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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Travels with Charley accounts John Steinbeck’s traverse through America with his trusty old dog by his side. Steinbeck accounts of the country in the 1950s is starkly different from the world today. His description of the beautiful Red Woods of Oregon, the mountain ranges of Montana, and the longing for the coastal air is a joy to flip through. He brings up issues of race, political silence of strangers, and how going home doesn’t always feel like home. Is it the hometown that’s changed or is it us that’s changed? His objectivity is apparent and he’s well aware of it. Regardless, it is a pleasure to read about a mans experience on the open road of the states.
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism
No one would read this if it weren't Steinbeck, but because it is we take it seriously. There are profound observations scattered throughout this travelogue. However it's a frustratingly pointless exercise overall.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
3.5 stars. This read like a travel log that bounced around a bit and lost my attention a few times, but there were many lovely, insightful passages reminding me why Steinbeck is Steinbeck.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
How could I have lived for 43 years and not known that John Steinbeck wrote a book about a three month trip he took across the United States in a camper truck dubbed Rocinate (after Don Quixote's steed) with his French poodle, Charley? I love Steinbeck, well at least I love his his writing, but I had no idea that he had written something like this until I stumbled across it high on a list of best audiobooks. I don't love French poodles, but Charley makes me think I could.
The audiobook list did not disappoint. This is one of my all-time favorite audiobooks (along with Alan Rickman's telling of Hardy's The Return of the Native, Ready Player One read by Wil Wheaton and The Boys in the Boat read by Edward Hermann). It pulled me in from the start and kept me head in hands absorbed the entire time. Gary Sinise narrates it, and he was seamless making it feel like he was actually Steinbeck speaking into a handheld recording device as he meandered around the country.
Steinbeck is part regular-folk philosopher, part self-sufficient freedom loving man of the West, and always a keen observer of human nature (a necessary trait of all good writers, I think). Steinbeck's interactions with the people he stumbles into along the way form the basis of his musings. The dialogue is smart and sharp, so much so, that at times it is not believable. Did Steinbeck actually have these conversations? Did he paraphrase or touch them up with his brilliant writing? I don't know, and I really don't care because they were so good. Steinbeck has an undercurrent of respect for other humans in almost all of his interactions, something that is missing from our national dialogue today. It was so nice and refreshing.
Now I just have to find a way to convince Brian and the kids to take off across the United States for three months in a camper truck. We don't have a French poodle, but we do have a mutt, Sam, and I think he would be game.
The audiobook list did not disappoint. This is one of my all-time favorite audiobooks (along with Alan Rickman's telling of Hardy's The Return of the Native, Ready Player One read by Wil Wheaton and The Boys in the Boat read by Edward Hermann). It pulled me in from the start and kept me head in hands absorbed the entire time. Gary Sinise narrates it, and he was seamless making it feel like he was actually Steinbeck speaking into a handheld recording device as he meandered around the country.
Steinbeck is part regular-folk philosopher, part self-sufficient freedom loving man of the West, and always a keen observer of human nature (a necessary trait of all good writers, I think). Steinbeck's interactions with the people he stumbles into along the way form the basis of his musings. The dialogue is smart and sharp, so much so, that at times it is not believable. Did Steinbeck actually have these conversations? Did he paraphrase or touch them up with his brilliant writing? I don't know, and I really don't care because they were so good. Steinbeck has an undercurrent of respect for other humans in almost all of his interactions, something that is missing from our national dialogue today. It was so nice and refreshing.
Now I just have to find a way to convince Brian and the kids to take off across the United States for three months in a camper truck. We don't have a French poodle, but we do have a mutt, Sam, and I think he would be game.
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced