Tom MacInnesFrom the Library of Dr. Oliver Sacks: Book Review #4: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
NOTE: Today’s book review was inspired by another book entitled Letters. That book was a memoir of scientist and storyteller Dr. Oliver Sacks, told through a lifetime of his personal correspondence with friends, family, patients and many other interesting people. Over the course of his letter writing, Dr. Sacks often made reference to the written works of others. Today’s book is one such work that he referenced.
The Context in Which Dr. Sacks Made Reference to Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Today’s post is a funny/odd one in that there are many references to real people, places and events today that, in many ways, overshadow the actual book being reviewed. Let’s dive in and you will see what I mean.
All of us, if we are lucky, get to be surrounded by people who we hold dear. Some of those relationships we are born into as family. Others come to us along the way in the form of friendships. So far in this series, all of the letters that Dr. Sacks had written to date had been to his parents. Today, for the first time, we meet a friend.
Sir Jonathan Miller.Jonathan Miller met Oliver Sacks when the two attended St. Paul’s School in London, England as twelve year olds. They remained friends throughout the rest of their long and accomplished lives. Jonathan Miller may be a name that is familiar to you. He is not defined in the least by his friendship with Oliver Sacks. Instead, he is a legendary man of note in the fields of the Arts in England, as well as, the medical industry, too. In 1960, Jonathan Miller had just made one of his first major life decisions and had written to Sacks to tell him about it. Like Oliver Sacks, as a young man Jonathan Miller had pathways before him that would have led him comfortably into the field of medicine. However, during his school preparatory work, Miller had fallen into cahoots with entertainers Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Alan Bennett. Together they formed the influential comedy group known as Beyond the Fringe. This band of satirists debuted their first production at the Edinburgh Festival in the summer of 1960 and were basking in the warm glow of its overwhelmingly positive reviews. As a result of the success of this production, Beyond the Fringe became the full-time gig for all four men. When the history of British comedy is discussed, a direct line can be drawn from the launch of Beyond the Fringe and future ensemble shows such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Jonathan Miller would end up starring in, writing and/or producing dozens and dozens of stage plays, television shows, operettas and films during his lifetime. He wound up being knighted for his efforts.
But at that time on October 11, 1960, Miller was still a very young man with his whole life ahead of him. On pages 25-28 of Letters, Oliver Sacks replied to Miller’s initial letter. As good friends often do, they spoke candidly to each other. In Sacks’ reply, he congratulated Miller on the success of his stage production and then proceeded to bring his friend up to speed on what he had been up to since arriving in San Francisco. One of the things he told Miller was that he had crossed off a bucket list item by traveling to Monterey, California and visiting the place described so vividly by author John Steinbeck in his book Cannery Row. Unfortunately, by the time Sacks arrived at the real Cannery Row, it had been transformed from the gritty, poverty-stricken community depicted with such skill by Steinbeck when he wrote his book during WWII and now was nothing more than a Niagara Falls-esque tourist trap. Oliver Sacks could not hide his disappointment when he said the following words to his friend, Jonathan Miller:
“I even paid a visit to Cannery Row, which effectively discharged any lingering nonsense about it. It no longer exists as such, because the sardines stopped coming to the West Coast some years ago, and show no signs of returning. However, there is a ridiculous Steinbeck theatre among the rusted, desolate canneries. The place has become a big tourist center and is overrun with “intimate” bars and flashy seafood restaurants on the waterfront. However, there exists an incomparable coastline for hundreds of miles south of this, with the richest tidal pools you could want.”
The last sentence in his quoted response is an important one for two reasons. In addition to neurology, Oliver Sacks was fascinated by marine biology. He was also a top swimmer. All throughout his life, Oliver Sacks combined both loves by swimming in natural bodies of water wherever he found himself. One of the things that I assume originally attracted him to Steinbeck’s book was that it was filled with many scenes that expertly described the marine life that existed along the shoreline of Cannery Row and along the same coastline that so enthused Sacks in his letter. I can only imagine that Sacks originally arrived in Monterey with the idea that it would be teeming with sea life, hence his deep disappointment at seeing the place so overdeveloped by the water.
