The two books are amazing. I’ve done a post on Cannery Row before, so I’ll talk about Sweet Thursday this time. There were plenty of easter eggs in Sweet Thursday that were references from Cannery Row. Granted, it IS the sequel to Cannery Row.
So when they suddenly mentioned Henri the painter(‘s works of chicken feather and nutshells) towards the end, I had a big “OHHH” moment. Same with the mention of the boiler that ended up being used by Suzy. I re-read the chapter about the boiler in Cannery Row when Suzy moved in to the boiler.
Finding out Doc’s birthday was a big thing for Mack in Cannery Row. So the fact that he already forgets Doc’s (fake) birthday was hilarious. And then Doc gave him an obviously fake birthday, 4th July, and uses THAT as the birthday for his horoscope. Doesn’t it mean Suzy and Doc aren’t exactly fated by stars? Granted, Suzy did reject Doc. But after Doc \*ahem\* broke his arm, it looks like Suzy accepted him after he said he loves her.
I ended up skimming through Cannery Row again to see Doc’s birthday. His actual one was in December if I remember correctly, and he gave Mack a fake birthday of October.
Though am I the only one wondering, Suzy’s in her early 20s. Doc is… I forgot, easily in his 40s? Mack and the other guys should be older too as well, the only exception is Hazel being I think around late 20s or early 30s? I don’t remember how old he was in Cannery Row, but if I remember correctly he’s the youngest. So it means everyone paired up an older man with a much younger woman, which was still more acceptable back then. But reading it now makes it feel somewhat odd.
The Great Roque War got me laughing quite a bit, I love the subtle hilarity of some chapters. It lightens up the mood especially considering how depressing the first few chapters were. And during the selling of raffle tickets, how Whitey 2 just threw a rock on a man’s windshield for not buying. Lol.
And, who the heck are Whitey 1 and 2? Replacement roomies for the OGs who left/died from Cannery Row?
This time I bothered to read the introduction of Steinbeck on the book. So it seems that, from my understanding, Sweet Thursday was when Steinbeck was living a good life after multiple hardships. Which sort of explains Doc and Suzy’s good ending. Because I’ve sampled two of his other works, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men. Neither had happy endings. The introduction also felt like a prompt to read East of Eden, as some parts were based off Steinbeck’s previous marriage. I’ll have to give that a read eventually.
Overall I love the light hearted feels of both Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.
by NommingFood