Cannery Row

By: John Steinbeck

Narrated by: Jerry Farden

Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

Here is Steinbeck’s tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society, dependent on one another for both physical and emotional survival.

Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world, where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.

Public Domain (P)2011 Penguin

Critic Reviews

Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books

Winner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design Award

Five stars with a Caveat

Cannery Row is one of my favorite books of all time. I have read and reread it more times than I can recall. I bought this audiobook out of curiosity, I wanted to hear the words for a change. Jerry Farden's narrative perfectly captures not only Steinbeck's love of his Cannery Row characters and sense of community, but his lyrical language as well.

Which is the reason I recommend reading Cannery Row before listening to it. No narrator can show you the odd punctuation and mystifying strings of words Steinbeck so lovingly assembled in this book, which I think of as his 'ode to the English language'. It quite simply deserves a leisurely reading.

Once read, I do recommend listening to Mr. Farden's joyful interpretation of this wonderful story.

Great Listen to a Classic Steinbeck

Steinbeck builds characters that you fall in love with and then struggle to support as they drift into trouble; usually of their own making. The story is about respect and how people on Cannery Row have lives devoid of meaning apart from place and time. They are not people like me, yet they are every part of my life experience. Doc is the main character, a man with a solid education, job and place in the world of marine biology. Yet he is empty in places that Steinbeck is able to reveal and describe.

Mack and the Boys are everywhere and add spice to the community on Cannery Row. They want to express gratitude for Doc and make a mess of things. Steinbeck takes us through the slow motion disaster of a party and builds tension as we wait for Doc to return home to the destruction Mack and the Boys created.

The narrator does a nice job of giving voice to people who we can only try to imagine from the words on the page as they share their story of respect, loneliness and community.

If you like Steinbeck this short book will not disappoint. It isn't Grapes Of Wrath, but it is still a fine work by an author who knows how to build characters that are irresistible.

Better on audio

Read this for the first time in my early teens. revisited on audio. Originally the story was powerful enough to propel itself to a permanent spot in my top five, and place its author in sole command of the distinction of "best fiction author, classic or modern," in my limited scope. This narration, however, took it to a whole new level. I cannot, nor shall attempt to, say enough as eloquently as the sentiment deserves, how fully the narration captures and amplifies the tone and feel of this book. Done.

Oh, How I Miss The Monterrey Peninsula!

I was really excited to listen to Steinbeck's Cannery Row and I was not disappointed; albeit, I am a bit conflicted. Previously I listened to Of Mice and Men and comparing the two (especially with Gary Sinese as narrator of the later) I enjoyed Of Mice and Men so much more. However, Steinbeck's words in both are invigorating and descriptive; I didn't want to stop hearing from the characters and their respective points of view.

Cannery Row, as far as a captivating story, isn't really that much to praise. But I enjoyed every bit of it and just like Of Mice and Men, the character's follies and environmental descriptions are where Steinbeck rules. It's really a simple and sweet story, yet is still emotionally impacting for the listener.

I was able to listen at 3x speed without any problem.

Great way to re-live this book.

I never read CANNERY ROW in school and was well into my 30s the first time I read it. The book is almost a poem. The way the humanity of the characters--none of having very much in the way of material possessions--is gently revealed through the subtle building of the plot is a joy to read. They are very rich. It is Steinbeck at his best. I waited a long time for Audible to have Steinbeck available and I'm so glad I can re-live this book in this form.

The performance by Narrator Jerry Farden is adequate. He gives voice to the inhabitants of Cannery Row in a way that adds depth to this audio version. The only negative being the book is to short.

I can't wait to download the rest of the Steinbeck collection.

My Favorite Audible Steinbeck so far....

Not at all what I expected from the book. It was deep, poignant, symbolic and fun at the same time. Somehow I had missed reading this classic and bought it only to fill in my missing knowlege void. I'd buy it again in a heatbeat for the joy of it and will read again soon. Heck, I'd pay 35 frogs for it... maybe even 75.

PART OF MY SOUL IN PRINT (AUDIO)

I've been looking for a place exactly like cannery row in all its simplistic beauty complete with all its character and characters since I was born.. so you can imagine my joy in finding all those elements in this book and its sequel sweet thursday.
a community of that time that's reasonably Simple,honest and, caring,excepting ,thoughtful and,un-poisoned by money, bureaucracy,greed,status and voracious land,development,
I love how that old boiler was fixed up twice as a place to live lol- and how the palace flophouse and the whorehouse where also excepted parts of the community.Its a time and place where People were judged by who they were rather than what they did for a living or how they dressed.
Needles to say the above is but 1 element of this story. Steinbeck knows how to write of this sphere because he lived it . I wish he had written more in this series,It seems to me it was his intention, because theres quite a gap in years.. There should have been a book between cannery row and sweet thursday, Wish there was!! maybe Ill write it lol .I wish I had that ability
.late last night I finished his last book-winter of our discontent-it put me into an immediate depression the instant I finished it. the shallow will think oh I wont read that, and the wise will know that a work that can move you so much is defiantly worth reading.
Ive been compelled to read all of steinbecks major works in a row, since my first steinbeck book, the stunning EAST OF EDEN.
When an author brings so much pain,pleasure and emotionally cutting fodder to the deepest part of you- for you to sort out and digest-and it also manages to bypasses your defenses to your soul, thats an artist still lives and is immortal.

I disagree with Rob from Goodyear, AZ

The book is great, and I thought the narration was really good too. The narrator sounds like someone who could've been there watching the whole thing from an upstairs window in one of the shops. Fantastic.

characters so vivid

Update for reread in Feb 2020: I really enjoyed the wit and humor throughout this book. Despite the poverty and the sadness of so many events in this book it is still quite funny. The ridiculousness of a couple of the characters was so entertaining.

Original review:

I am obsessed with everything Steinbeck writes. His style is simple and spare and beautiful. He illustrates the circumstances of life, the tragedies of life, with quiet and beautiful attention to the characters that drive the plot. This book is my least favorite of the books I have read thus far, and I still loved it. Not a lot happens in this one. The events are quieter and less tumultuous than in my favorites, but it provides a wonderfully rich glimpse into the lives of the people who live in the time and place. Cannery Row is filled with noise and smells. It is filled with poverty. It is filled with people I would like to meet, and thanks to Steinbeck I did!

Great Book

Really enjoyed the narrator and the story line was great. Can’t say enough about this book.