Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics)

Steinbeck travels, by which I mean that the territory of the Salinas valley and environs may be found all over the world, for instance Ireland. The catalyst is people. The authors characters are familiar, especially for those who are aware of those at the bottom of the socio economic heap in capitalist economies riven by the colonial curse.
The author makes the world of his misfits so real that at times I, as reader, must remind myself that I am looking into another sphere of human existence; there is an alternative world which is 'respectable' and 'normal'. Within the ghetto of Tortilla Flat there is a morality which when pared away is no different to that of the career minded or the profit seeker or the family maker.
John Steinbeck deftly weaves a cloak of economics, humanness, and intellect tempered by reaching up or out for another path. The tragedy and beauty is that Steinbeck makes his people achieve and fail.

This book was set mainly in Monterey. It is just the opposite of East of Eden in that most of the characters were very good people. There was excessive drinking here, but I could tolerate this because of the nature of the characters.

I always enjoy Steinbeck's deceptively simple writing and the vivid sense of time and place. The characters not so much, possibly because this book so strongly reminded me of why I'm happy to be out of the low-income housing rental market! The quirkiness, antics and authenticity of these characters are easier to enjoy if you've never had to clean up after them.

John Steinbeck is far and away the best all around writer I have ever read. I have read many authors in my considerable number of years, and Steinbeck can describe anything with his words and I am there.

This book has characters and dialog that is too similar to Cannery Row. Set in the desperate days after WW I, these "bums" drink and do nothing for the entire book. There are some humorous segments, as the "bums" do their best to do so little day by day.

Amusing accounts of disadvantaged but quaint folk who rob, cheat, batter and sexually misuse others while drinking relentlessly but remain cheerfully accepting of their lives so why shouldn't the reader enjoy their adventures too? In fairness, much has changed in our views of such matters since Steinbeck wrote this in the 1930's. Steinbeck was obviously capable of much better.

Did not know what the book depicted in the beginning, King Arthur's merry men & the round table. Even then never saw where it was going. Quite depressing actually. Staying drunk all the time, sleeping in dirty ditches, not my kind of intertainment. Initially wanted Old man & the sea but it was unavailable! Bad choice!

This novel should be named "Danny's Freeloader Friends."

This is the story of a bunch of winos whose major claim to fame--or infamy--is seeing how many bottles they can con out of their neighbors, the local bootlegger, acquaintances, etc, etc. That this story takes place in God's Country is testimony to Steinbeck writing about the town just down the coast from his old stomping grounds.

The lengths these freeloaders go to get their libations is legendary. Steinbeck writes about one hilarious trade Danny performs for a couple bottles of wine. He trades a vacuum cleaner, only it is missing a motor.

At the end of the book his friends and neighbors have a party in his honor. But first they have to find him, as he has wandered off, sullen and morose. Find him they do, and take him back to his house where "he had grown huge and terrible. His eyes flared like the headlights of an automobile."

After he can find noone to fight him, Danny goes out behind his house, falls into a dich, and dies.

A lot more happens in this book. Check it out. Five stars.

The un-American activities and ambitions of Danny and his friends have delighted readers for generations. This slim classic immediately creates a unique, opportunistic universe, ethos and worldview. It is situated in the fishing and canning town of Monterey CA just after WW I among its ‘paisanos’, proud men of mixed ‘Spanish’ origin. They are not very many and not productive either. Some here are living with Danny in his small house in the hills overlooking Monterey’s bay and harbour. They are keen observers and philosophers of the life surging and bristling around and below them. Their key concern is wine, bought or bartered per gallon, and how to acquire more without pure physical effort.
Read the 17 episodes about Danny and his friends with a permanent smile and often laughed out loud because of their antics, sincere, deep conversations and Steinbeck’s story-telling prowess, which is world class and unforgettable. This edition also contains a very useful introduction full of information about the book’s characters, appreciation by critics and readers, and later, dumb debates about its preaching communism or stereotyping Latinos.
Exceptional book with countless (covert) references to chivalry, humanitarianism and logic through allusions to e.g. St. Francis and Catholicism, the Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood. Have economists ever theorised about or modelled the absence of accumulation and investment vs. full consumption? Anthropologists did and called them hunters and gatherers. Great observers and planners, too.
Sincere advice to readers: to extend your bliss to 10 whole days, please imbibe just two episodes per day. Otherwise, a wonderful piece of magic to brighten the dark days before Christmas as an annual ritual. Finally, John Steinbeck's “Cannery Road” is about Monterey’s coastal regulars and eccentrics. Another marvel to enjoy and revisit year after year

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Tortilla Flat. The book feels sloppy at times, with little particular plot or direction and a willingness to introduce and then forget characters. Nevertheless, the book has a unique charm to it, and I’m not sure it isn’t my favorite of Steinbeck’s books.

