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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
“He did not often think of people as individuals, but rather as antidotes for the poison of his loneliness, as escapes from the imprisoned ghosts.”
John Steinbeck made his way in my 'to-read' list when I discovered Meg&Dia's song 'Monster', that is supposed to have been written after 'East of Eden'. That time, I wasn't aware of the impact that this author will have on me.
No matter what book I read written by him, he changes something in me. He makes me hate every material and finite thing, he makes me yearn for things that last even after death.
Now, in The Pastures of Heaven, Steinbeck tells ten different stories about people that all live in a small village somewhere between Salinas and Monterey. Alright, so most probably all of you already know these things.
But this book is not about the places or the time, but about how people change during different experiences they have to endure : some make plans without having a solid base, some hide from the past (afraid of the things that might come along with the truth), some are being denied everything only to free themselves with the first chance they get, some are misunderstood, some are having their lives taken away because of society and their baseless ideas and so on.
I didn't know what story Steinbeck had prepared for us at the time, but I saw this book on a popular book-site and I ended up buying it without knowing anything about it. I found the title beautiful and also the cover had something. It is said not to judge a book by its cover, but the cover and the title (also the author) were the ones that drove me to Pastures of heaven.
It's beautiful, it's what everyone needs. I cried, I smiled and cried again and never have I felt bored reading it.
I recommend it with all my heart.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
-=Read review on LucidStyleCreative's Book Blog=-
The Pastures of Heaven is John Steinbeck’s second work, a series of interconnected stories (the short-story cycle) set around an idyllic, arcadian place in the Salinas River valley of California and its percolation of residents. Steinbeck’s own experience was to grow up in its proximity. Oftentimes, a place we call home during our childhood can have a most profound and long-lasting, centralizing effect. As we age, it is common for this sense of natal home to become stronger and romanticized, to become more than a place we lived or continue to live for a time—it is home, a word that implies so much more than a region or an environment; it implies relations with people of similar and yet very dissimilar types and personalities, but ones that are indeed memorable.
The Pastures of Heaven, Las Pasturas del Cielo, are a green meadow of rolling plain that is embraced by beautiful California hills in the Salinas River valley. They give a sense of comfort with the gentle sloping of the plain and the strong, impenetrable solidity of the hills. When outsiders first view this region they are struck with wondrous calm.
“Holy Mother,” [the Spanish corporal] whispered. “Here are the green pastures of Heaven to which our Lord leadeth us.” (p. 4)
They wonder, is this a place I can set down my roots and live a peaceful life, extending that peace to my future offspring and descendants, leaving a legacy? Will these hills protect me and give me succor, and these valleys nourish me and give me sustenance?
The characters introduced briefly in each story seek out that succor and sustenance in the Pastures of Heaven. Whatever difficulties they escaped or challenges they grappled previously in other places, they felt the remains of those worries and residue of traumas dissipate once they set their eyes upon this region. The dream they envision is unachievable of course, but their hearts feel the pull and protection of the peaceful area. They seek the solace that they imagine can soothe their souls and create a space for their perpetual homestead.
John Steinbeck grew up in this region that engraved a deep mark on his soul and is evident in his works throughout his career. Geological nature, while constant for ourselves in our lifetimes, can create weather patterns and storm systems that wreak havoc on a person who seeks solace and permanence. Human beings are subject to the inconsistency and chaos of natural elements and disasters, having to fight to survive. This notion of the constancy of geology also conflicts with the fluid and dynamic nature of geography, forever moving borders and peoples to meet the needs of the assemblage of whatever current power establishment. While we learn throughout our lives that individual people can affect us directly and indirectly and we can become used to navigating the expectations of our neighbors, it seems we are frequently surprised or mystified when events force us away from a place that was magical, protective, home.
Immigration, emigration, refuge/refugee. These words are frequently brought up and frequently debated. Rather than words or concepts or items on the table to be debated by the powerful few, the connotation of these words is the defining of people from a place. The movement, the diaspora of people: people who are pressured out of their seemingly permanent homes through directly violent (war, ecological crises) or indirectly violent (economically unsustainable) reasons. Despite the constant discussion of yet another group of refugees, it still seems to be assumed that the idea of a home should be permanent. That refugees seeking refuge should not be accepted because they belong to somewhere else. Yet somehow reality exposes a different truth: that having a home is so fleeting and so dependent upon events that transpire around us. While the inference of a home suggests permanence, in actuality and lived experience, a home is, like our neighbors, quite non-permanent. Maybe the where we’ve been isn’t as important as the experience we gain from having been there. The Battle homestead of The Pastures of Heaven reveals this impermanence:
There was something fearsome about the gaunt old house with its staring vacant windows. The white paint fell off in long scales; the shingles curled up shaggily. (p. 9)
Life without change isn’t living. And living requires maintenance.
text/review content © copyright 2023 Jean A. Turman, Lucid Style
Steinbeck, John. The Pastures of Heaven. New York: Penguin Books, 1932, 1982.
The Pastures of Heaven is John Steinbeck’s second work, a series of interconnected stories (the short-story cycle) set around an idyllic, arcadian place in the Salinas River valley of California and its percolation of residents. Steinbeck’s own experience was to grow up in its proximity. Oftentimes, a place we call home during our childhood can have a most profound and long-lasting, centralizing effect. As we age, it is common for this sense of natal home to become stronger and romanticized, to become more than a place we lived or continue to live for a time—it is home, a word that implies so much more than a region or an environment; it implies relations with people of similar and yet very dissimilar types and personalities, but ones that are indeed memorable.
