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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Reading these stories, one can't help but feeling what being a man must be like even in one of the most idyllic places imaginable. All the dreams, all the wishing good vanishes once evil gets in. One of the first works of the great Steinbeck, really worth reading.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Steinbeck can do no wrong in my opinion. (Even The Pearl and The Red Pony, which I had to mark down for killing so much, are still literary masterpieces.) He has unequivocally become my favorite author. This little book of short stories is no different. The passion and love that Steinbeck has for his home town of Salinas, California shines thru on the pages of many of these books.
The layout is similar to that of Cannery Row, short chapters on various people in the small town and the escapades they get up to. But all of these stories center around one family, the Munroes, who move into the old cursed Battle farm. They manage to remake the farm into something prosperous and are good people but somehow they manage to bring bad luck to their neighbors and friends without even knowing it. Jobs become tedious, love affairs go awry, homes catch fire, and people even die.
“Maybe your curse and the farm's curse mated and gone into a gopher hole like a pair of snakes. Maybe they'll be a lot of baby curses crawling around in Pastures of Heaven.”
Unlike Cannery Row, there is not an optimism to these stories. These people get worn down and broken and it's sad to read about. *spoilers ahead* My favorite story (and the saddest in my opinion) was about Pat Humbert, a 30-something year old man who lives with his elderly parents until they die. He inherits their family home but cannot bring himself to make any changes or even enter the sitting room that his parents inhabited each day. He closes it up and ignores the ghosts that haunt him at night, by going out to town and joining all the groups he can find. Even though he joins these groups and participates, he is still on the sidelines, rarely interacting with others unless they do so first. One day, he overhears the young and lovely Mae Munroe (of the cursed Munroes) mention how beautiful the outside of his home is and this sparks an energy in him to remake his home and himself, so that he may eventually court the girl. He starts with the sitting room and tears it apart, freeing the ghosts inside. He becomes obsessed with redecorating, even looking at magazines at the library. He finally finishes and declares himself ready to greet Mae. But when he goes over to her home, he discovers the family celebrating her engagement to another young man in town. And he is heartbroken. He returns home and is repulsed by all his effort, claims the home is dark and unutterably dreary, and refuses to step foot into the house again, sleeping in the barn instead. That is where his story ends.
After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people.
This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind.
Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do.
Reviewed at Give a Hoot Read a Book!
The layout is similar to that of Cannery Row, short chapters on various people in the small town and the escapades they get up to. But all of these stories center around one family, the Munroes, who move into the old cursed Battle farm. They manage to remake the farm into something prosperous and are good people but somehow they manage to bring bad luck to their neighbors and friends without even knowing it. Jobs become tedious, love affairs go awry, homes catch fire, and people even die.
“Maybe your curse and the farm's curse mated and gone into a gopher hole like a pair of snakes. Maybe they'll be a lot of baby curses crawling around in Pastures of Heaven.”
Unlike Cannery Row, there is not an optimism to these stories. These people get worn down and broken and it's sad to read about. *spoilers ahead* My favorite story (and the saddest in my opinion) was about Pat Humbert, a 30-something year old man who lives with his elderly parents until they die. He inherits their family home but cannot bring himself to make any changes or even enter the sitting room that his parents inhabited each day. He closes it up and ignores the ghosts that haunt him at night, by going out to town and joining all the groups he can find. Even though he joins these groups and participates, he is still on the sidelines, rarely interacting with others unless they do so first. One day, he overhears the young and lovely Mae Munroe (of the cursed Munroes) mention how beautiful the outside of his home is and this sparks an energy in him to remake his home and himself, so that he may eventually court the girl. He starts with the sitting room and tears it apart, freeing the ghosts inside. He becomes obsessed with redecorating, even looking at magazines at the library. He finally finishes and declares himself ready to greet Mae. But when he goes over to her home, he discovers the family celebrating her engagement to another young man in town. And he is heartbroken. He returns home and is repulsed by all his effort, claims the home is dark and unutterably dreary, and refuses to step foot into the house again, sleeping in the barn instead. That is where his story ends.
After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people.
This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind.
Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do.
Reviewed at Give a Hoot Read a Book!
I'm continually amazed and how surprised I am that he has such a way with words to describe things simply yet elegantly at the same time.
emotional
reflective
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
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexual content
"الخطأ لا يصدر إلا عن فكر أو طموح."
"بعد أن يُؤَمِّن الإنسان مصدر رزقهِ، لديه أمل منشود في أن يترك بصمة أو دليلاً على أنه قد عاش... ربما يترك هذه البصمة على الصخور، أو على الخشب، أو على حياة غيره من الناس.. هذا الأمل المنشود يكمن في نفس أي إنسان، ابتداء من الطفل أو الفتى الذي يكتب عبارات بذيئة على جدران المرحاض، إلى بوذا الذي يحفر صورته في عقول أتباعه، إن الحياة مغرقة في اللاواقعية.. وربما شككنا في وجودنا، ولذلك فإننا نحاول جاهدين أن نثبت ونؤكد أننا نعيش في الواقع."
"كان واضحاً أنها باحثة عن المآسي، فغمرتها بها الحياة."
"لم تكن عملية الإعدام ذاتها هي ما تهمه، ولكن ما يصاحبها من جو مشحون متوتر عنيف." / "كان يسعى للانفعال العميق، ولم يكن خياله يحقق له هذه الرغبة.. ولكن في السجن كان يستطيع أن يشعر بمشاعر الآخرين المشحونة النابضة."
"أعتقد أن الناس تأكل أكثر مما ينبغي، ورأيي أن الإنسان يجب أن يترك الطعام قَدْرَ ما يستطيع، فإنه طالما لا يملأ معدته بالطعام فسيظل قويًّا."
"بعد أن يُؤَمِّن الإنسان مصدر رزقهِ، لديه أمل منشود في أن يترك بصمة أو دليلاً على أنه قد عاش... ربما يترك هذه البصمة على الصخور، أو على الخشب، أو على حياة غيره من الناس.. هذا الأمل المنشود يكمن في نفس أي إنسان، ابتداء من الطفل أو الفتى الذي يكتب عبارات بذيئة على جدران المرحاض، إلى بوذا الذي يحفر صورته في عقول أتباعه، إن الحياة مغرقة في اللاواقعية.. وربما شككنا في وجودنا، ولذلك فإننا نحاول جاهدين أن نثبت ونؤكد أننا نعيش في الواقع."
"كان واضحاً أنها باحثة عن المآسي، فغمرتها بها الحياة."
"لم تكن عملية الإعدام ذاتها هي ما تهمه، ولكن ما يصاحبها من جو مشحون متوتر عنيف." / "كان يسعى للانفعال العميق، ولم يكن خياله يحقق له هذه الرغبة.. ولكن في السجن كان يستطيع أن يشعر بمشاعر الآخرين المشحونة النابضة."
"أعتقد أن الناس تأكل أكثر مما ينبغي، ورأيي أن الإنسان يجب أن يترك الطعام قَدْرَ ما يستطيع، فإنه طالما لا يملأ معدته بالطعام فسيظل قويًّا."