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El autobús perdido
El accidentado viaje de un desastrado autobús rural entre las poblaciones de Rebel Corners y San Juan de la Cruz, en California, al término de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, se convierte en un magistral retrato de personajes y en un acerado estudio sobre los problemas centrales de todos los hombres en todas las épocas: la familia, el sexo, el amor, las ambiciones, las frustraciones y los anhelos... Lejos del sentimentalismo y la autocomplacencia, es un viaje interior hacia el corazón de unos viajeros perdidos en la decepción del sueño americano...
352 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1947
About the author
John Steinbeck
778 books22.8k followersJohn Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 931 reviews
June 24, 2018
steinbeck pulverizes me. i'm not the type to get choked up by calling-card commercials or whose heart swells with the violins at the end of a sappy movie, but steinbeck has a heart-seeking missile aimed directly at me, and he knows just how to find my emotional center. this has always been my favorite of steinbeck's works, even though it is a shortish one in which very little actually happens. but steinbeck's strength, for me, has always been his characters, and this is one prolonged character study of people in transition - hoping to move on, but unlikely to ever change their ways or make any staggering improvements in their lives. bring me your poor, your tired, your unlovable and i will make you love them; this is the foundation for any steinbeck novel. his instinct is to celebrate these characters, with their flawed dignity and big dreams. having read this myself in high school, living out my own small-town blues experience (although hopefully more lovable than some of these people), steinbeck was a discovery for me about the spirit of america. nobody does it better, or in a way that encapsulates more of the emotional landscape of this country than steinbeck does. how can someone feel trapped in a country this big, with all its possibilities? but that's the tragic irony of desperate humanity; so much cake to eat, but you ain't going nowhere.
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April 7, 2018
i saw Dusty reading this and asked him what it was all about. he said it was hard to say, it was about life and people and what a countertop looks like and what a place feels like and how people think or not-think. at least i imagine that's what he said, its been a month or so. he also said that Steinbeck was his favorite author. he finished reading the book and then gave it to me. i would say that Dusty is my friend, sure, why not.
The Wayward Bus is about a bunch of people in post-WW 2 america. it features a pimply and testosterone-filled youth, a homely waitress, a smokin hot stripper, a conformist old executive & his quietly manipulative wife & their independent daughter, an angry old man, a war vet turned traveling salesman, a horrible and self-loathing wife and her husband - a "man". at least that's how Steinbeck takes pains to describe him, repeatedly. what is a "man"? have i met one? anyway, all these people meet up at a diner and most of them get on a bus together, and that's the novel. The Wayward Bus is about Wayward People. or more specifically, people who are in transition or who want to be in transition or who are experiencing a moment in their lives where transition could potentially happen, if they let it. if that transition is the right thing to do. what is "the right thing to do"? i don't know.
Dusty is my BIL's younger brother. he seems to always be in transition. what is he doing right now? i don't know. i see him during the Christmas holidays, we usually crash in my sister's living room, we watch our nephews open gifts, we drink some drinks, we have Christmas dinner together, we go our separate ways. before Christmas i usually take him and the rest of the family out to a really nice dinner. that's my Christmas gift to them all. it is the kind of anonymous 'expensive' gift that is very easy for a bachelor like myself to give. all it requires is a lot of money and very little thought. Dusty gives me good gifts for Christmas. he thinks about his gifts; they are meaningful, and personally meaningful to me. he has the gift of giving thoughtful gifts. i think i used to have that gift as well. did i lose it?
Steinbeck is a brilliant writer, let's just get that out of the way. his prose is genuinely amazing. cliche time: he is a painter using words. his writing absorbed me - but a depressing kind of absorbing. he describes these characters inside and out, you know what they look like and how they will react in a given situation. he contextualizes them. he supplies the macro and the micro. he beautifully describes these characters' surroundings, natural or man-made, the history of a particular setting, what it looks and smells and feels like, the resonance of a place. he moves from that to what a countertop looks like, a small and under-furnished room, a bus (lots & lots of bus!), a cave, a barn, an abandoned house. my God, the man describes the inner life of a fly right before it is crushed! the novel feels both big and small. he gets into these characters' heads, he shows the why and the how and the what-if of their waywardness, their possible and impossible transitions and journeys. he makes you know them. even the angry old man - even he gets his reason why, his context, his pain & fear & longing, even he is made whole for the reader. for some readers, he makes you love them, or at least able to empathize with them. but not for this reader. thanks to Steinbeck, i "know" them. i guess. but empathize? probably not. they seem to exist solely to carry out the stereotypical functions of their gender, to obsess about sex, about power, to dream of freedom, to dream big and then act small. i don't like these characters. are lives really so small? maybe it is a smallness in me that refuses to recognize their needs and desires as my own, to dismiss them as "stereotypes". i suppose. so yeah, Steinbeck is a brilliant writer. he makes me understand these characters enough to make this reader's skin crawl at the thought of them.
Dusty is in the military. sorta. he's out now but still connected. he's young and handsome so they feature him in videos on youtube where he explains how the military counters terrorist threats and how to use various weapons. Dusty has been in Iraq. Dusty is a Buddhist. i think. he appreciates eastern philosophies and dislikes material possessions and wants to work with his hands, preferably in nature. i don't know if he has Big Goals in his life but he is a thinker. he thinks and then he switches up his life. then he thinks again, and switches it all up again. he is a Wayward Bus kinda guy.
i am not a Wayward Bus kinda guy. this is an incredible book in many ways but i did not connect with it. i don't appreciate its take on human nature. it depressed me, these characters depressed me. sometimes i look at things like The Wayward Bus and am reminded that i may have smarts but i don't think i have a lot of depth. i am content and usually just want to be left alone. i'm not Wayward, i'm the opposite, i'm here to stay. i look at these characters and sometimes they are like bugs to me, like that fly getting crushed in that cake. Dusty looks at them and he sees real people. he empathizes with them, their situation resonates with him, he connects. why is that? i look at Dusty and i see a real person. don't i? what is a real person anyway.
despite all the wayward and meandering existential angst above, i think this is a brilliant book. you should read it. i loved it and yet i didn't like it very much. you can love something without liking it, right?
The Wayward Bus is about a bunch of people in post-WW 2 america. it features a pimply and testosterone-filled youth, a homely waitress, a smokin hot stripper, a conformist old executive & his quietly manipulative wife & their independent daughter, an angry old man, a war vet turned traveling salesman, a horrible and self-loathing wife and her husband - a "man". at least that's how Steinbeck takes pains to describe him, repeatedly. what is a "man"? have i met one? anyway, all these people meet up at a diner and most of them get on a bus together, and that's the novel. The Wayward Bus is about Wayward People. or more specifically, people who are in transition or who want to be in transition or who are experiencing a moment in their lives where transition could potentially happen, if they let it. if that transition is the right thing to do. what is "the right thing to do"? i don't know.
Dusty is my BIL's younger brother. he seems to always be in transition. what is he doing right now? i don't know. i see him during the Christmas holidays, we usually crash in my sister's living room, we watch our nephews open gifts, we drink some drinks, we have Christmas dinner together, we go our separate ways. before Christmas i usually take him and the rest of the family out to a really nice dinner. that's my Christmas gift to them all. it is the kind of anonymous 'expensive' gift that is very easy for a bachelor like myself to give. all it requires is a lot of money and very little thought. Dusty gives me good gifts for Christmas. he thinks about his gifts; they are meaningful, and personally meaningful to me. he has the gift of giving thoughtful gifts. i think i used to have that gift as well. did i lose it?
Steinbeck is a brilliant writer, let's just get that out of the way. his prose is genuinely amazing. cliche time: he is a painter using words. his writing absorbed me - but a depressing kind of absorbing. he describes these characters inside and out, you know what they look like and how they will react in a given situation. he contextualizes them. he supplies the macro and the micro. he beautifully describes these characters' surroundings, natural or man-made, the history of a particular setting, what it looks and smells and feels like, the resonance of a place. he moves from that to what a countertop looks like, a small and under-furnished room, a bus (lots & lots of bus!), a cave, a barn, an abandoned house. my God, the man describes the inner life of a fly right before it is crushed! the novel feels both big and small. he gets into these characters' heads, he shows the why and the how and the what-if of their waywardness, their possible and impossible transitions and journeys. he makes you know them. even the angry old man - even he gets his reason why, his context, his pain & fear & longing, even he is made whole for the reader. for some readers, he makes you love them, or at least able to empathize with them. but not for this reader. thanks to Steinbeck, i "know" them. i guess. but empathize? probably not. they seem to exist solely to carry out the stereotypical functions of their gender, to obsess about sex, about power, to dream of freedom, to dream big and then act small. i don't like these characters. are lives really so small? maybe it is a smallness in me that refuses to recognize their needs and desires as my own, to dismiss them as "stereotypes". i suppose. so yeah, Steinbeck is a brilliant writer. he makes me understand these characters enough to make this reader's skin crawl at the thought of them.
Dusty is in the military. sorta. he's out now but still connected. he's young and handsome so they feature him in videos on youtube where he explains how the military counters terrorist threats and how to use various weapons. Dusty has been in Iraq. Dusty is a Buddhist. i think. he appreciates eastern philosophies and dislikes material possessions and wants to work with his hands, preferably in nature. i don't know if he has Big Goals in his life but he is a thinker. he thinks and then he switches up his life. then he thinks again, and switches it all up again. he is a Wayward Bus kinda guy.
i am not a Wayward Bus kinda guy. this is an incredible book in many ways but i did not connect with it. i don't appreciate its take on human nature. it depressed me, these characters depressed me. sometimes i look at things like The Wayward Bus and am reminded that i may have smarts but i don't think i have a lot of depth. i am content and usually just want to be left alone. i'm not Wayward, i'm the opposite, i'm here to stay. i look at these characters and sometimes they are like bugs to me, like that fly getting crushed in that cake. Dusty looks at them and he sees real people. he empathizes with them, their situation resonates with him, he connects. why is that? i look at Dusty and i see a real person. don't i? what is a real person anyway.
despite all the wayward and meandering existential angst above, i think this is a brilliant book. you should read it. i loved it and yet i didn't like it very much. you can love something without liking it, right?
April 4, 2019
The Wayward Bus isn’t the best novel in John Steinbeck’s oeuvre but it is easy and pleasant to read.
Man is a transitory being, and life is a journey, and we all ride in the same huge bus…
Life gives promises and life takes its promises away…
People meet, people part… Passengers contemplate their own problems and the diver has his own troubles…
Sometimes the bus we ride turns wayward and then a lot of adventures and misadventures wait for us right ahead…
Man is a transitory being, and life is a journey, and we all ride in the same huge bus…
Louie went back toward the front. His eyes had caught a girl coming in from the street. She was carrying a suitcase. All in one flash Louie caught her. A dish! A dish like that he wanted to ride in a seat just behind his own raised driver’s chair. He could watch her in the rear-view mirror and find out about her. Maybe she lived somewhere on his route. Louie had plenty of adventures that started like this.
Life gives promises and life takes its promises away…
People meet, people part… Passengers contemplate their own problems and the diver has his own troubles…
The back road around the San Ysidro River bend was a very old road, no one knew how old. It was true that the stage coaches had used it, and men on horseback. In the dry seasons the cattle had been driven over it to the river, where they could lie in the willows during the heat of the day and drink from holes dug in the river bed. The old road was simply a slice of country, uncultivated to start, marked only by wheel ruts and pounded by horses’ hoofs. In the summer a heavy cloud of dust arose from its surface when a wagon went by, and in winter, pastelike mud spurted from under horses’ feet. Gradually the road became scooped out so that it was lower than the fields through which it traveled, and this made it a long lake of standing water in the winter, sometimes very deep.
