Book Review: The Pearl

Tonight I read a classic, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck. As I got into the tale I realized I had read it before, probably in high school, but nevertheless it is a great book by an outstanding writer, especially in his attention to detail and symbolism.

In the story, a young couple named Kino and Juana live in a poor Mexican fishing village with their only child, a baby named Coyotito. The baby is stung by a scorpion and the family becomes desperate for the town doctor to help them. But the doctor refuses to help the poor villagers because they cannot pay. The couple goes out collecting pearls from the bottom of the sea as they do every day and as luck would have it (or as “something” would have it) they find a great pearl, the “pearl of the world.”

Word of the couple’s find spreads like wildfire in the small village, even reaching the doctor, who is now more than glad to help and who tricks them into thinking they still need his remedy even though the baby was recovering fine.

Suddenly this young couple has the world open up before them as never before possible. For a brief moment there seems to be a chance to break out of centuries of poverty and predictability in their family and village, but also just as suddenly, the world becomes a dark and ominous place for the couple as they deal with unscrupulous pearl buyers and multiple unknown parties trying to steal the pearl buried in the dirt floor of the couple’s grass hut.

The plot thickens and fills to overflowing with adventure, fear, murder, and revenge. Steinbeck packs a lot of story into a this short "novella sized" book. And there is so much symbolism: the European doctor and all that he stands for, the gulf, the “songs” Kino and Juana hear (of ‘family’ and ‘evil),’ and of course, there is the symbolism of the pearl itself. One thing I enjoyed most was watching how the images Kino and others see when they gaze into the pearl change over time. It goes from being the most beautiful pearl in the world where Kino sees a bright future for himself and his family, “things Kino’s mind had considered in the past and had given up as impossible” (pg. 24) to being “ugly…gray, like a malignant growth” (pg. 89).

In keeping with his other works, the ending of The Pearl is unpredictable. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say the story certainly would not be categorized as a “feel-good” tale. The book does leave you with lots to think about however; and that, after all, is the mark of a great book. Read it, you'll enjoy it.