Book Twenty-Three of the Book-a-Week Quest
The Red Pony
by John Steinbeck (1933)
I move from one horse story in Equus to another in The Red Pony. This one was decidedly simpler. No one was poking out horses' eyes here.
Essentially four short stories, The Red Pony follows a few years in the life of young Jody Tiflin. He learns about life, death, the kindness of others, and respect for his elders (who oftentimes are much less unhappy than they appear).
This one won the Nobel Prize for literature, and I gotta be honest -- I don't understand why. It read like a children's book -- very simple language and incredibly straightforward stories. Nothing complicated here in the slightest. There were (sort of) morals to each of the four chapters, but they weren't blatant enough for youth, yet they were too obvious for adults.
I'm not quite sure who the book is for.
Once again, though, Steinbeck's writing style is easy to read. I certainly enjoyed this one more than my last Steinbeck venture, but not as much as my first two trips into the author's works.
Essentially four short stories, The Red Pony follows a few years in the life of young Jody Tiflin. He learns about life, death, the kindness of others, and respect for his elders (who oftentimes are much less unhappy than they appear).
This one won the Nobel Prize for literature, and I gotta be honest -- I don't understand why. It read like a children's book -- very simple language and incredibly straightforward stories. Nothing complicated here in the slightest. There were (sort of) morals to each of the four chapters, but they weren't blatant enough for youth, yet they were too obvious for adults.
I'm not quite sure who the book is for.
Once again, though, Steinbeck's writing style is easy to read. I certainly enjoyed this one more than my last Steinbeck venture, but not as much as my first two trips into the author's works.
Jeff loves books that are 100-120 pages long.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jeff does like Steinbeck...