To A God Unknown

My first foray into Steinbeck, I know unbelievable. (or is it believable?)

I have many favorite spots out in the local woods. One is along the Deerfield River, a small stream works its way through many moss covered boulders and into the Deerfield. Although it is visited by many I consider it a magical spot, torn from the past and left for me. Much like the clearing Joseph and Elizabeth found.

The book starts out as just a farming leaving Vermont when his father dies and moving to California but quickly turns into a study of faith, belief, missing one father and mans relation to nature. Such dense characters and unexpected plot changes kept me reading. Though a difficult read because of Steinbeck lush older style writing, after reading about Burtons brutal actions against Joseph, I stayed up until the late hours finishing it.

Father Angelo's closing scene was beautiful. One could see this as a stunning wide screen black and white film with the right director.

I read only Of Mice and Men tho…

Interesting ending, but it was hard for my teacher to read with the amount of n-words it has

Steinbeck has always thrilled me with his prose.

Childhood classic

Steinbeck might be unsurpassed at bringing the reader into the world of the disenfranchised. I'm so happy to have "caught up" on this Pulitzer Prize winning author's early works.

Junto con Nathanael WEST y James AGEE, n   John STEINBECKn es uno de los escritores más notables del periodo post-Gran Depresión en EEUU, cuando la desilusión y la crítica social directa se hicieron el tema principal de la literatura.
Este libro, bellamente editado por la Library of America, incluye los primeros trabajos de John STEINBECK, a lo largo de los cuales se nota claramente cómo fue desarrollando su estilo y encontrando su voz.
Las novelas que comprende este tomo son (seguir las ligas para leer mis comentarios a cada libro):

n  The Pastures of Heavenn  
n  To a God Unknownn  
n  Tortilla Flatn  
n  In Dubious Battlen  
n  Of Mice & Menn  
n

5 of Steinbeck's first 6 novels, only excluding his first, Cup of Gold. Tortilla Flat is the weakest, though Steinbeck's prose still makes it very readable. Pastures of Heaven is inconsistent but has some great highs. To a God Unknown and In Dubious Battle are flawed but very good. Of Mice and Men is a minor masterpiece.

Nice collection of Steinbeck. Some of his earlier works are here.

This volume contains five of Steinbeck's earlier, generally less well-known novels and novellas.

The Pastures of Heaven is a loosely constructed narrative concerning a fictional rural area known, surprisingly enough, as the pastures of heaven. Each chapter moves on from the last to focus on a different character, with occasionally some interplay between chapters.

Tortilla Flat (concerning a working class Mexican neighborhood near Monterey, California) has the same structure, with the added element of overt comedy which sometimes is quite funny.

To a God Unknown is the story of an extended farming family in Steinbeck country, and, to my mind, is not particularly memorable.

In Dubious Battle is the only explicitly political novel in this group. It is the story of a group of union organizers from a radical union similar to the International Workers of the World, also known as the "Wobblies." Surprisingly enough for Steinbeck, who spent the better part of his life as a Communist sympathizer if not an actual member of the party, the book is strongly critical of the zealotry of the union organizers, who use workers, outside supporters, and each other shamelessly to advance the cause, even when their actions will lead to the destruction of a family's livelihood or even the death of a man. This novel throws considerable light on why Steinbeck never truly joined the radicals despite being sympathetic to their cause.

Finally, Of Mice and Men is the famous story of Lennie, the mentally-impaired man who is too strong and too uncontrollable to live in ordinary society, and his friend George, who desperately tries to save Lennie while keeping his own workingman's dream of a farm of his own alive.

It was surprising to me that The Red Pony was omitted from this volume despite being written during the period (1932 - 1937) the volume covered. The Red Pony often is regarded as a children's story because the main character is still a child, but to my mind it has some real bite to it, and is far superior to most of Steinbeck's overly-sentimental ouevre. Perhaps the editors of the Library of America couldn't acquire rights to this book, or perhaps they simply disagreed with my assessment.

I borrowed this from the library, and will probably buy it. The book's physical quality is among the best I've ever seen - really nice thin but sturdy pages that won't yellow or get brittle, and it lays open by itself.

I ended up buying this whole Steinbeck series from Library of America last year, I've read through them all and am re-reading much of it when I feel like picking something up.

This is the first installment of my read-through Steinbeck.
My ratings for each individual work are as follows:

Pastures of Heaven: 4 (re-read--unbelievable that this was basically one of Steinbeck's first writings. Insightful into human nature.)
To a God Unknown: 4 (enjoyed this, but don't think it's a re-read--lot of spiritual/pagan stuff here)
Tortilla Flat: 2 (annoying--I don't get it.)
In Dubious Battle: 3 (don't understand why this book is supposedly among Steinbeck's best)
Of Mice & Men: 4 (re-read--Lennie & George)

The first three books are good. Do not expect happy endings, that is not his style. In Dubious Battle and Of Mice and Men are very good. I had previously read the Grapes of Wrath. I consider that a classic. Of Mice and Men reaches that category. In Dubious Battle is almost as good. The style is somewhat nonchalant but very easy. The high points just suddenly spring forward.