Books on Tap book club met Thursday, June 1 at Beer Run to discuss Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Published in 1945, this book is a far cry from contemporary fiction, showing its age in a few different ways (old-timey style/structure, an outdated portrayal of an Asian character). But age isn’t all bad – we really enjoyed reading this book. In addition, this book felt like classic Steinbeck in some ways, but different from his other books in others. We discussed it all, and had a good time doing it!

Steinbeck’s writing was described as direct, readable, and plain. It has a funny tone, a witty style, and a very leisurely pace, with plenty of tangents along the way. Our group’s favorite aspect of the book was the cast of characters. They are people of the Great Depression, but no matter how destitute or morally questionable, had a nonchalant, presumed acceptance of one another. Even love. One person said, “they took care of themselves, and that was enough.” Also true is that they took care of each other. Camaraderie and sociality were huge themes in the novel, and the community’s commitment to holding one another up, even in mixed-up or strange ways, is something we noticed and appreciated.

The book opens like this: “Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.” The book’s culmination is finally achieving the proper party for Doc that the characters had been working toward. Part of this party is a poetry reading. The final party growing and dying, everyone equally moved by the fighting and the opera music and the Sanskrit poetry, represents the characters’ uncanny ability to entertain highbrow and lowbrow ideas at the same time. In that very first line, Cannery Row is a “poem” but also a “stink” and a “grating noise” (high and low together). One portrayal of this is Mack and the boys. Living in an abandoned, filthy shed, they soon take pride in acquiring furniture and interior decorating. 

Our discussion on Lee Chong was interesting and helpful. On one hand, we felt Steinbeck wrote sensitively about Chong, a man presented as a fully fleshed out and unique individual, with a soft, generous spirit. We also found that Chong had lots of power and sway in the novel and was morally upstanding a majority of the time. Yet, Steinbeck wrote for a white audience, expressly intending for the way that Chong spoke (unable to say the letter R) to be another layer of comedy within the novel, and that is what is upsetting – turning a character’s race/ethnicity into the butt of a joke. 

Comparing this book to other Steinbeck works, one reader felt this novel fell short of the “journey” involved in Travels with Charley. Another reader noticed that Cannery Row, like The Grapes of Wrath, includes chapters that create atmosphere and broad narrative lines, and those chapters do not need to hone in on the “main” characters. Where in The Grapes of Wrath those chapters reveal the setting and a population’s more general lived experiences, in Cannery Row the “alternative” chapters highlight one-off characters and tangential anecdotes that are not really “plot” and do not “resolve” within the story’s larger scheme. In both books, these chapters that deviate from the “action” make up much of the heart, soul, and character of the books. 

Other books mentioned during the meeting: 

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles 

The Grapes of Math by Alex Bellos and by Greg Tang 

In America by Geert Mak (interlibrary loan request here) 

Other books to explore if you liked Cannery Row: 

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 

Maggie Brown & Others by Peter Orner 

Dear Life by Alice Munro 

Upcoming book club titles: 

July 6 – The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

August 3 – The Gifted School by Bruce W. Holsinger

September 7 – Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks