Tortilla Flat
Ratings59
Average rating3.7
So you start out with a bunch of despicable characters who couldn't possibly have any stories worth telling as their lives are seemingly empty except when they happen to have some wine. Steinbeck proves us wrong. How many times have you seen a homeless drunkard sitting by the road staring at nothing and felt sorry for the guy? Steinbeck teaches us that there is no need to be, because that man is staring at the world in its entirety, and that man has more time than you'll ever have to tell the stories of the world.
It is difficult to stop reading this book no matter how painful it is at times, but it ended well and I wouldn't have preferred any other ending. I would say this is one of Steinbeck's best.
This was such a nice, short, lovely read! The aspects of friendship shown here through the Tortilla Flat was so nice. I liked that each character came out after every chapter, and it was presented in a way that I was able to comprehend easily, distinguish, and enjoy, despite them being 6+ people by the end. I definitely wasn't ready for that ending, and it pains that the Tortilla Flat crew sort or dispersed due to Danny's death, because it's kind of what kept them together ;-;
Danny and his friends in Tortilla Flat spend their lives hanging out, telling stories, drinking wine, fighting, and spending time with women.
It's a simple story of simple friendships that takes place in a time when people could scrounge for a bit of work, scrounge for a bit of food, and scrounge for a place to stay, and when people could spend most of their time doing the things they like to do—and that was enough. Jail time is an expected part of life. Drinking sprees are an expected part of life. Fist fights are an expected part of life. And friendship is the central value of all the men in the story.
Struggled through the first half of this a few months ago as it just did not grab or move me in any way. I don't mind simple writing or tales with meaning or a moral, but here there was just nothing to enjoy. The characters were boring, nothing really happened, and I just didn't care one way or another. It wasn't even particularly funny. Uncovering the book at the bottom of a pile today I realise I just don't have the heart to go back.
Was hoping that this would be a good, short introduction to Steinbeck's more substantial works, and Grapes of Wrath is on my ‘to read' list, but now I'm reconsidering!
I really enjoyed this book because of its parallels to King Arthur and his court, and the idea of group friendships needing a lynchpin, so to speak; the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I found the stories to be comical, sorrowful, sensual, silly, and at times quite serious.