Tortilla flat is about a group of friends and their constant quest for food , wine and women. It wasn’t really my thing and for me the parallels with Arthurian legend didn’t work. There’s light humour and it’s an easy read but didn’t affect me like some of Steinbeck’s later books.

Come Danny, gli amici di Danny e la casa di Danny mi intrattennero durante l'estate

Pian della Tortilla mi lascia spiazzata: ci sono cose che ho apprezzato, cose che non mi hanno colpita. In generale, me lo aspettavo diverso. E' la prima volta che leggo Steinbeck, e di sicuro non ho iniziato dai titoloni; ho iniziato dall'esordio, dallo scrittore ancora acerbo, se mi devo fidare delle numerose recensioni.
Questo romanzo breve è un turbinio di personaggi, uno più strambo dell'altro, che si arrabattano tutto il giorno per un gallone di vino, vivono alla giornata (o forse sarebbe più corretto dire che vivono un po' come viene), rubano, si azzuffano, poi si riappacificano. Monterey e il suo quartiere più povero - Pian della Tortilla, appunto - sono descritte con suprema maestria: le vicende di questi eroi sono raccontate in tutta la loro miseria. Tuttavia, mi rimane come la sensazione che l'autore abbia imbastito una grandiosa scenografia (ottima, senza alcun dubbio), per poi lasciare il palcoscenico senza il dramma. Dov'è la storia? Perché per circa la prima metà di lettura, mi sono chiesta quando saremmo arrivati al dunque. Poi, una volta capito che il dunque non sarebbe arrivato, sono passata alla stessa filosofia buontempona di Danny e i suoi amici, e l'ho presa alla leggera. Se non altro, mi sono goduta alcuni passaggi davvero impressionanti, eccone uno:

Il senso del tempo è vicino al mare più complesso che in altri luoghi, poiché,
oltre all'andirivieni del sole e delle stagioni, vi sono le onde che battono i minuti sulla spiaggia,
e le acque che salgono e scemano per la marea come dentro a un'immensa clessidra.

Rewelacyjna książka.
Treść: historia życia grupy meneli, którzy spędzają życie na piciu wina, pochodzącego głównie z kradzieży. Wszyscy mieszkają w domu niejakiego Danny'ego, który dostał budynek w spadku po dziadku - także menelu. Dzieje grupy przyjaciół są zabawne, pełne niezwykłych zwrotów akcji i boskich interwencji.
Ale główna atrakcja tej książki to forma. We wstępie sam autor nawiązał do dziejów Króla Artura i rycerzy Okrągłego Stołu. Dla mnie jednak forma jest przede wszystkim nawiązaniem do Kandyda. Konkretnie chodzi o ironię. Ta książka to arcydzieło ironii. Nic w niej nie jest napisane na serio, każde zdanie to żart, wszystko jest z przymrużeniem oka.
A rzecz w tym, że dzieje bohaterów są raczej dramatyczne. To banda alkoholików, wyrzutków, których życie to pasmo klęsk, zdrad, nielojalności i szeroko pojętej drobnej bandyterki; nawet wobec siebie samych dopuszczają się kradzieży. Ironia powoduje jednak, że ich relacje między sobą oraz z otoczeniem robią się wzruszające i zabawne - czytelnik naprawdę przejmuje się ich losem.
Przeczytałem to z wielką przyjemnością.

A rollicking good time.

John Steinbeck’s 1935 short novel about a Monterey group drunks and ne’er do wells fashioned like an Arthurian legend is fun, if a little dated.

Steinbeck fans will note similarities with his later works Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. Tortilla Flat was one of his earliest works and his first commercial success.

A picaresque tale told with humor and irony, this was also an entertaining glimpse into 1930s California as well as a visit with a very youthful Steinbeck (he was 33 when this was first published).

“Two gallons is a great deal of wine, even for two paisanos. Spiritually the jugs maybe graduated thus: Just below the shoulder of the first bottle, serious and concentrated conversation. Two inches farther down, sweetly sad memory. Three inches more, thoughts of old and satisfactory loves. An inch, thoughts of bitter loves. Bottom of the first jug, general and undirected sadness. Shoulder of the second jug, black, unholy despondency. Two fingers down, a song of death or longing. A thumb, every other song each one knows. The graduations stop here, for the trail splits and there is no certainty. From this point anything can happen.” 

Each chapter was a vignette telling a repetitive story about one of a group of unlikable Ne'er-do-wells.

This King Arthuresque novel tells the story of a group of paisanos, local countrymen of Mexican-Indian-Spanish-Caucasian descent, living in a shabby district known as Tortilla Flat above the town of Monterey on the Californian coast. The story centers on Danny, or rather, it is "the story of Danny and of Danny's friends and of Danny's house. It is a story of how these three become one thing... when you speak of Danny's house you are to understand to mean a unit of which the parts are men, from which comes sweetness and joy, philanthropy and, in the end, a mystic sorrow."

Danny and his friends have no jobs; they steal and trade and odd-job and share their way through life. They require little but food, wine, comradeship, and the occasional company of light women. They act in ways that are despicable and laudable, that will outrage and endear them to you. Their adventures are funny and sad, bewildering and human.

