My reintroduction to Steinbeck began with The Red Pony.

Sure I had read Of Mice and Men and Grapes Of Wrath in High School, but that was a number of years ago, and I can hardly remember either.

I found The Red Pony (a mass market paperback edition) all worn and hidden on one of the bookshelves in the classroom I work in. Apparently before it was my room, the teacher used to use it as a classroom text for 4th graders. The cover was striking and I'd been meaning to start reading some Steinbeck ever since I fell in love with the Monterey/Pacific Grove area in recent times.

The Red Pony is 4 short stories. Well 2. But the first one is split into 3 parts. I originally ranked it 3 stars, but have chosen 4 because the more I think about it, the more I like the story. Sure it's simple, and it's off-putting to people who think it's actually about horses, but the descriptive nature of Steinbeck's writing really bring to life the lonesome Salinas valley, as well as the characters who lived and worked there. Billy Buck, the ranch hand is a classic American character, old and gruff and full of wisdom that's not necessarily of the "philosophical" sense.

The stories are foremost about Jody, the boy, growing up. He deals with loss, gain, and things unexpected. Through the different stories, he begins to find his place in his family and in his life.

It's a nice, short read that can kill a lazy weekend and actually make you FEEL something when you finish.

An emotionally tough collection of four short stories as snapshots of one family. I knew this would be draining but despite the warning, Steinbeck sure knows how to deliver the emotional punch.


Less than a month ago we lost a 9 month old puppy despite all the care and effort we gave it. The loss of the pony for Jody sure hit hard, my eldest son was very attached to the puppy so I knew what that poor boy was going through. It also drove home how despicable Carl is as a father, I identified in no way to his conduct. While I had to adopt a certain stoicism for the benefit of the family, I too was upset at the loss having also spent my fair share of hours feeding the pup through the night.

I can't help but come away from these wondering how many households operated like this and how many still do. Carl's disrespect for his father-in-law was hardly surprising, but there is hope from Jody who still asks to hear Grandfather's stories. Perhaps the next generation will improve on the previous.

Childhood read that I honestly don't recall much about after more than 40 years later. I have not as captivated by ranch living nor the Western motif though I wish I were. These stories were just a bit blah in my opinion. Being a Steinbeck fan in my teens, I remember being a bit surprised that his other books were so appealing to me.
I wish I were motivated to read this again but to many unread books beckon. Please take these thoughts with a grain of salt.

Punainen poni on Steinbeckin varhaistuotantoa. Se on pienoisromaani (kolme novellia oikeastaan) Jody-pojasta, joka elää maatilalla vanhempiensa ja sydämellisen rengin, Billyn, kanssa. Ensimmäisessä novellissa Jody saa lahjakseen ponin, josta tulee pojalle hyvin tärkeä. Poni sairastuu kuitenkin pahasti. Toisessa novellissa tietä pitkin saapuu vanhus, joka väittää asuneensa samaisessa laaksossa ja vaatii päästä asettumaan maatilalle. Viimeisessä novellissa palataan hevosten pariin.

Steinbeck kuvaa Jodyn ja rengin suhdetta eläimiin todella hienosti. Muutoinkin ihmiskuvaus ja perheen sisäisen dynamiikan hienovarainen kuvaaminen on Steinbeckilla upeasti hallussa jo uransa alkuvaiheessa. Kieli on yksinkertaista ja kuitenkin syvää ja koskettavaa. Lapsen tunteet ovat musertavia.

Kolmesta novellista keskimmäinen ei ehkä temaattisesti ole kahden muun kanssa ihan samalla viivalla, mutta toisaalta, pakko noiden kahden novellin välissä on jotain olla. En myöskään pitänyt tuosta keskimmäisestä aivan yhtä paljon kuin kahdesta muusta, vaikka siinä käsitellään hienosti vanhuutta ja omia juuria. Tämä hienoinen epätasapaino lienee lienee ainoa syy, etten ihan viiteen tähteen tässä taivu.

Tästä taitaa olla sellainenkin painos, jossa on kaksi tyystin irralista novellia lisää.

Steinbeck writes beautifully. It doesn't matter what he's writing about, I think I'd read it anyway for the measured, deliberate, crystal-clear prose.

