Books

The Caine Mutiny

Civilian becomes a captain of a minesweeper over the course of WWII. 

“The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots.”

The pain of coming to grips with this reality lies at the core of this book. The passably smart, reasonably independently thinking protagonist struggles with the dilemma, sometimes discarding his own rational reactions to formalistic bureaucratic nonsense and sometimes recoiling so strongly that he can’t help but reject the system level demands imposed by the distant geniuses. 

The court martial concerning the mutiny mentioned in the title is usually referred to as the dramatic climax, but the post mortem delivered by the conflicted defense attorney afterwards was, for me, by far the best scene. 

Other than one slow section near the middle, the whole book is outstanding. It feels grown up and sophisticated without being daunting or fatiguing.

Highly recommended. Lots of fun and full of insights applicable to any bureaucracy.

The Pearl 

Steinbeck tells the story of a poor father who finds a valuable natural resource and loses a great deal as a result. 

This book reminded me of why, after reading The Grapes of Wrath, I wrote Steinbeck off as a hack for a decade. 

The prose is more florid in this book, with flashes of brilliance, but an intolerable baseline cringe factor. 

The overt political message is so exhausting that I couldn’t even empathize with the human experience related in it. 

Exquisite books by Steinbeck:

East of Eden
Of Mice and Men 

Great book by Steinbeck:

Cannery Row

Bad books by Steinbeck:

The Grapes of Wrath 
The Pearl 

I haven’t read any of his others and I had such a bad experience with The Pearl that I’ll probably take another decade off.

read pastures of heaven recently and it was fantastic