Helpful Score: 2
Racist? Wow, that's a tough one. If Gabriel Garcia-Marquez had written this novella, nobody would call it racist. It would be about a bunch of lazy drunk unambitious men who just happen to be Mexican-Indian-Italian-little-bit-of-everything.
Still, Garcia-Marquez didn't write it, Steinbeck did. Can the exact same words, and not just a phrase - what up, homey? - but 70,000 exact same words in a row - be racist when coming from a Californian of European descent, when they would not from a Colombian whose first language is Spanish?
I really don't know.
So I'm going to pretend the book was written by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and what a great book it is. His usual elements of eye-widening, soul-delighting surrealism are out in full force, what with women that seem to get pregnant without help, children thriving on just beans, but brought near death by vegetables and milk, and dogs and ghosts and all kinds of stuff that live right between reality and full frontal assault fantasy seizure.
And Garcia-Marquez' characters - just great. They are so messed up, but I swear by the time the book's over you'll see every situation exactly as they do. There's no situation they can't solve - really solve - by selling something for more wine.
As with any story of Garcia-Marquez, you know there's going to be humor - the winking dry variety, wherein our narrator is playing along with his characters, but also letting you know it's just a playalong.
This may rank right up there with his best - Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Make sure to get a copy by Garcia-Marquez, though. The one by Steinbeck has too many embarrassingly stereotypical Latino behaviors, which were tolerated in the 1930's but are not today.
Still, Garcia-Marquez didn't write it, Steinbeck did. Can the exact same words, and not just a phrase - what up, homey? - but 70,000 exact same words in a row - be racist when coming from a Californian of European descent, when they would not from a Colombian whose first language is Spanish?
I really don't know.
So I'm going to pretend the book was written by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and what a great book it is. His usual elements of eye-widening, soul-delighting surrealism are out in full force, what with women that seem to get pregnant without help, children thriving on just beans, but brought near death by vegetables and milk, and dogs and ghosts and all kinds of stuff that live right between reality and full frontal assault fantasy seizure.
And Garcia-Marquez' characters - just great. They are so messed up, but I swear by the time the book's over you'll see every situation exactly as they do. There's no situation they can't solve - really solve - by selling something for more wine.
As with any story of Garcia-Marquez, you know there's going to be humor - the winking dry variety, wherein our narrator is playing along with his characters, but also letting you know it's just a playalong.
This may rank right up there with his best - Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Make sure to get a copy by Garcia-Marquez, though. The one by Steinbeck has too many embarrassingly stereotypical Latino behaviors, which were tolerated in the 1930's but are not today.
Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the shabby district of Tortilla Flat. Inhabited by a colorful gang whose revels recall the exploits of King Arthur's knights. Soft-hearted, unquestioningly loyal to one another, and in complete disregard of social conventions and expectations, the gutsy denizens of Tortilla Flat cheerfully reside in a world of idyllic poverty.
"The oxtraordinary humors of these ciriously childlike natives are presented with a masterly touch." William Rose Benet
"The oxtraordinary humors of these ciriously childlike natives are presented with a masterly touch." William Rose Benet
Hilarious and fun.
I reread this last year for the first time in 45 years, and experienced the perhaps familiar feeling of meeting an old friend who has changed in the interim -- when actually I'm the one who's changed. Give Steinbeck a chance, he can write circles around most writers of today -- too bad the Salinas Public Library withdrew their support for their most famous son! --from a native Bay Area Californian who's glad he left 23 years ago...
Great classic, entertaining and timeless.
I think I've said this in other reviews, but Steinbeck's literary success was almost assured with the publication of this small but mighty novel. It established his enviable ability to make Dickensian-level miscreants relatable and even occasionally sympathetic, owing in no small amount to his poetic, beautiful and incisive prose, such that you occasionally even find yourself cheering for them, thieves and beggars that they are. Steinbeck is a master of making despicable people not only palatable, but endearing, and his cast of characters here is no exception. They are certainly more derelict than the inhabitants of the Cannery Row universe, the ne'er-do-wells in this delightful, but sometimes depressing narrative, but they are indeed just as colorful and full of life.
This is a rather short work, but not in any way disappointing. As other reviewers have stated, I certainly share the sentiment that Steinbeck is a master storyteller who captures the essence of the time and place about which he writes with perfection, without pretense or exaggeration. In this case, he transports readers to the era of the early 20th century in a little coastal town infected with a surplus share of poverty, driving its inhabitants to struggle for survival in ways unimaginable to most of us. As such, it offers a window unto their world, if only for a short time and from a safe distance.
Another of Steinbeck's great talents is his ability to turn tragedy into comedy: the almost farcical situations Danny and Company frequently find themselves in are owing, of course, to their own vices and shortcomings. For example, when Danny comes into what to most would seem good fortune, with the inheritance of not one but TWO houses, bequeathed to him by his viejo, the rent for one of which would certainly keep him and his comrades in an endless supply of cheap wine, in short order, he manages to muck it up, first losing one property, and then essentially the other, because his nature is such that he cannot be domesticated. His true nature, that of perennial screw-up (and isn't there one in almost EVERY family, so this stereotypical albeit prototypical figure may be familiar to many readers),cannot be overcome; such is also the lamentable fate of his band of brothers, who are scattered to the winds with his untimely passing. Even the best of intentions will go astray for Danny and his ilk, and, by extension, the entire community.
This is certainly a worthwhile book, setting the stage for some of Steinbeck's more famous works which delve into similar dark recesses of the human psyche, including Of Mice and Men, which this book foreshadows in a significant way, and his magnum opus, The Grapes of Wrath. The simplicity of the stories, vignettes of travesty unfold more as events happening TO the characters, who are seemingly incapable of changing their misaligned stars, rather than as deeds performed by the characters, who are occupied with life's simple pleasures, with a penchant for wine, women and the occasional song. Highly recommended, and a quintessential stepping stone introduction to Steinbeck's more masterful works.
-------Notable Passages--------
Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.
If two generous paths branch from the highroad of life and only one can be followed, who is to judge which is best?
Thoughts are slow and deep and golden in the morning.
If all the dew were diamonds...we would be very rich. We would be drunk all our lives.
It is astounding to find that the belly of every black and evil thing is as white as snow. And it is saddening to discover that the concealed parts of angels are leprous.
Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra.
This is a rather short work, but not in any way disappointing. As other reviewers have stated, I certainly share the sentiment that Steinbeck is a master storyteller who captures the essence of the time and place about which he writes with perfection, without pretense or exaggeration. In this case, he transports readers to the era of the early 20th century in a little coastal town infected with a surplus share of poverty, driving its inhabitants to struggle for survival in ways unimaginable to most of us. As such, it offers a window unto their world, if only for a short time and from a safe distance.
Another of Steinbeck's great talents is his ability to turn tragedy into comedy: the almost farcical situations Danny and Company frequently find themselves in are owing, of course, to their own vices and shortcomings. For example, when Danny comes into what to most would seem good fortune, with the inheritance of not one but TWO houses, bequeathed to him by his viejo, the rent for one of which would certainly keep him and his comrades in an endless supply of cheap wine, in short order, he manages to muck it up, first losing one property, and then essentially the other, because his nature is such that he cannot be domesticated. His true nature, that of perennial screw-up (and isn't there one in almost EVERY family, so this stereotypical albeit prototypical figure may be familiar to many readers),cannot be overcome; such is also the lamentable fate of his band of brothers, who are scattered to the winds with his untimely passing. Even the best of intentions will go astray for Danny and his ilk, and, by extension, the entire community.
This is certainly a worthwhile book, setting the stage for some of Steinbeck's more famous works which delve into similar dark recesses of the human psyche, including Of Mice and Men, which this book foreshadows in a significant way, and his magnum opus, The Grapes of Wrath. The simplicity of the stories, vignettes of travesty unfold more as events happening TO the characters, who are seemingly incapable of changing their misaligned stars, rather than as deeds performed by the characters, who are occupied with life's simple pleasures, with a penchant for wine, women and the occasional song. Highly recommended, and a quintessential stepping stone introduction to Steinbeck's more masterful works.
-------Notable Passages--------
Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.
If two generous paths branch from the highroad of life and only one can be followed, who is to judge which is best?
Thoughts are slow and deep and golden in the morning.
If all the dew were diamonds...we would be very rich. We would be drunk all our lives.
It is astounding to find that the belly of every black and evil thing is as white as snow. And it is saddening to discover that the concealed parts of angels are leprous.
Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra.