The conceit of the novel is to look at a collection of ne’er-do-wells who live around Monterrey as though they are King Arthur’s court. Led by Danny (the Arthur) who owns a house and a little charisma, the men spend their days sleeping, drinking, pursuing women, conning people, and occasionally, trying to work for enough money to have a party. The novel spends a few chapters introducing the “knights” who come to join Danny, though for Steinbeck, the Sir Percival of the story might be a young hobo who talks to his eight dogs. The book then proceeds with separate stories of the crew’s adventures. Steinbeck hits a lot of notes with the stories. They, at times, revel in the violence, despair, and poverty that pervades , but more often, the stories celebrate their good humor (I did laugh out loud at some stories), loyalty, and mellow approach living.

The thing I loved about Tortilla Flat was the gradual effect of the “King Arthur” trope. It’s developed very subtly in the book, but by the end, it helps the reader to recognize that though these characters are, to all outward appearance, the lowest and meanest of human creatures, their lives are imbued with an inherent nobility and dignity. Tortilla Flat, to me, was a consistently enjoyable read with a large payoff at the end.

Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck (read 16 Aug 2016) This is the 8th book I've read by Steinbeck, I read his The Grapes of Wrath on 17 Mar 1949, and then read In Dubious Battle on 30 May 1971, Of Mice and Men on 22 Jan 1996, Cup of Gold on 22 June 197, The Red Pony on 6 June 2000, East of Eden on 21 Feb 2001, The Pearl on 16 March 2003, and Cannery Row on 19 June 2006. Tortilla Flat is smoothly written, tells evocatively of Danny, who returns from soldiering in World War One to find his grandfather has died and left him two houses in the Tortilla Flat section of Monterey, Cal. His friends gradually move in with him and their carefree llife, devoted to wine drinking and loose living is related with sympathetic words, often evoking laughter in the reader. I could not admire the lifestyle depicted but the account is somewhat heart-warming.

If Tortilla Flat had been my first exposure to John Steinbeck it's likely I wouldn't have gone back for more. I thought the book was dismal, which, by itself, isn't necessarily a bad thing, and boring, which, by itself or not, always is.

What's the story about... A group of friends, all of them drunks and untrustworthy, sit around getting drunk and telling stories. When they're not sitting around getting drunk and telling stories, they're thinking of ways - not always legal or ethical ways - to get money so they can get the next gallon of wine. Aside from these characters being people I would want to avoid, I didn't feel anything for any of them with the exception of the Pirate, but he was such a minor character that despite his actions being important to the story, he himself really wasn't.

This is harsh and I don't mean to say that Tortilla Flat is trash because it’s not. Far from it. As you would expect, the writing is good. And there are beautiful themes running throughout the book: friendship, love, trust, compassion, acceptance, spirituality, the beauty and joy of simplicity in life. And the universal messages of love and loyalty are messages we all need, especially in today's world. The problem for me with Tortilla Flat is that I’m a story driven sort of person and there just wasn't a whole lot of story holding everything together. Because of that I wasn’t able to accept the group of friends and embrace them and be with them the way I think Steinbeck wanted me to.

Would I recommend Tortilla Flat? Absolutely. Would I ever reread it? More than likely not.

This is a humorous, short novel that combines some of the grand tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable with the antics of a group of paisanos or friends living on the borders of Monterey California. These fellows and the various adventures they encounter are often heart-touching, or outlandish, or follow some moral purpose, much like the tales of King Arthur and his Knights. Danny, a basically shiftless fellow, inherits two run down shacks and thus he and his friends now have shelter over their heads where before they slept on the pine needles in the forests. They will work just enough for wine and food and then lay off until they are hungry or thirsty again.

Pilon, Danny’s long time partner in adventure, is the manipulative fellow, always trying to cheat someone or steal something or outsmart someone to his own advantage. Yet Pilon is revealed to be far more complex than he first appears and the reader comes to appreciate him. Big Joe Portagee is a bull in a china shop for his temper always works against him. However my favorite character was the mentally retarded lover of dogs, Pirate, a giant of a man with a wooly beard, who is saint-like and innocent in his wandering through life and the world. Pirate is the holy fool from Western literature, a spiritual being with limited intelligence but a clean innocent heart and love for animals.

I would recommend this book for its humorous entertainment value but also for the heartwarming lessons and morals that are conveyed with each chapter.

wow, what an unusual read, what a classic story, what was that? I really liked it, but it certainly was weird, in a good way ... described as an arthurian legend, but that's a stretch...still a lot of fun and I would recommend to anyone interested in Steinbeck, California history, and a voice not usually heard these days ... and it was short, always a positive (just started Middlemarch and altho it's considered one of the greatest books of all time, don't know if I can hang in for almost 800 pages) ... onward!

This man can, apparently, write no wrong. Of the Steinbeck I have read so far, this was not, perhaps, the best, but it was, by far, the most fun. Here are characters who will keep you smiling and keep you remembering the good times and good people who have shared your life.

On the surface, it is a book of the simple people... They are using their limited ideas to solve the everyday problems of life. But they are showing us something much greater: The very idea of friendship, and community, and love, and family.

In fact, what Steinbeck captures, masterfully, is no less than that magic moment when a group of friends, at a place and a time, become more than the sum of themselves, and the people, and the place, transform, as one, into something magical.

