 | | | | Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) |  | Author: John Steinbeck
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (188 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6445
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0142000701
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5203
EAN: 9780142000700
ASIN: 0142000701
Publication Date: February 5, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Spending time with Steinbeck June 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY gives us a chance to move to an up-close-and-personal position with the aloof, John Steinbeck, At the age of 60 in the fall of 1960. Steinbeck acquired a primitive pickup-style recreational vehicle, packed up a few belongings, and loaded his faithful poodle. He drove throughout the United States to reconnect with the inhabitants of the nation.
Like any other tourist who travels too far too fast, he was unable to see everything, and he skimmed over many details in his tale. He delineated some of his stops in sufficient detail. Most of the travel log is a glazed-over account.
Steinbeck wrote with the voice of a mature senior citizen, who was disappointed with much of what he saw in the nation. When I first read this book, I was in college. Now that I am in the age group of Steinbeck when he wrote it, I wonder what he would think of our nation today. He showed some of the good, such as the idyllic farms with friendly people, and some of the bad, such as people who were prejudiced and unkind. I believe if he could see our country today he would find something positive. He always expressed trust in the underlying goodness of our people.
Love for your country March 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In this book, John Steinbeck shows patriotism at its best. He travels through the United States, and experiences all the beauties of this nation in a marvellous way. He shows no arrogance as he appreciates his homeland. Instead, he shows this nation's beauty and riches in an amicable way, and invites others to travel and experience the beauty of this nation. The hymn "America The Beautiful" comes to the reader's mind.
"I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger." January 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
(4.5 stars) When John Steinbeck obeys a life-long urge to drive from coast to coast in 1960, he little anticipates the variety of the "American experience." Beginning in Maine and traveling along the northern states through Wisconsin, the Badlands, Montana, and all places in between, to Washington and Oregon, Steinbeck then decides to visit his childhood community of Salinas, in northern California. After meeting with friends there, though many have died, he then drives southward through the length of California and then eastward through the southwest desert to Texas, Louisiana, and eventually up to Virginia before returning to New York.
Carrying the reader along with him as he reconstructs this journey for publication in 1962, Steinbeck observes people and human nature, being careful not to draw conclusions about an entire area based on the individuals he meets along the way. Often it is their reactions to Charley, his aging standard poodle, which stimulates their conversations and allows Steinbeck glimpses of their thinking and ways of life. From the terminally gloomy waitress in Maine to the evil-looking mechanic in Oregon (who turns out to be the kindest and most generous of men), Steinbeck explores attitudes toward life (and strangers). Steinbeck's high school buddy (who almost comes to blows with him) shows him that you really can't go home again, and "the cheerleaders" of New Orleans, a group of white-supremacist women who taunt and scream obscenities at a tiny black girl integrating one of their schools, shows him how much work the human race still has left to do.
As he travels in his truck with a house attached to its bed (a pre-camper invention), he notes the changing landscape, the disappearance of treasured aspects of the environment, and the growth of new trends--including the increasing popularity of the mobile home and the contemporary loss of "roots." He is genuinely frightened by the Badlands, until night falls, when it becomes beautiful. He adores Montana, and he hurries through the almost blank southwestern desert where he learns something new about shooting. Though Steinbeck gets tired of travel before the end of the trip, he still manages to record signal moments which resonate with the reader.
What elevates this book especially is the glimpses it gives of Steinbeck himself, a far more upbeat man than one would expect from novels like Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, and Grapes of Wrath. His observations of life in the early 1960s capture the country at pivotal moments of history--the time of Sen. John Kennedy and freedom rides. In this respect, Steinbeck creates a time capsule for future generations and a picture of himself that lovers of his writing will treasure. n Mary Whipple
Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck Centennial Edition)
John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography
One of the Best Travel Books Ever Written November 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished the book and it was a fantastic read. It was a fairly "light" book, considering the author; it was genuinely hilarious at times, and, as always, Steinbeck created an incredibly vivid, personal, and accurate portrait of the relationships between nature and society. Shades of his earlier can be seen in the prose style, and his unconditional devotion to the creation and development of images and characters can't be matched by anyone from any time.
As far as a "Travel-style" novel is concerned, I think I liked this one more than Kerouac's On the Road...but, then again, Steinbeck was far more talented than any of the Beats -except Ginsberg (who might've been in his league, but in a junior-varsity-type capacity) and maybe Neal Cassidy.
If you like Steinbeck, you will really enjoy reading this book.
delightful classic steinbeck October 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
traveling across america in 1960 with a man and his dog. awww, for the wanderlust in all of us and too live it via john steinbeck. each turn more exciting than the other......yet was 3 months enough time? i think not!
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