George and Lennie are two travelling workmen, helping farmers with any job the season happens to offer.  George is like the millions of others that were roaming the US during the Depression in the thirties, but Lenny is different.  Today a politically correct term would be used, but back then he was retarded.  Not crazy, though he often was told he was.  Like the other millions they dream of having their own little piece of land, so they can be their own boss and harvest their own food.  And Lennie can stroke his own rabbits, he loves stroking nice things.  Unfortunately the combination of his limited brain, his extraordinary strength, and his love for beautiful things keep on getting them in trouble, and forces them to move on time after time.  Without Lennie George could have had a better life, but a sense of responsibility keeps him together with his friend.
They arrive at a farm near Soledad to join other farm laborers to help bring in the crop.  And there luck seems to strike, as they find out that one of the men wishes to join them in their dream of owning land - and his small capital makes that dream much closer all of a sudden.  But the events at the farm are not all fortunate...

This is a very short novel, written in a very simple and clear language.  The story is mostly told through conversations, it's only at a new scene Steinbeck takes his time to describe everything in great detail.  I think this is the power of this novel: it's stripped of all the unneeded information and brought down to the bare essential.  There are only a handful of characters - quite some of them stereotypes - and you only know them through what they say, yet you feel as if you know them, as if they live. 

The ending is in my opinion what makes this book so universal, both in time and in place.  How far do we go with tolerance?  But translated to today: in a society where we claim to take care of everyone and everything, why are there so many Lennies today?  And isn't the solution from this book the only wrong one we keep on coming to?

Is this book worth a read?  Most definitely.  It's short enough to make you finish it without wondering what exactly happened in a previous chapter.  It's simple enough to make you see all the individual relations and what drives them - think of Curley who tries to hide his feeling of inferiority by threatening to use his fists, and to whom the giant but harmless Lennie is a target to dream of.  And it's powerful enough to make it wander through your mind long after you've finished it.  Or do you think you could forget Lennie easily?