** spoiler alert ** 
 I haven't read this since I was 11. It's shorter than I remembered. It's also more depressing than I remembered, and pretty much the only thing I remembered about it was that it was a very sad book about a guy who killed things accidentally. And that's a very good description of the plot, actually. My heart bleeds and breaks for Lennie, poor confused Lennie who doesn't really understand, who is so easily frightened, with such unfortunate results. And that's what I remember feeling at school (though, seriously, who prescribes a book like this for grade 6?). What struck me on this reading was how much worse it is for George. Poor George who's doing his best for his friend (ward? What is actually going on with that relationship? Now that I'm older I wonder what brought them together, and I wonder if it was sexual, for all George's talk of brothels). Poor George who ends up having to kill his friend to protect him from the consequences of his own actions. Rather like putting down a rabid dog. He'll die anyway, but this way he dies painlessly and feeling, if not happy, at least as if his life, his future with his rabbits, has not been ruined by the behaviour of a ridiculous woman. Because that's really the only way I can possibly describe Curley's wife. She can see that Lennie's killed the puppy because he wanted to stroke it and what does she do? She invites him to stroke her hair, telling him how soft it is, and then she's surprised when she can't control the situation. Personally, I think she got what she deserved. Poor Lennie paid the price for her behaviour (though you can argue that she did too, but considering she knowingly put herself in that situation, I have about as much sympathy for her as for people who complain of injuries after getting into a car with a drunk driver).