The Pastures of Heaven, Las Pasturas del Cielo, are a green meadow of rolling plain that is embraced by beautiful California hills in the Salinas River valley. They give a sense of comfort with the gentle sloping of the plain and the strong, impenetrable solidity of the hills. When outsiders first view this region they are struck with wondrous calm.
“Holy Mother,” [the Spanish corporal] whispered. “Here are the green pastures of Heaven to which our Lord leadeth us.” (p. 4)
They wonder, is this a place I can set down my roots and live a peaceful life, extending that peace to my future offspring and descendants, leaving a legacy? Will these hills protect me and give me succor, and these valleys nourish me and give me sustenance?
The characters introduced briefly in each story seek out that succor and sustenance in the Pastures of Heaven. Whatever difficulties they escaped or challenges they grappled previously in other places, they felt the remains of those worries and residue of traumas dissipate once they set their eyes upon this region. The dream they envision is unachievable of course, but their hearts feel the pull and protection of the peaceful area. They seek the solace that they imagine can soothe their souls and create a space for their perpetual homestead.
John Steinbeck grew up in this region that engraved a deep mark on his soul and is evident in his works throughout his career. Geological nature, while constant for ourselves in our lifetimes, can create weather patterns and storm systems that wreak havoc on a person who seeks solace and permanence. Human beings are subject to the inconsistency and chaos of natural elements and disasters, having to fight to survive. This notion of the constancy of geology also conflicts with the fluid and dynamic nature of geography, forever moving borders and peoples to meet the needs of the assemblage of whatever current power establishment. While we learn throughout our lives that individual people can affect us directly and indirectly and we can become used to navigating the expectations of our neighbors, it seems we are frequently surprised or mystified when events force us away from a place that was magical, protective, home.
Immigration, emigration, refuge/refugee. These words are frequently brought up and frequently debated. Rather than words or concepts or items on the table to be debated by the powerful few, the connotation of these words is the defining of people from a place. The movement, the diaspora of people: people who are pressured out of their seemingly permanent homes through directly violent (war, ecological crises) or indirectly violent (economically unsustainable) reasons. Despite the constant discussion of yet another group of refugees, it still seems to be assumed that the idea of a home should be permanent. That refugees seeking refuge should not be accepted because they belong to somewhere else. Yet somehow reality exposes a different truth: that having a home is so fleeting and so dependent upon events that transpire around us. While the inference of a home suggests permanence, in actuality and lived experience, a home is, like our neighbors, quite non-permanent. Maybe the where we’ve been isn’t as important as the experience we gain from having been there. The Battle homestead of The Pastures of Heaven reveals this impermanence:
There was something fearsome about the gaunt old house with its staring vacant windows. The white paint fell off in long scales; the shingles curled up shaggily. (p. 9)
Life without change isn’t living. And living requires maintenance.
text/review content © copyright 2023 Jean A. Turman, Lucid Style
Steinbeck, John. The Pastures of Heaven. New York: Penguin Books, 1932, 1982.
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
4.5 stars.
I always love reading Steinbeck.
This is a short novel about the different inhabitants of a southern Californian rural community called the Pasture of Heaven.
My copy of this short book is yellowed from age; it was printed in 1986 and I bought it second hand from some used bookstore a long time ago for $2.99. It was in dearly used shape when I purchased it and then it has sat in my house and moved with me to numerous locations over the years and been exposed to smoke and dirt and now is yellowed and worn.
It felt befitting to have this very used version in my hands as I read about the dirt and soil and dreams of the land from those who didn't realize what the price of the picturesque community called Corral de Tierra, (Pasture of Heaven) in Monterey, California would cost them. As with all things our dreams are tarnished with lack of love and foresight and the meddling of others who may mean well but alter our original plans and often our direction. Things always look better from afar. Fears and hurts don't go away just because we find a new locale. Or maybe they do, until someone points it out that maybe we should have them.
I love how Steinbeck can carry me backwards into a different time and still make me aware of the universality of human needs and emotions. It's like coming home to a place where I never was but still feel a need to know of.
I always love reading Steinbeck.
This is a short novel about the different inhabitants of a southern Californian rural community called the Pasture of Heaven.
My copy of this short book is yellowed from age; it was printed in 1986 and I bought it second hand from some used bookstore a long time ago for $2.99. It was in dearly used shape when I purchased it and then it has sat in my house and moved with me to numerous locations over the years and been exposed to smoke and dirt and now is yellowed and worn.
It felt befitting to have this very used version in my hands as I read about the dirt and soil and dreams of the land from those who didn't realize what the price of the picturesque community called Corral de Tierra, (Pasture of Heaven) in Monterey, California would cost them. As with all things our dreams are tarnished with lack of love and foresight and the meddling of others who may mean well but alter our original plans and often our direction. Things always look better from afar. Fears and hurts don't go away just because we find a new locale. Or maybe they do, until someone points it out that maybe we should have them.
I love how Steinbeck can carry me backwards into a different time and still make me aware of the universality of human needs and emotions. It's like coming home to a place where I never was but still feel a need to know of.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated