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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A look at the human psyche and how people want to be doing something different but are too comfortable in their current lives to actually attempt to change.
It's a story about a group of people on a bus trip that is not going as planned. And neither are their lives. This book highlights the human weaknesses of all of them. I had mixed feelings about it: there were some really good points, but at times I didn't feel like reading much about this bunch of flawed, unhappy characters.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I continue to love Steinbeck’s description of people and places and his knack for making the every day feel interesting, but this story overall just didn’t have much going for it in the end. A slice of life to go with all the pies.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I consider Steinbeck one of my favorite authors, but I'd never even heard of this novel until one of my GR friends read and reviewed it. His review is a lot more thorough than mine.
Written between the historically important Grapes of Wrath and my all-time favorite East of Eden, this is an intimate view of ten* people forced together for an approximately 24 hour period. Steinbeck writes California scenery and history like no one else and he captures these characters in exquisite detail.
The reason I only "liked" the book and didn't "really like" or "love" it was the characters. They're clearly meant to be terrible. Some are scheming, some pathetic, some so tied up in societal expectations, they don't even know who they are. But the reader is left lacking the hero that Steinbeck usually provides. Maybe it's supposed to be Juan, the bus driver, who other characters often admire as being "a real man," but he didn't cut it for me.. The one character who seemed to possess admirable qualities -- a young veteran working as a traveling salesman -- often disappeared into the background.
If you're a Steinbeck fan, this is worth reading, but I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to his amazing body of work.
*There are really 9 most of the time. After the tenth arrives, one is left behind.
Written between the historically important Grapes of Wrath and my all-time favorite East of Eden, this is an intimate view of ten* people forced together for an approximately 24 hour period. Steinbeck writes California scenery and history like no one else and he captures these characters in exquisite detail.
The reason I only "liked" the book and didn't "really like" or "love" it was the characters. They're clearly meant to be terrible. Some are scheming, some pathetic, some so tied up in societal expectations, they don't even know who they are. But the reader is left lacking the hero that Steinbeck usually provides. Maybe it's supposed to be Juan, the bus driver, who other characters often admire as being "a real man," but he didn't cut it for me.
Spoiler
Only hitting his wife when she "really deserved" it, trying to bed every cute, young thing in a skirt, and then thinking about leaving it all behind did not make him admirable from a 21st century lens, at least.If you're a Steinbeck fan, this is worth reading, but I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to his amazing body of work.
*There are really 9 most of the time. After the tenth arrives, one is left behind.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Steinbeck is a matter of characters. This book was good, but ended rather abruptly.