by John Steinbeck, 1945
Finished in 2 days. Exquisite, painful story about Kino, Juana, and little baby boy, Coyotito. Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion – that Kino, his father, couldn’t catch in time. Jauna, Coyotito’s mother, sucks out the poison but decides they must see the doctor. The rich doctor won’t see them because they have no money. They go pearl hunting and Kino finds a huge, perfect pearl. The doctor and the whole town find out. The doctor comes to visit, gives the baby a pill of white powder and gelatin. One hour later, baby Coyotito is vomiting. Doctor comes back, pretends to cure him. Asks for a fee. Kino tries to sell the great Pearl at the pearl buyers the next day. They are all working for the same man, unbeknownst to the town. They all say, this Pearl is too big, no one wants it! Kino decides to leave for the big city. That night, someone tries to steal the pearl, Kino kills him. Juana tries to throw the pearl in the ocean. Kino beats her. Kino, Juana, and little Coyotito escape for the city. They are tracked through the desert and into the mountains. Hiding in a cave, Kino kills the trackers at night but not before one errant shot finds his little son and kills him.
Kino and Juana trudge back to their little town on the Gulf with their little bundle – throw the Pearl into the sea.
Last 2 paragraphs: “And the pearl settled into the lovely green water and dropped toward the bottom.The waving branches of the algae called to it and beckoned to it. The lights on its surface were green and lovely. It settled down to the sand bottom among the fern-like plants. Above, the surface of the water was a green mirror. And the pearl lay on the floor of the sea. A crab scampering over the bottom raised a little cloud of sand, and when it settled, the pearl was gone.
“And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared.”
A story of how great wealth can ruin, utterly, your life.