Of Mice and Men

By: John Steinbeck / Narrated By: Gary Sinise

Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins

Gary Sinise! What fantastic narration!

I s’pose I went into Of Mice and Men thinking that Gary Sinise was an odd fit as a narrator. I mean, I’d earlier in the year listened to Travels with Charley, had delighted in Sinise’s avuncular and wry delivery. How on earth was such a voice supposed to tackle such a tragic tale as this?!?

And believe me, at first I thought I was in for a carnival ride. Lennie’s voice came off sounding like something out of a cartoon. But then I noticed how effortlessly Sinise flowed from Lenny to George then back again, And then I was amazed by how effortlessly Sinise flowed from Lennie to George to Candy to Slim to Carlson to Crooks to Curley then back again and again. What vocal acting chops that man has! It was like having a front row seat for a truly amazing performance of the much-respected classic.

You know the story, right? I mean, you’ve had, like, over 80 years to get around to reading it, right? So if you HAVEN’T gotten around to it? Well, you’re in for some spoilers here, and that’d be your fault for not reading it already for cripes sake! (And to be quite honest, my husband SHAMED me into reading it only a few years ago because, while I’d seen the story—I do watch TV, after all—I’d never quiiiiite gotten around to the danged thing!)

George and Lennie are migrant field workers, living a harsh existence, but George keeps them going with a dream. At some time in the future, George and the intellectually disabled Lennie will buy a small piece of land, a small farm, and there they’ll live out their days. Lennie is always made ecstatic by the details of the plan: He’ll be the one who will tend the rabbits. He loves soft things, and he loves animals. It’s just that in reality, he always kills them because he’s so large, and he can’t control his own strength. George frequently reminds Lennie to be gentle, frequently tells him he’s done a bad thing, but it’s often to no avail. After all, they’re on the move at the moment because at their last place of employment a young woman cried Rape after Lennie became enraptured by the softness of her dress and touched it, held onto it, was too afraid to let go of it when she became frightened.

At their new ranch, we meet characters like the crippled Candy with his mangled hand who offers to go in monetarily with the two men to make that farm a reality, in a month or so’s time. We meet the cast-off Crooks; we meet the vindictive Curley—a little man who’s targeted the larger Lennie and whose wife (only known as “Curley’s wife” throughout the entire story) will be Lennie’s ultimate downfall.

It’s a heartbreaking tale of dreams, hopes, fears. It’s a tale of harsh realities bearing down on people. There’s nooooo happiness to be found at the end (I told you that you were in for spoilers!), no hope, and the final lines of the story leave you wanting to whack the hell outta the character who utters them. And Gary Sinise rocks it all. But I’ve already been in raptures about his performance in this review, so I’ll just hush up about him now, shall I?

About the only flaw is with the production. There’s some intro and exit music that is TOTALLY unnerving, esPECially in the intro phase. Sinise reads a line, the music swells then fades; Sinise reads another line, the music SWELLS then fades, and on and on and on until I wanted to scream with each blast of the freaking accordion.

But that’s the oooonly flaw with the audiobook.

And might I say… if I haven’t said it enough…?

Gary Sinise rocks it all…!