The author gives us a new set of folk heroes, who do great (not necessarily good) deeds for good reasons. I absolutely fell in love with most of them and will, I am sure, remember some forever. If you want characters who live, in three dimensions, you should read Steinbeck, and you could start nowhere better than with this book.

When Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather, he knows his life is about to change. He does not know, however, the extremes to which his generosity will lead and the fearful things that may come from good intentions. "Tortilla Flat," named after a section of Monterrey, California, was one of Steinbeck's first real successes from a commercial point of view, and it's easy to see why.

Told mostly through the eyes of Danny's friends as they edge in on his large-heart, open-arms policy, "Tortilla Flat" is full of humor, passion, wine, wisdom, and wine. And did I say wine? Yes, Danny's friends like their fruit of the vine, disdain work, and prefer the easy life beneath his generous roof. They justify their actions in all sorts of funny ways, and often times this leads to tragi-comedic results. Who can forget idealistic but ethically shady Pilon? Or Big Joe? Or Cornelia Ruiz? Or the Pirate and his faithful dogs? The list of memorable characters is long, and all of them show hints of the good and evil within the human heart.

In the end, Danny, whose money facilitates a lot of these antics, becomes frustrated with his loss of space and freedom. His friends decide to win him back at all costs. The final cost, though, is one none of them anticipate, and it's a fitting conclusion to a book full of remorse and human sorrow beneath its layers of wine-indulged laughter.

What can I write about this brilliant novel that hasn't been written before? Nothing much, I guess, except my own impressions of it. And since everyone knows the synopsis, I won't even bother with that. No, instead, I think I'll comment on two main points -- the writing itself, and the depiction of the Mexican-Americans. I can discuss the former because I've been studying the art of fiction for decades now, the latter because I'm Mexican American myself -- though not from California, but Texas.

Tortilla Flat is written in a deceptively-simple way. It reads, on the surface, like an easy-to-understand tale that only sends the average reader to the dictionary once or twice every other chapter. However, scratch the surface and delve into something like symbolism and there is buried treasure there, sometimes literally, as if Stenbeck is mocking you, daring you to follow the glow emanating from the ground of this tale. Next, look at the way Steinbeck attributes dialogue. How often does he use 'he said' or 'she said'? Look at how smoothly the dialogue blends with the narrative, how smoothly one paragraph flows into the next, one sentence folds into the next. Think about it. Why does it read so smoothly? After that, read carefully for economy in writing. That is, look at how much description Steinbeck packs into so few words. With a simple paragraph composed of no more than two or three short sentences, Steinbeck can impart personality and physical description into a character while simultaneously describing the environment. This sort of thing doesn't happen by accident and, think what you will of Steinbeck's political opinions, nobody can deny the man was a master of his craft.

Regarding the depictions of the Mexican-Americans, I can tell you first hand (because I am one), that the depictions are accurate to the point I can easily recognize personalities I knew growing up -- and even know now. There are things mentioned in the text that blew me away because there was no way Steinbeck could have known about them unless he truly knew the culture about which he was writing. The mention of hierba buena, the use of Agua Florida (which my grandmother always had in her house), Danny's cry of <<Chinga tu madre, Piojo!>> These are things no casual observer of Mexican-American culture could mention so casually. When he mentions these things, he speaks as if he has first-hand knowledge, experience not with -- but IN the culture.

I've read other places where critics have decried the language used by Mexican-Americans in the novel as inaccurate. I've read criticism saying Mexican-Americans don't speak that way either in English OR Spanish. Well, I can tell you myself that I find Steinbeck's effort at depicting the language outstanding and masterful. I don't know if the criticism stems from a hatred of the Anglo, a self-assertion by Mexican-American writers and critics during the sixties and seventies, a politically-correct sentiment that no Anglo could ever (or should ever even attempt to) accurately depict Mexican-Americans in literature -- or all of the above and more. Whatever the reason for such criticism, I think it's unwarranted, exaggerated, and betrays a willingness to take offense that isn't merited by Steinbeck's efforts. It's likely the over-reaction of the politically-correct, who like to assert that only people of a certain race (when it comes to minorities) can truly depict people of a certain race (themselves). This is, of course, a very racist notion that is only deemed politically correct because those who hold it assume the role of 'victim' in American society.

Let's not end this review on a sour note though. Having recently read The Grapes of Wrath, I've noticed something I've never heard mention of before with regards to Steinbeck. It's something that he does throughout Grapes and also Tortilla Flat. He likes to mention feet. In Grapes, people are constantly placing one foot on top of the other, wiggling their toes, crossing their legs at the ankle, kicking their shoes off, and it continues in Tortilla Flat. The guys love to sit on the porch and put their bare feet on the warm boards, wiggle their toes to shoo away flies, and the women are even mentioned as walking across the room barefoot -- just like Ma Joad was! It's nothing major. I just happened to notice it -- sort of the way everybody's constantly squatting down on their haunches throughout Grapes.

Either way, despite all the criticism, I first read this book when I was seventeen. I loved it then and I love it even more now that I'm forty four. Hopefully, it won't be another quarter century before I pick up this masterpiece again. If you're a writer of fiction -- this is a must read. Skip it and you'll only be cheating yourself.