Sometimes the bus we ride turns wayward and then a lot of adventures and misadventures wait for us right ahead…
June 27, 2021
The Wayward Bus was John Steinbeck's follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize winner The Grapes of Wrath. It most certainly suffered for it. Published in 1947, readers had waited eight years for a new novel from Steinbeck, who set the Joads on the road to California in 1939 and wouldn't publish his next novel until 1952, when he dispatched Adam Trask west to meet his destiny in East of Eden. Readers seem to have let The Wayward Bus fall into a crease on the map between the two novels, but I was absolutely enthralled by it. Unfolding over a twenty-four hour period, it's a measured but acute study of characters trying to get away from themselves.
The story begins at a crossroads forty-two miles south of San Ysidro, California where Steinbeck's history and imagination are shaken up in ways that could not be anything other than delightful to the reader.
Rebel Corners got its name in 1862. It is said that a family named Blanken kept a smithy at the crossroads. The Blankens and their son-in-law were poor, ignorant, proud, and violent Kentuckians. Having no furniture and no property, they brought what they had with them from the East--their prejudices and their politics. Having no slaves, they were ready, nevertheless, to sell their lives for the free principle of slavery. When the war began, the Blankens discussed traveling back across the measureless West to fight for the Confederacy. But it was a long way and they had crossed once, and it was too far.
Thus it was that in a California which was preponderantly for the North, the Blankens seceded a hundred and sixty acres and a blacksmith shop from the Union and joined Blanken Corners to the Confederacy. It is also said that they dug trenches and cut rifle slits in the blacksmith shop to defend the rebellious island from the hated Yankees. And the Yankees, who were mostly Mexicans and Germans and Irish and Chinese, far from attacking the Blankens, were rather proud of them. The Blankens had never lived so well, for the enemy brought chickens and eggs and pork sausage in slaughter time, because everyone thought that, regardless of the cause, such courage should be recognized. Their place took the name Rebel Corners and has kept it to this day.
A general store/ diner/ service station has been built on Rebel Corners amid the shade of great white oaks that have stood for generations. The establishment is owned and operated by Juan Chicoy and his wife Alice. Some fifty years old, Juan is a handsome man, part Mexican and part Irish. From the hours of ten-thirty to four, Juan drives an old four-cylinder bus lovingly known as "Sweetheart" between Rebel Corners and San Juan de la Cruz, where passengers dropped off at his crossroads can be picked by another Greyhound bus to points north or south. Alice runs the diner and has become increasingly nervous as she ages, anxious that her husband might one day leave her.
A busted transmission on Sweetheart has stranded several passengers bound for San Juan de la Cruz at the crossroads until morning, where they stay as guests of the Chicoys and their two employees. Juan's apprentice is a sugar loving layabout with an unfortunate case of acne and the name to go with it: Pimples Carson. Norma is the waitress, a shy and nubile girl who writes love letters to Clark Gable and fantasizes about moving to Hollywood. When Alice wakes up even more nervous than usual and is caught rifling through Norma's letters, the waitress quits. She boards the bus for San Juan de la Cruz with the other passengers:
-- Elliot Pritchard is vice-president of a midsize corporation taking his family on a trip to Mexico against his will. Elliot is a proliferate joiner who finds himself intimidated by strangers who don't belong to his company, club, church or political party or their prescribed way of thinking.
-- Bernice Pritchard imagines every setback on the trip as a potential episode she can impress her friends with. She keeps her husband and daughter in line by "suffering" from stress related headaches when she feels she needs to.
-- Mildred Pritchard is a student-athlete proud of the secrets she keeps from her parents, namely the two lovers she's taken while away at college. She is sexually attracted to Juan and wonders if her parents might drop dead if they only knew.