The Red Pony is not really about the pony. I'm sure as a lit student I could find a lot to say about it, but I'm happier sitting back and letting it happen. It's about growing up and coming to understand life, in stages, and as such it has no end: Jody's a little older and wiser at the end than the beginning, but he has a long way to go still too.

Get ready for Sobbing with Steinbeck! The Red Pony is an episodic bildungsroman following the young Jody Tiflin and family as he learns the harsh facts of life on their Californian farm. Written between 1933-36 and published individually in magazines, The Red Pony was published as one volume in 1937 with these four Jody stories that grapple with the big issues of responsibility, disappointment, death, family, and the power and inhumanity of nature. In his small life on the farm, Jody looks to the horizon of the great mountains with a thirst for big adventure and big living and as these stories progress we see him vacillate between being an innocent child and a budding adult being carved out by the grit of the world and we hope he is productively internalizing the life lessons that make the difference between growing up or merely growing older.

‘ I’ll bet they don’t know what’s going to happen to them today.’
‘No, nor you either,’ Billy remarked philosophically, ‘nor me, nor anyone.’

Steinbeck constructs a harsh childhood for Jody, one with a tepid relationship with a father from whom he craves acceptance and praise and one with an early taste for failure and death. The opening story is a tragic tale where his ownership of his beautiful red pony comes to a sad and violent end and Jody, with the reality of death still sinking in, responds with an outburt of emotion doubling down on violence and death. It is his first reckoning not only with grief but shame, ‘He didn't care about the bird, or its life, but he knew what older people would say if they had seen him kill it,’ Steinbeck writes, ‘he was ashamed because of their potential opinion.’ That ‘potential opinion’ is Jody’s social eye awakening, realizing his actions are judged and have a bearing not only on his reputation and future but on his family as well.

Death is omnipresent in this episodic novella, with the rather moving tale of the old man who wishes to die on the Tiflin farm (there’s some hints at land acknowledgement going on here, or at least the old man wishing a white man would) and later on the troubled birth of a horse. The latter is an interesting lesson for Jody about how closely knit life and death are, with life literally birthed from a death. Steinbeck said buckle up, life is some sad bullshit, though this theme of wrestling with the inevitability of death seems to permeate his entire ouvreur. But is it death that is so saddest or is it the living on without (or past) a purpose that seems the most tragic, as we examine in the story of the grandfather coming to live on the farm.

I found the father to be one of the most interesting characters here. He is short on words for Jody and quick on setting him on a course for some life lessons, but when he praises Jody you can really feel the appreciation and dude-bonding going on strong. The coming-of-age dynamics here does have a bit of an uncomfortable tough guy masculinity (but in keeping for the times, I suppose). However, Billy Buck makes an interesting foil character to papa Carl and teases the notion of found families or father figures outside the family. Problem is, Billy Buck can’t keep his promise to save the pony. On the plus side, he sticks up for Jody, even in the face of Carl, and becomes another guidepost on Jody’s path to adulthood.

‘I tell those stories, but they're not what I want to tell’, say the grandfather late in the book, ‘I only know how I want people to feel when I tell them.’ I think this perfectly summarizes this brief book: the emotions and empathy that resonate with the reader vastly outweigh the admittedly slight stories that form a loose narrative here. Steinbeck is great at capturing emotion and feeding it to you as a life lesson while making it seem more like a delightful snack than a take-your-medicine sort of deal. I always picture Steinbeck writing and slapping his knee saying "hoo-boy this is some Great American Novel stuff." He’s literary in the best ways, chock full of symbolism and purpose and historical context, etc., but what hits the hardest is the emotional punches and the way his prose so easily places you in the hearts and minds of his characters. The Red Pony is an early work, which shows, but it also points towards the greatness that would come in Steinbeck’s career, particularly his explorations of families and their influence in coming of age narratives such as in East of Eden.

This is a short little book that packs quite the punch. It might not be an ideal starting point for readers, but it makes for a wonderful read and expanded impression on Steinbeck as a writer and thinker: you’ll find many of these themes played in variations of the scale in his later novels. I always enjoy sobbing with Steinbeck and this is a quick but powerful little book.
3.5/5

Al Midilli, Steinbeck'in beş öyküsünü içeriyor. Bu beş öykünün dördü aynı karakterleri içeriyor: Jody ve ailesini. Son öykü ise Junius Maltby isimli, akciğer rahatsızlığı sebebiyle memuriyeti bırakan ve güneye yerleşen bir adamı anlatıyor. Öykülerin hepsini genel olarak sevsem de favorim son öykü olan Junius Maltby oldu. Steinbeck'in yine kısa bir hikâyeyle pek çok şey anlattığını görmek mümkün.