A Brief Outline of the Plot of Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row was written in 1944 during WWII. It was written after Steinbeck had received a letter from some U.S. servicemen requesting something light and funny that had nothing to do with the war because they were tired of it all and were seeking relief and distraction. By this time, Steinbeck was very well regarded in literary circles for his efforts with classics like The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men and East of Eden. He complied with the wishes of those servicemen and created Cannery Row for them.
Cannery Row (the book) is set in a fictionalized version of the real Cannery Row as it existed at the time in Monterey, California in the 1930s. In Steinbeck’s book, the community around Cannery Row is dealing with the many soul-crushing effects of the Great Depression. Money is tight for everyone. Many of the characters who populate the book are actually homeless and living in makeshift accommodations. Despite the gloomy overall setting in which this story takes place, I have to admit to liking the book. Not a lot actually happens along the way throughout this book so, in many ways, I found Cannery Row to be like Lost Horizons. Even though there aren’t many action-oriented scenes, the book flowed along easily and took no time to read. The big difference between James Hilton (who was great when it came to dialogue in Lost Horizons and made that his focus) and John Steinbeck is that Steinbeck’s forte seems to be the master painter’s touch he brings to the scenes and characters he describes. His writing reminded me a lot of how a painter like Van Gogh painted using so many tiny brushstrokes. If you take a look at any individual brushstroke, it would render the portrait meaningless. But, taken as a whole, each brushstroke combines with the others to add depth and detail of the portrait as a whole. To remove one would add diminishment. Steinbeck’s descriptions of each character, their accommodations, the tidal pools nearby and so on, are all done in such a way that you feel as though you are looking at a photograph or painted masterpiece. Like a brushstroke, each detail added resulted in complete portraits of the community and those who inhabited it. With Steinbeck, the hype is real. I thoroughly enjoyed his style of writing. However, on the downside, again just like Lost Horizons, Cannery Row is a product of the time when it was written. It is a story filled with women who are mainly “wh*res” with the proverbial heart of gold. There are terms used to identify characters who are members of various non-white ethnic groups, too. As was the case with Lost Horizons, I still managed to enjoy Steinbeck’s story despite some of the terms he used to describe women and minorities. As mentioned earlier, Steinbeck provided such detailed descriptions of the sea life that abounded in the tidal pools nearby that I can’t help but believe that Oliver Sacks liked his work, too.
The man, himself: author John Steinbeck.My Final Thoughts on Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (for what that is worth)
Cannery Row is about community. I mean that in both senses of the word. The value of having somewhere to call home while being in the company of people you care about and that you know have your back is a priceless treasure. That is the point that I believe Steinbeck intended with this story. The quality of a life lived is not necessarily found in the bottom line of a bank account or the size of the home you live in. Instead, it is in the nature of our relationships with each other and the quality of empathy and mercy and patience and kindness we extend to those around us. If we are each a jigsaw puzzle piece then it takes all of us together to form that picture of what our community means to us. In Cannery Row, not one single character has anything remotely fancy. The main character, Doc, has a record player and some albums that he plays to help himself unwind. That is the biggest luxury item on display in this story. It should come as no surprise then that the main action scenes in Cannery Row revolve around the community’s attempts to throw Doc two separate parties in his building (one for his birthday, which ends up going awry and causing a lot of damage, and a second party as a means of showing Doc how sorry they were for the first party). In both cases, neither party was fancy. It was more a case of togetherness being the highpoint and everyone being invited and making their own form of contribution meaningful. When you don’t have much but you willingly share it with others anyway then you enjoy a form of wealth that holds great meaning and value. I believe that many people would enjoy reading a masterfully-revealed story that points to the importance of goodness and the richness of community, especially in times of division and loneliness. You don’t need to be in the military to know how important brotherhood and sisterhood are. At the end of the day, I endorse Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. This book may not be as iconic as some of his other works but it is a fine novel just the same. Oliver Sacks seemed drawn toward it. I liked it. I think you will like it, too. If you decide to give it a try then, my friend, you’re welcome in advance.
The link to the official website for author John Steinbeck can be found here.
The link to the official website for the real, modern day Cannery Row in Monterey, California can be found here.
The link to the official website for Jonathan Miller can be found here.
The link to the official website for Dr. Oliver Sacks can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2025 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#Books #CanneryRow #FromTheLibraryOfDrOliverSacks #JohnSteinbeck #JonathanMiller #OliverSacks
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