Looking for a non-serious book by a serious author? 'Sweet Thursday' by John Steinbeck is a fictional story set in Cannery Row, Monterey, California. It contains a humorous set of characters with the main plot to help the Doc from his listless depression. There are prostitutes with elegant table manners, a sneaky Mexican who is a natural lawbreaker, kind hearted buffoons and a skint millionaire. The themes of the book delve into the strange relationships that can be formed between people as well as manipulating someone in the attempt to help them.

I summarised the book as follows. "It's a fun, zany tale of caring but foolish oddballs. It had me laughing throughout at the absolute mayhem of their schemes. The only downside is that I could have easily handled another 50 pages in the middle of the book. The ending as well was a bit 'meh', and only wish it could have been a bit more climactic. It is similar to the enjoyment I got while reading 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut."

As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!

Timeline:
(0:00) - Synopsis
(1:48) - Relationships: Improbable and shouldn't work, but they do
(3:40) - Manipulation: Control/influence in a skilful manner
(6:12) - Personal Observations
(8:04) - Summary
(9:13) - Pragmatic Takeaway: Life is too short not to read funny books

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