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Tortilla Flat

john steinbeck

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Alternate cover edition here.

John Steinbeck's first major critical and commercial success, and perhaps his funniest novel, "Tortilla Flat" includes a critical introduction by Thomas Fensch in "Penguin Modern Classics". Danny is a paisano, descended from the original Spanish settlers who arrived in Monterey, California, centuries before. He values friendship above money and possessions, so when he suddenly inherits two houses, Danny is quick to offer shelter to his fellow gentlemen of the road. Together, their love of freedom and scorn for material things draws them into daring and often hilarious adventures. That is, until Danny, tiring of his new responsibilities, suddenly disappears...John Steinbeck (1902-68), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature, is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. During the Second World War Steinbeck served as a war correspondent, with his collected dispatches published as "Once There Was a War" (1958); in 1945 he was awarded the Norwegian Cross of Freedom for his novel "The Moon is Down" (1942), a portrayal of Resistance efforts in northern Europe. His best-known works include the epics "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939) and "East of Eden" (1952), and his tragic novella "Of Mice and Men" (1937). John Steinbeck's complete works are published in "Penguin Modern Classics". If you enjoyed "Tortilla Flat", you might like Steinbeck's "Cannery Row", also available in "Penguin Modern Classics". "Steinbeck...tells the stories of these lovable thieves and adulterers with a poetic purity of heart and prose". ("New York Herald Tribune").

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1935
Literary awards
california book award, 
Places
monterey california, california, 

This edition

Format
154 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2010 by Fisicalbook
ISBN
9780141185118
ASIN
B007YXPKA6
Language
English
Characters More characters

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About the author

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john steinbeck

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John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
4 stars
32(32%)
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33(33%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
JayremyTM
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Eigentlich eine Tragödie, die Erzählung von Danny und seinen Freunden,
aber mit viel Ironie und Zynismus macht John Steinbeck daraus eine liebens- und lesenswerte
Geschichte von den Bewohnern eines kleinen Hauses am Rande von Monterey, deren einzige
Lebensaufgabe darin besteht, täglich etwas zu essen und ein paar Gallonen Wein zu besorgen.
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ZzzSleepzz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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What are friends for if not to help them drink their wine. This being one of Steinbecks earliest works, it did not have the depth or power of his later novels, but still, I found myself laughing out loud throughout the story. So, whatever the weaknesses, if a book can keep me laughing that way it deserves at least 4 stars from me.
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Over1ord
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Danny is an unemployed alcoholic, leading a transient existence in Monterrey, California. When Danny inherits two houses in the shabby district of Tortilla Flat, he invites a hobo friend and fellow paisano (descendant of Spanish peasants) to live with him. Danny’s new lodger, Pilon, is a self-proclaimed logician, obsessed with morality. The pair are soon joined by workshy Jesus Maria, the mentally handicapped Pirate, and his pack of dogs.

We follow their escapades, which entail endless wine drinking, fighting, forgiving, scheming, and interactions involving a bootlegger, several women of dubious repute, and various impoverished locals.

Hapless yet noble characters populate this allegorical and didactic work that extols friendship and virtue over capitalism and materialism.

This early Steinbeck novel (1935) closely parallels the fables about King Arthur. Shared themes include friendship, oath, inheritance and kingdom. Whilst Tortilla Flat is inferior to many of the author’s later efforts, this reader would not hesitate in recommending it to all Steinbeck aficionados.
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lisa_cap0b
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I always thought that these characters that Steinbeck created were so lovable, and so this has been one of my favorite books by him.

I grew up seeing Steinbeck in my father's bookcase, and when I was a child I read and cried over his, "The Red Pony." My favorites are this book, Cannery Row, and Grapes of Wrath.
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h2iro
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Tortilla Flat is my first disappointment of Steinbeck. By now I've come to accept the possibility of being disappointed over books of my favourite authors. However, it's still hard when that happens. This novel is an early work of Steinbeck and perhaps, that may account for the lack of mastery when compared to his later works. The novel may have had a fascination with the public when it was first published since it's said to be Steinbeck's first commercial success. But it's the kind of work that will wither in interest with time. At least, that's how I feel about it.

Tortilla Flat is quite similar to Cannery Row in story. Both stories are revolved around a group of friends. However, while I felt the characters in Cannery Row (Doc, Mack, and the boys) to be interesting and close to heart, the characters in Tortilla Flat (Danny and his friends) were dull and distant. Their adventures didn't impress me. They were full of wine and women, and nothing substantial. Steinbeck stamps on us the strength of their friendship and their loyalty to one another. And that is the only impressive feature I found in their characters.

The story was episodic, and each chapter is dedicated to a separate story of sorts of either Danny and/or one or more of his friends. This was an interesting structure, but sadly, the stories didn't come up to the mark; they didn't interest me. Steinbeck is a good writer, but in Tortilla Flat, either because of my lack of interest in the story or the characters, I failed to admire and appreciate his writing as I've done in almost every other work I've read. The only role of Steinbeck that I could appreciate was that of the humorist.

