‘Of Mice and Men’ is a short novel consisting of 53 pages that was written by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck is a famous american novelist that was born in 1902 and passed away in 1968. Although most of Steinbeck’s novels are fiction they are usually inspired by the real life at the time and ‘Of Mice and Men’ is no exception.

The book is set in the 1930s around the time of the great depression in the United States of America. While reading the book the reader will be introduced to many characters that were inspired by real people but the two main characters in the book are two friends called George and Lennie. George is the leader, smart and the responsible one in the duo. While Lennie is more of a childlike character who has a mental disability which ends up getting both of them in a lot of trouble.

The main plot in the book is that after Lennie got the pair in trouble again and after they went into hiding, they find a new job, but how long can they stay employed before they get into trouble again. Steinbeck uses quite a lot of description in the book although almost all of the events and characters are introduced to the reader through dialogue while the description is just there to help the reader visualise the setting of the book.

Although the book is quite short, Steinbeck used the book as a platform to discuss some big topics in the  world such as racism, sexsim, mental disability and friendship since some those topics were one of the biggest issues in the 20th century. The topic of mental disability is brought up by almost all the characters after they meet Lennie. While the topic of racism is talked about and shown by Crooks which is the character of a black man that is treated awfully by almost all of the characters for the soul reason that he is black. Apart from Lennie who didn’t treat him badly due to him being a childlike character who doesn’t judge anyone and accepts everyone for who they are, but Lennie he was scared of the boss's son, Curley, because he was tough and always wanted to start fights.

I personally enjoyed reading the book very much as Steinbeck incorporated such big topics and life lessons that would always start a discussion, whether the book is read in class or just for entertainment. Although I wouldn’t recommend reading the book if you are under the age of 13 due to some strong language in the book. Overall the characters are well developed, the book doesn’t drag on and the description and dialogue are also well developed. Spoiler alert! The ending of the book is very sad and put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day so keep that in mind before reading the book.