Subject
John Steinbeck
Flight, a short story
For centuries Big Sur residents spoke of “The Dark Watchers.” John Steinbeck grew up in Salinas and spoke of them in this short story. In the tale a teenage Indigenous Mexican American boy kills a man and is forced to flee into the Santa Lucia Mountains. As his mother bids him farewell, she urges him to say his prayers, take care of his horse, and cautions “When thou comest to the high mountains, if thou seest any of the dark watching men, go not near them, nor try to speak to them.”
East of Eden
A story of a family, based on Steinbeck’s own, with a large scope of one young man’s journey into life. Compelling might be a good description of this book, hard to put down and forget. A classic.
The Red Pony
Our reader was not thrilled with the subject, so she picked the shortest book she could find. She probably hasn’t read Steinbeck for many, many years. To her surprise she loved his descriptive phrases and noted several, enjoyed the story and wished a part had been broadened. She is thinking of going back for more.
The Pastures of Heaven
In the days of the missions several Indigenous slaves ran away, and a guard was sent to retrieve them. As he was bringing them back, one broke away again and the guard followed him over a large hill. There he saw an amazing beautiful, green area and labeled it The Pasture of Heaven and vowed to return. Unfortunately, he died, but it this is the tale of those who did settle there. Each chapter describes a different settler. This book reminded our reader of “Of Mice and Men” with each settler mentioned another Lenny.
Our topic for November 12 is “food,”— a type of food, a chef, an interesting cookbook, there are several mystery series with cooking as the clue, lots of ways to go.
—Fran Strauser