As much as Tortilla Flat entertained me, it ultimately felt one-dimensional. The paisanos, as portrayed by Steinbeck, are alive in Tortilla Flat, but don't extend far beyond the pages as full-blooded people; they ultimately remain caricatures. Who can empathize, truly, with a group of people who do nothing but sit around and drink and fight and happily scrape together a meal from day to day? This is a criticism that was leveled at Steinbeck after the book was first published, and which hurt him. Readers didn't accept the paisanos with the charity of vision that Steinbeck extended them; the paisanos were seen as bums. It is worth noting what Steinbeck wrote in a foreword to a 1937 Modern Library Random House edition of the book, which was never reprinted: "...it did not occur to me that paisanos were curious or quaint, dispossessed or underdoggish. They are people whom I know and like, people who merge successfully with their habitat... good people of laughter and kindness, of honest lusts and direct eyes. If I have done them harm by telling a few of their stories I am sorry. It will never happen again."

In defense of Steinbeck and his paisanos, I will say the following. While they may not be accepted completely as living characters, and while their inactivity, in a sense, can be frustrating, what transpires between them is where life and humanity stir. The touching moments of friendship, of good intentions, as well as the disquieting moments of stupidity and selfishness, come together in a large thread of human nature.

I think that the novel can be summed up nicely by itself:

n  Pilon complained, "It is not a good story. There are too many meanings and too many lessons in it. Some of those lessons are opposite. There is not a story to take into your head. It proves nothing."

"I like it," said Pablo. "I like it because it hasn't any meaning you can see, and still it does seem to mean something, I can't tell what."n

Tortilla Flat means something, and you feel it at times throughout the novel; even if you're not quite sure what.

Storie di amicizia e vino (tanto vino per la precisione!), poi di furti e risse, ma anche di amore e religione, per uno Steinbeck a mio avviso lontano anni luce dal suo solito "furore" ma pur sempre Maestro nel raccontare la Grande Depressione americana e gli uomini (qui senza topi) costretti ad attraversarla.

Jei reikėtų vertinti šį kūrinį šiuolaikinės literatūros kontekste, turbūt neišskirčiau jo kaip kažkokio labai ypatingo ar pasakančio kažką labai naujo. Bet turint omeny tai, kad knyga parašyta prieš beveik šimtą metų, nori nenori ja susižavi. Mat Johnas Steinbeckas čia vėl demonstruoja savo puikų humoro jausmą, nebijo ironizuoti ir šaipytis iš visų iš eilės ir pasitelkęs, rodos, paties žemiausio visuomenės sluoksnio asmenybes atskleidžia labai daug apie žmogaus prigimtį.

Gražiausia kūrinio dalis man visgi buvo draugystė – net jei ji čia, kaip ir visa kita, buvo šaržuota ir hiperbolizuota, o kai kur gal ir nelabai tikra, ar bent taip galėjo atrodyti iš pirmo žvilgsnio, visgi būtent aplink ją ir sukosi visas veiksmas. Rūpestis ir meilė čia gal ir nepasireiškė pačiais įprasčiausiais būdais, bet juos vis vien labai aiškiai pajutai. Visą knygą lydi tylus kikenimas panosėje, nes autorius kartais visiškai supaprastindamas situacijas ir požiūri į jas sugeba sukurti ne tik šmaikščias, bet ir už širdies griebiančias istorijas.

Romanas pasirodė labai kinematografiškas – kurdamas Tortilijų gatvę Steinbeckas piešia ją itin ryškiomis spalvomis, ir čia kalbu ne tik apie veikėjus. Visa juos supanti aplinka, jų namai, parduotuvės ir šalia žaliuojantys miškai iškyla prieš akis tarsi žiūrėtum filmą.

Nenusivyliau ir dar kartą įsitikinau autoriaus unikalumu, kartu nekantrauju atrasti ir kiek rimtesnius jo kūrinius – labai smagu, kai pasiėmus į rankas klasiką su ja nenuobodžiauji, o tikrai kokybiškai praleidi laiką.

The good news is that the same brilliant author who wrote this unbelievably mish mash farce of a novel, 4 years later wrote one the greatest novels of all time, The Grapes of Wrath. This short book(thank, God) is only 207 pages in paperback and for some reason, has an AWOL Mexican Army Corporal show up with a baby that soon dies. The symbolism is lost on me as the rest of the novel has them drinkng enough wine to sink the Titanic. Really disappointed in this one but if Steinbeck wrote a bad novel, that gives me inspiration to me to write a book.
One final note, the movie starred Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamar which is really a puzzler as there is no leading lady part in the novel so I ask my fellow Goodread friends-has anyone seen Tortilla Flats and what did you think of the movie?

Skaitant Tortiljų kvartalą, o ir iš kart sekančią - Konservų gatvę, vis pagaudavau save besišypsant. Šio trumpučio romano herojai - girtuokliai, valkatos, vagišiai... Būtent jų lūpomis autorius žarstosi gyvenimo išmintimi. Su puikiu humoro jausmu, saikingu sarkazmu ir bendrai atmosferai tobulai tinkančiu stiliumi.
''Tortilijų kvartalas'' nugulė ant mano mėgstamiausių kngų lentynos. Kas galėjo nutikti geriau?
Beje, po šio romano Steinbeck'ą pagaliau aplankė sėkmė.

''Mirtis yra asmeninis reikalas, sukeliantis širdperšą, neviltį, azartą arba nuobodų filosofavimą. Bet laidotuvės vis dėlto yra visuomeninis renginys."

3.5 Stars

This was my eighth book by Steinbeck and perhaps I've been spoiled. Reading East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men puts to much pressure on a master. Every book is not going to be a masterpeice and I expect to much. This is a solid read with rich characters, it just isn't close ta a favorite.

Never read any Steinbeck I didn't like!