of this being the ‘beer milkshake’ incident. Doc was identified as a favourite character, despite being a bit of a womaniser, who maybe represented the author just a little.

The tale of the gopher who couldn’t find a mate and has to move nearer a place containing traps, which appears at the end of the book confused us all a little. Some of us thought it might refer to the fact that despite the romanticised view, Cannery Row is a dangerous place where people cannot live freely, others thought it might be a warning about settling down to a mundane existence. Anyway we couldn’t agree – please comment if you can shed any light!

I’ve made quite a few more notes but it was so long ago that I can’t remember what they mean. Bookclubbers – please add anything vital that I may have overlooked. Overall a great start to the bookclub and a definite recommendation.