I'm in the minority here, so, before anyone of you jump down my throat, please know that these are my personal subjective thoughts about this novel. It may have its own merits which I failed to grasp. But to me, it was a set of boring stories connected through a group of people of whom I didn't care a jot.
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planetbound
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I had read Tortilla Flat the summer before entering the 10th grade. I liked it very much then because of the atmosphere of the novel with which I was entirely in sympathy. I was enthralled with the possibility of the lackadaisicality of life.

When you are 15, friendships are vitally important, and that's what this book is about (although these are men, not boys) among a host of other themes such as loyalty, honor, poverty, daring, truthfulness, love and so on. The characters are "paisanos"--a mixture of Americans of Hispanic and other European ethnicity, but that is not important to the story, although it has been wrongly criticized as such, in my view.

Steinbeck had been a student of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in his youth and so had I. I did not realize it then, but the paisanos in Tortilla Flat were like the Knights of King Arthur in some ways. I suppose that that had been the subconscious attraction for me.

While I was in the middle of reading this book one summer Sunday night at that time, friends who had been becoming unfriendly for no apparent reason other than perhaps because of my disinterest in joining in on some of their nefarious activities tried to throw a cantaloupe (mushmelon) through my bedroom window where I lay in bed reading. The first time they missed but it shook the house; the second time I was waiting for them and tried to hit their car with a garbage can lid, the first thing that I could grab. I had recognized immediately who they were, the car they were driving, and I was surprised to see that these were boys that I liked--friends from church and summer camp and who had been to my house for lunch, friends of my friends (some of whom much later also betrayed me). I immediately tracked them down and it was resolved in a rather friendly way due to our parents being friends, although the betrayal continued all through highschool, in football, and beyond--harmless but unfriendly. (Decades later the best friend of that group apologized for the whole episode. I accepted without comment.) Tortilla Flat also treats the idea of friends betraying each other.

It was about that time in my life that I realized that the best friend I would probably ever have outside of marriage and children would be a great book by a great author. I am now surrounded by great books by great authors. Tortilla Flat is one of those books, and it helped me through some mild unhappiness back there. I learned not to trust friendships too much.
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Vancomycin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I was initially annoyed by Tortilla Flat, a household of drinking, carousing, and thieving young men who lived hand to mouth and day to day. John Steinbeck clearly glamorized their stories – occasionally truly kind-hearted, their thieving and ceceits – poor Torrelli! – are denied and justified as “good deeds.”

“Candy is not good for people,” Pablo observed. “It makes their teeth ache.”

“That is up to Danny,” said Jesus Maria. “If he wants to ache Mrs. Morales’ teeth, that is his business. What do we care for Mrs. Morales’ teeth?”

A cloud of anxiety had settled on Pilon’s face. “But,” he interposed sternly, “if our friend Danny takes big candy to Mrs. Morales, he will eat some too. So it is the teeth of our friend that will ache.”

Pablo shook his head anxiously. “It would be a bad thing if Danny’s friends, on whom he depends, should bring about the aching of his teeth.” (Kindle 606)

As I read Steinbeck’s stories, I imagined how a group of young Black men engaging in the same drinking, carousing, and stealing would be portrayed today. Not as kindly. Even a group of young white men would not be portrayed with as little judgment.

GR’s description of Tortilla Flat did little to respond to my concerns: “Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, John Steinbeck created a “Camelot” on a shabby hillside above the town of Monterey, California, and peopled it with a colorful band of knights.” This description, if anything, confirmed my initial reaction and made me re-examine my prejudices as I think about the Arthurian legends.

Yet… I think my reading Tortilla Flat served a purpose and much the same one as when I read fiction from other parts of the world, to help me develop diverse perspectives. I am more of an ant (using Aesop’s language), while Steinbeck’s characters here are clearly grasshoppers. Why is my approach to the world better (or worse)? And, like Pilon, I’m thinking

It is astounding to find that the belly of every black and evil thing is as white as snow. And it is saddening to discover how the concealed parts of angels are leprous. Honor and peace to Pilon, for he had discovered how to uncover and to disclose to the world the good that lay in every evil thing. Nor was he blind, as so many saints are, to the evil of good things. (Kindle 1360)
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Roza8o4
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A fairly short book, but how enchanting! A collection of stories about tramps who settle down in the Tortilla flat-area near Monterey, California. Steinbeck paints a very sympathetic portrait of a group of marginal people. That's what I like some much in this book, but even more so in The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men: like Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy Steinbeck saw real humanity in people on the margins of society (the other way around is also true: a lot of so-called civilized people can be really inhumane). This little book offers simplicity, dry humor, broad storytelling, in short: a great read!
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