Being a Steinbeck fan is equivalent to being the victim in a super toxic relationship. He'll flatter you with pretty writing. He'll make you love his deep and well-rounded characters. He'll tell you you're pretty and smart. Then, when you're comfortable and relaxed, thinking this is great, finally a healthy relationship! He pulls the curtain back and your perfect loving friend turns against you. He starts small, kills off a secondary character, then he takes your hero down a few pegs, maybe he kills the family dog, or pencils in a drought right after the family plants the crops that are supposed to save them. Don't worry tho between all the horrific atrocities he'll show you glimpses of the person you fell in love with. And of course, you stay. Maybe you're toxic too. Maybe you need the hard times to make the good times that much better. I don't know, whatever it is, toxic or not, I F#&king love it!

I love Steinbeck! Everything I've read by him has been pure gold. I'm setting a goal to read all his books. He's sad, and depressing as hell but he's the greatest American author that's ever lived as far as I'm concerned. ( I'm young tho and haven't read everything)

Now let's get into the Red Pony. If you're looking for a story about a boy and a horse, well you can move on this isn't for you. If you're looking for a story about one's connection to nature, the fragility of life, the fallibility of one's hero, a young boy coming of age, death, love, pain, and one's own ability to deal with such things, then this might be a great short read for you. Our young protagonist, Jody, is growing up an only child on a California ranch, the only thing he wants is a horse of his own. His hero, a ranch hand named Billy Buck, tries his best to give Jody what he wants but if you know Steinbeck at all you know getting what you want isn't an option in his stories.

This was an interesting reading, nothing like I expected. Hope I'll soon be reading more by Steinbeck.

Τρυφερό και οικολογικό coming of age από τον αγαπημένο μου - απ' ό,τι φαίνεται - Αμερικανό συγγραφέα.
Δεν είναι το έργο που με ξενύχτησε αλλά αγαπώ τον τρόπο γραφής του Steinbeck που συγκινεί και προβληματίζει χωρίς ποτέ να γίνεται επιτειδευμένος ή διδακτικός.
Δυστυχώς, όμως, το διάβασα με 30 χρόνια καθυστέρηση.

Next time you decide to make a printing of The Red Pony, feel free to borrow one of these free blurbs.

"Do you like people hanging around on a farm? Do you like horses and animals and stuff? Then you'll think this book is okay! It has horses, and grass, and farms and stuff, and is an easy read."

Or:

"John Steinbeck is a writer of amazing stature in American literature. He stands head and shoulders above just about anyone, wiping his feet on Faulkner, flicking Mark Twain out of his way like a little bug. He defacates on Edith Wharton's pillow, eats Henry Miller for breakfast, and he doesn't even know who Guy N. Smith is. He wrote this book."

Or:

"The epic saga of two families in the Salinas valley, and considered by Steinbeck himself to be his magnum opus, this is a novel that has changed literature, and made Steinbeck an iconic figure. Oh, wait, The Red Pony? I thought we were talking about East of Eden. I don't remember a goddamn thing about The Red Pony."

Or (SPOILERS IN THIS ONE///SPOILERS IN THIS ONE///SPOILERS IN THIS ONE):

"You call THIS The Red Pony? You got a lot of nerve. That's like changing the name of Star Wars: A New Hope to Greedo. It's like calling The Land Before Time something like Little Foot's Mom. It's like putting a picture of Drew Barrymore on the cover of the movie Scream. It doesn't make any fucking sense. What were you thinking, John?"

A pleasant Sunday afternoon read that invites reflection. Stepping into young Jody’s boots and sharing in his dreams of ranch life felt refreshing—his devotion to horses, his curiosity about the world, and his youthful optimism were fun to witness. Yet, Steinbeck’s stark portrayal of life on the ranch reminds us that even a child’s world is not untouched by the weight of mortality and hard truths. A vivid, bittersweet snapshot of growing up.