Nice little novella to catch up on my reading challenge

This little treasure falls just under 100 pages. I can't recommend it enough as a brilliant "coming of age" story. Farm life can be harsh though, so, unlike the recommendation on the book cover of "4th grade and up," I think it makes more sense for "7th grade and up."
Steinbeck is a master at filling silent spaces with meaning and emotion, and he almost never wastes a word. This novella is an excellent introduction to his work and it's a quick read as well.

This was a beautiful novella by Nobel prize winning writer John Steinbeck, whose work I greatly admire. This was not a clear 4-starer, it bent over a little to 3, but since it is Steinbeck, I decided to give it 4 stars. I also get the point in the novella - everyone and everything anyone loves dies. Isn't that right, ole pal John?

I read this a couple years ago as part of a huge Steinbeck bender. At the time, it didn't leave much of an impression on me because I was also reading his classics, which I love. After re-reading this, however, I admit I missed how brilliant this book is and would easily place it among Steinbeck's best novellas. With the Red Pony only accounting for 1/4 of the story, it's curious to guess why Steinbeck named the entire story the way he did, but when you connect the four major episodes and get to the end, the openness of the conclusion is tied back to the part with the Red Pony in a really beautiful and understated way. Highly recommended.

No expectations on what this little book was going to bring and then boom a super depressing opening chapter! A very quick and easy read and then it suddenly ended.

Kitabı daha çok beğeneceğimi düşünüyordum açıkçası. Steinbeck'ten okuduğum 4. kitap. Yazacak çok birşey bulamıyorum bu kitapla ilgili. Steinbeck okuyacaklar öncelikli olarak yazarın başka kitaplarına baksınlar.

I picked up this oft overlooked Steinbeck over the weekend and found it to be a touching and poignant, if brief, coming-of-age story. The novella unfolds over 4-episodes, focusing on the childhood of a young boy, Jody, and his experiences growing up on a ranch in rural California. Each interconnected story is told with the author's vivid descriptions and fluid narration, and while I didn't especially like the protagonist, or feel very sympathetic to him, it was nice to be reminded of how beautiful Steinbecks' writing is, and I absolutely loved the images of Salinas and the mountain ranges around Monterey that he conjures. An example:

The afternoon was green and gold with spring. Underneath the spread branches of the oaks the plants grew pale and tall, and on the hills the feed was smooth and thick. The sagebrushes shone with new silver leaves and the oaks wore hoods of golden green. Over the hills there hung such a green odor that the horses on the flats galloped madly, and then stopped, wondering; lambs, and even old sheep, jumped in the air unexpectedly and landed on stiff legs, and went on eating; young clumsy calves butted their heads together and drew back and butted again.

A short, essential classic that I somehow missed growing up, but would definitely recommend to both young adults and older readers alike.

I have generally underestimated the work of John Steinbeck over the years. For one thing, I had always regarded The Red Pony as belonging to the young adult genre. In a way, it does, but it is considerably more hard-bitten than I thought it would be. Young Jody gets a nice colt in the first chapter, but it dies on him. He meets a fascinating old man who was born on his father's ranch, but he wanders off, taking an old horse that was destined to be put under. Again and again, Jody, the focus of the book, must meet with disappointment fully as much as he meets with satisfaction.

But then, that is what life is all about, isn't it? I liked The Red Pony and feel that, based on its reputation, I had given it short shrift.

Who captures the disappoint and tragedy of everyday life like Steinbeck? The Red Pony takes place on a farm (and for those of you who have never spent time on a real farm, I can tell you that life is hard and nature is cruel). The boy, Jody, is coming of age and being faced with what it is to be human, to cope with loss, to watch the death of dreams, and to do this in the shadow of a father who tolerates no sentimentality. The last section in this series of tales in Jody's life is the most poignant of all for me, because when the life of hard times is spent, there is not even any room for remembering and softening the edges of the past.

I found each of the stories within the story to be pregnant with meaning. It was so easy to see life from the different characters' points of view. Jody, as a boy, trying to sort out what life actually does mean, Billy Buck living within the family but outside it and trying to live up to the image Jody has of him and his reputation for knowing everything, the father who is trying to hold this enterprise together and make sound decisions and who must always put practical matters first, and the mother who provides the base around which the men revolve.

So much depth in so few pages! So often novellas leave me feeling cheated or wanting more because the story feels unfinished. This is not the case here. Steinbeck knows exactly what he wants to say and he knows exactly when he has said it.

3.5. This is such a powerful and well-written set of stories. I could taste the dust and blood of farm life depicted by Steinbeck. I went into this book blind, having read no blurbs nor reviews, expecting an uplifting story. Just look at that adorable cover. What I discovered inside this book was very different from what I expected.

Jody, our 10 year old protagonist lives on a ranch in California with his mom, dad and the ranch hand Billy. Farm life is rough. Jody lives through tragedy, disappointment and fear. There are moments of hopeful expectation and happiness but they are fleeting. For one short novella Steinbeck packs in a lot of heartbreak not only does the red pony die after being out in the rain but we then have a gruesome scene in which a mare giving birth must be killed to save her foal.. This was hard to read because as a young teen I had a horse that I loved. She gave birth once which was problematic, but she didn't die. .

We meet Jody's's grandfather at the end of this novella. He feels that his life is over. No one but his grandson Jody wants to hear yet again his stories of "westering," fighting the Indians while moving West. Leading his group West was the best time of his life and gave it purpose. Now, he feels a deep and sad nostalgia for those days but, living near the ocean he is as far west as he can go; "there's no where else to go." Grandfather repeats this phrase several times and I felt his despair deep in my bones.

Steinbeck has created a very tough world where I found little hope and happiness. His message seems to be don't be too hopeful because life is hard in so many ways and there is no control over life or death. Just work hard and don't dwell on pain disappointment.

If John Steinbeck (The Red Pony) had children with Leo Tolstoy (Kholstomer) the resulting generation of readers would be so traumatised as to never touch a horse-themed book ever again.

And sorry, but this book is pointless and yucky. Yes, I got the allusions. No, I do not think it needs to be told in this manner.

Hey everyone, it's my 400th review on goodreads!!!!!!



Honestly I'm a little surprised we've gotten this far as I mostly started reviewing just to make some mental notes on things I liked about recently read books… but here we are and with the 400th review. I decided to go with another classic. Let's try another cheerful Steinbeck work shall we?

It's the story of a boy and his pony! How sad can this one…

Oh…

Oh...



As I said, another cheerful Steinbeck read.

The book is really four connected short stories focusing on a young boy named Jody. In one he learns about death. In another he learns about death. In another he learns about life… and death. And guess what, there's some more education in the fourth as well.



Yes, I know I'm just making this sound like a charming book, aren't I? Seriously though, it's actually a great examination of a person coming to terms with mortality at various points in time. On one hand, it feels like it all hits this poor kid in a short amount of time, but it gets the point across.

The last Steinbeck I read (Burning Bright) was a major disappointment; this one certainly makes up for that. I do not find it as good as Of Mice and Men, but this is certainly well worth a read. I can't say it's a "fun" book, but it is a beautiful one and one I highly recommend... just, you know, don't buy it for a child thinking it will be a fun book about a boy and a pony because that would just be cruel.

4/5 stars.