Reviews - The Pastures of Heaven

162 reviews for:

The Pastures of Heaven

John Steinbeck

4.03 AVERAGE

deberad24's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dlemmen's review against another edition

4.5

emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

eclecticat's review against another edition

4.0

reflective slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

tholden's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

So many people have the idea that things will be better if they could just get to “that place” when in reality life happens wherever we are. These stories drive that point home. It starts slow but ends up well worth it in the end. Steinbeck is the master.

blazinbran's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Series of interconnected short stories centered on one rural community in 1930s California. Masterful prose. Seems like a blueprint for cannery row, with other character archetypes that would continue to fascinate steinbeck throughout his career.

Explores and criticizes aspects of the era's white american culture, but still glorifies settler-colonialism and consistently marginalizes characters of color.

p_con's review against another edition

3.0

Classic short story collection problem where the enjoyment is inconsistent from story to story. The story of the 3 Mexican sisters and the tale about the new teacher were low points (Steinbeck's women maybe aren't that compelling?) but there were a couple of really good ones in there as well. I also appreciate how the collection was framed and the throughline of cursed Monroe's - almost tricks you into thinking it's a novel (almost).