Get Your Free Audiobook
Cannery Row
Non-member price: $26.53
Publisher's Summary
In the din and stink that is Cannery Row a colourful blend of misfits - gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists - survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Lee Chong, the astute owner of the well-stocked grocery store, is also the proprietor of the Palace Flophouse that Mack and his troupe of good-natured 'boys' call home. Dora, of the flaming orange hair and taste for Nile-green dresses, runs the brothel with clockwork efficiency and a generous heart. Doc, who owns the laboratory, is the fount of all wisdom. Everybody wants to do something nice for Doc: the trouble is, he always ends up paying.
Packed with invention and joie de vivre CANNERY ROW is Steinbeck's high-spirited tribute to his native California.
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars33
-
4 Stars5
-
3 Stars2
-
2 Stars1
-
1 Stars1
Performance
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars31
-
4 Stars2
-
3 Stars3
-
2 Stars1
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars31
-
4 Stars4
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars1
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Helen
- 22-02-2015
Funny, nostalgic and beautifully written
John Steinbeck has such love for his characters. They are all flawed but their flaws are loved and treated with humour. He gives them such humanity. Loved this book, like his others such as Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Suzie
- 15-10-2019
What a tale.
How does John Steinbeck make a bunch of weird characters living in near poverty so endearing and interesting? The man is a genius.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark
- 10-09-2019
Steinbeck - a writer of his time but also of ours.
Cannery Row is full of such heart, empathy and nuisanced characterisation, that slowly builds an evocative sense of a time and place, whilst still suggesting universal sensitivity and understanding that we should bring with us.
The narrator Trevor White, is also a master at bringing these classic novels with horde of characters to life. After Catch 22, this is my second audio of his I’ve listened to and both brilliant books were made all the better by his performance.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Chrissie
- 22-04-2013
Do you remember that party?
One of Steinbeck’s best, but too short! Again Steinbeck draws a picture of a time and place that will remain a vivid portrait. This time it is a derelict area in Monterey, California. Probably the 1920s, although it is not said. There are T-Fords, it is on this I am guessing. Steinbeck was from Salinas, California, so he is writing about what he knows best: a cannery, the sea, its smells pungent, acrid and salt, the octopi and starfish and rattlesnakes and the rats, the sound of the surf, the feel of the air, the quiet at dawn and the heat at the end of a hot summer day. The stickiness and the lilting breeze and the people - who live in a discarded boiler, a rusted tunnel, the lucky in a deserted warehouse. There is a brothel and a Chinese grocery. This book is about these people and it is about friendship and it is about parties. Think back on all the parties you have been at. The ones of your youth. How they start and how they end. The food, the drink, the music and dancing and the whole atmosphere. Reading this book will back to you the parties of your own past. They are made palpable. This book is a tribute to parties, parties with people you love.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Joshua Marcus
- 24-09-2019
Low-key, enjoyable story
Not a masterpiece but it isn't trying to be one. Lovely characters. The narrator is tediously slow, but very good at 1.25 speed.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Sylvia
- 28-11-2011
Sometimes listening is better.
This book was set by our reading group. Unable to buy and read it in time I downloaded this audible version and am so glad. It really is a cracking little story, we all enjoyed it but when I briefly played part of my audible version at the meeting some members thought it too slow. Not a fast reader myself I particularly enjoyed the audible because it really brought out the poetic lyricism of the novella, enlivened the imagery and was simply such a pleasure to listen to. I'd recommend it every time.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- MsRanPan
- 29-12-2012
A small story worth reading
I decided to read some more highly regarded authors/books and Steinbeck was one of them. This is what I would call a 'small story' in that its just a little tale about a group of friends but obviously with all the things you can expect from Steinbeck, it's not Of Mice and Men or Grapes of Wrath but worth a read
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Annie
- 05-02-2011
just perfect
A Beautiful and characterful piece of writing from the man who wrote about the place he lived in and about the good that is always lurking somewhere in the hearts of men.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sam Roebuck
- 28-06-2014
Visit Monterey, and read/listen to Cannery Row
I had the great fortune to find myself in Monterey last year, complete with Cannery Row ready to listen to on my iPhone. I listened immediately following my visit to Cannery Row itself, and was quite puzzled. Certainly there's no shortage of cashing in on the book's fame, but tastefully done. What puzzled me was that, in the book, not a lot happens. But when that not-a-lot does happen, it happens really, really well. The (very ordinary) characters that do this not-a-lot are sketched out in great detail by the masterful Steinbeck, and you like them. Steinbeck makes you yearn to be part of the story, to live in the Flophouse, to party in their company, to buy your comestibles from the store, to get up to that not-a-lot with them. I can think of no better word than 'charming'.
Two things to do before you die - visit Monterey, and read this.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-02-2018
A classic brilliantly performed.
I didn't want this to end. Such a wonderful depiction of life on Cannery Row. No great plot, but what characters! All brought to life by Trevor White's intelligent and entertaining performance ( as always). Really laugh out loud in parts and in others, bitter sweet and moving. My husband and I listened to it on the way to work and it almost made us look forward to going! We thoroughly enjoyed it!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- steve armitt
- 22-01-2018
Steinbeck at his best
loved it in paper back audible brought it to life . gave a new dimension to a classic title tempted to listen again from chapter 1
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-02-2020
Classic Steinbeck
Enjoyed this book from start to finish, great story telling from Steinbeck, a must listen,
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- I. M. Forrest
- 14-01-2020
Revisiting a favourite book
A great reading of a truly wonderful and heartwarming book. Funny and poignant, literary and earthy all in one sublime package.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-01-2019
Loved it
I listened to the audio performance whilst reading a copy of Cannery Row. All the characters were brought to life.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Richard Breakwell
- 16-12-2018
Really good
Classic Steinbeck. Great characters squirming about in the oily ink of life.
Really worth a listen.