About this title: John Steinbeck chronicles his attempts, as he travels from Long Island to California and back, to define what it is to be American. In the end, he concedes failure: it is impossible to generalize about his complicated homeland. However, his experiences add up to a delightful account of an eager and curious human being on the road--and of Charley the aging French poodle, an excellent and civilized companion and a memorable character in his own right.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780140053203ISBN:0140053204
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Binding mostly tight, covers are flexible. Little edge wear, clean pages are slightly age-toned. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 277 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and may have creases. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780140053203ISBN:0140053204
Description: Acceptable. Back/ Front cover is folded. Back/Front cover has minor tearing or ripping. Well used. Still readable but not for the collector. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780140187410ISBN:0140187413
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. some pink highlighting; a few pen notes in margins. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin, New York
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780140053203ISBN:0140053204
Description: Near Fine. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. NEAR FINE mass market paperback, shiny, one interior page corner turned, no markings or wear. Travel, literature, LC703250. read more
"Travels with Charley is one of the last pieces Steinbeck wrote - a few years after he'd published his final piece of fiction. Having resisted the itch all his life, at nearly sixty he decides to take the road trip around America that he'd dreamed about for much of his life. For nearly a year he travelled in a made-to-order camper, with his French poodle Charley. I have mixed views about Steinbeck's fiction, but Travels with Charley condenses much of what makes his writing great into a single book.
One of the joys of the book is his musings on the psychology of the traveler - the ways in which the mind wanders during long stretches of driving, the awkwardness of encounters at pit stops. What's most interesting, and occasionally most disturbing, about the book, though, is how prescient Steinbeck frequently is. The book was written during the very beginning of the white flight into the suburbs, and Steinbeck accurately recounts how this is shifting the landscape of the country. He does not stop there, however, but muses on how every expansion will lead to an eventual contraction - noting the how the trend will eventually reverse, and the population will flow into the cities. This is one of many musings that, over forty years later, read more like clairvoyance."
"This is perhaps one of my new favorite Steinbeck works, and another notch on my tally to read all of his pieces. It is an interesting book-- it lies somewhere between memoir and fiction, and in a lot of ways is commentary on writing. It is also, as you might expect, a perfect book to read in the summer or to tote along on a road trip. It's one of those books you feel you might be able to open up to any page at random and read for a little while and find poignancy wherever you've landed. There were a lot of aspects to this book i related to, but what I enjoyed most about this, as I so often find with Steinbeck, was his ability to understand and write about average people in a way that makes them seem grander than they might actually be. He certainly makes a hero out of the average person, and i think that is one of the reasons Steinbeck is so beloved.
This book was also prescient of future ailments of our species. I'm not the first to remark that it feels like an early environmentalist work at times. It's interesting how the book can retain a hopeful and optimistic feel, while still making periodic statements like the following:
"We have in the past been forced into reluctant change by weather, calamity, and plague. Now the pressure comes from our biologic success as a species. We have overcome all enemies but ourselves."
also, "Along what had been country lanes rich with berries, high wire fences and mile-long factories stretched, and the yellow smoke of progress hung over all, fighting the sea winds' efforts to drive them off. ... I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction."
Nevertheless, through Steinbeck and Charley's eyes and thoughts, we see often what is an idealized view of our country. Mostly, I felt pride and excitement for living in such a varied land."
"It's been a long time since I've read anything by Steinbeck...actually too long! I do think the last time I read anything of his was when it was assigned reading in high school. Anyway, after a visit to his house this summer in CA, we picked up a copy of this book and Noel read it within a few days giving it high praise. I decided right then and there that I needed to read it as well but it has taken me awhile to actually pick it up and begin the process...but once I did, I was hooked. Not only because it's a Steinbeck novel, but also because now being close to the age he was when he wrote it, I can relate much better to the storyline.
After much encouragement to make a drive across the United States, Steinbeck decided it was time to do just that. He purchased a special truck for the trip that had a cabin built on the back in which he could cook, eat and sleep...sounds like the beginning of our modern day cab-overs. His wife, Elaine, was somewhat opposed to the trip at first due to his health (he had suffered a minor stroke previously). When she couldn't get him to change his mind she was very happy that he requested to take their poodle Charley with him. That inspired her to come up with the name for the novel , especially as they both enjoyed Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Steinbeck christened his vehicle "Rocinante" in honor of Don Quixote's horse and started on his journey on September 23, 1960 and met up with his wife and her family in Texas in time for Thanksgiving that year. The story details things he saw along the way and of course the people he met...a most interesting read as well.
This story had much meaning to us as Noel is preparing to take his own trek across country this year on his Honda Goldwing...a dream that we both had from the early days of our married life. Along the way though I have decided that riding on a motorcycle is just not something I enjoyed but have never discouraged him from doing so. With that in mind, I was very encouraging to him to begin the process as this seemed to be the perfect summer to accomplish this item on his "bucket list". Noel is the same age that Steinbeck was when he made his trek across the US, and while Noel won't be writing a novel, he is indeed keeping a blog of his trip for family and friends to enjoy."
"You know how the heroes of westerns and comic books and adventures are always good men? My dad likes that kind of story where the moral is, "nothing is better than a good man!" He is the type that thinks a "man" just lives the best way he can! He loves legends and spooky tales and always made himself the hero. He told us, my friends and me, that he once saved his whole platoon by jumping on a grenade, and we believed him, though he never served in the military.
So how can I not give five stars to the memoir that includes Steinbeck's own words, "There's nothing better than a good man." How, goodreaders? And I finished reading it while being driven home from my dad's brother's funeral. I found out family secrets on that trip, like I always do, but despite the tragedy list that has stacked up in that family, my dad is under the impression that his life has been pretty easy and that most people are good and that god provides if you work hard. And Steinbeck has this optimism (though it's admittedly more guarded and intelligent), and we don't just have to infer that through his characters. In this book, it's himself!
This book may cause some to get a jolt of wanderlust, but I felt a little of the opposite when he went back to his hometown of Monterey on the trip, and sat in a bar with his aging amigos and tried to convince them that you can't go home. Is that true? If you can't go home, then I kind of don't want to leave.
Right now I wish I could have lived a while back and could somehow marry John Steinbeck, but this seems weird to mention after talking about my dad so much. Don't get all Freudian interprety, please. For now, I'll just keep reading, reading, reading his books. Next is Grapes of Wrath."
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