Mildred was looking at Juan, fascinated. There was something in this dark man with his strange warm eyes that moved her. She felt drawn to him. She wanted to attract his attention, his special attention, to herself. She had thrown back her shoulders so that her breasts were lifted. "Why did you leave Mexico?" she asked, and she took off her glasses so that when he answered he would see her without them. She leaned on the table, and put her forefinger to the corner of her left eye, and pulled the sin and eyelid backward. This changed the focus of her eye. She could see his face more clearly that way. It also gave her eyes a long and languorous shape, and her eyes were beautiful.
-- Ernest Horton is a war veteran who works as a traveling salesman for a novelties company. Energetic and bright, his approval becomes very important to Mr. Pritchard, who is alarmed when the young man fails to see as much hope in the future as the business executive does.
-- Mr. Van Brunt is a misanthrope who uses his knowledge of their route, their local geography and the weather to contradict Juan at every opportunity. Van Brunt has a court date he wishes to keep and makes sure everyone knows it. He later approaches Mildred to tell her that her skirt is showing.
-- A mysterious blonde reveals her name to be "Camille Oaks," a dental nurse on her way to Los Angeles. "Camille" is a stripper whose constitution and genetic gifts have given her certain powers over men. She recognizes Mr. Pritchard from one the stag parties she worked and uses Norma in an attempt to keep him and the other male passengers from trying to get her alone.
Steinbeck puts these characters in motion on the highway to San Juan de la Cruz, where a cloudburst above Pine Canyon has raised the San Ysidro River up to a foot an hour. Juan stops the bus at Breed's Service Station, where Mr and Mrs Breed serve as the unofficial custodians of the bridge over the river. Juan doesn't know if the bus can make it safely across and puts their options up for a vote: take their chances on an unsafe bridge, turn back to Rebel Corners, or try their luck with an old stage road that goes up the side of the mountain. The old road is the winner.
In The Wayward Bus, Steinbeck goes considerable lengths to make the bus into a character as well.
Hanging from the top of the windshield were the penates: a baby's shoe--that's for protection, fo the stumbling feet of a baby require the constant caution and aid of God; and a tiny boxing glove--and that's for power, the power of the fist on the driving forearm, the drive of the piston pushing its connecting rod, the power of person as responsible and proud individual. There hung also on the windshield a little plastic kewpie doll with a cerise and green ostrich-feather headdress and provocative sarong. And this was for the pleasures of the flesh and of the eye, of the nose, of the ear. When the bus was in motion these hanging items spun and jerked and swayed in front of the driver's eye.
Any apocalyptic science fiction novel dealing with a band of survivors as they make their way across inhospitable territory is essentially The Wayward Bus. The only elements missing here are zombies and attacks. John Stienbeck tells stories like a man who's traveled far, loved and lusted deeply, drank and fought fiercely, and when he settled down, opened up a bookstore. His novels are like a leather bound books he's pulling off a shelf, blowing dust off and reading. They start with history that comes to life with action and wit and pathos and sets the stage for his characters, all of whom I felt like I've met.
Another thing I noted in this novel is how Steinbeck is fearless in exploring the darker or seemlier side of nearly all of his characters. Some of them let their demons get the better of them with wildly inappropriate behavior -- alcoholism, sexual abuse, emotional blackmail -- while others feel those genies stirring in the lamp and clamp the lid on tight. It probably should go without saying at this point -- Steinbeck is one America's great authors -- but there isn't a Mary Sue lurking her perfect head anywhere in this book. If there's anyone approaching a central character, it's Juan Chicoy, and he comes right out and tells one of his passengers what's on his mind:
"Sure, it's all right." He leaned his arms on the counter and spoke confidentially. "I get fed up sometimes. I drive that damn bus back and forth and back and forth. Sometimes I'd like to take and just head for the hills. I read about a ferryboat captain in New York who just headed out to sea one day and they never heard from him again. Maybe he sunk and maybe he's tied up on an island some place. I understand that man."
I understand that Steinbeck is my favorite author and remains so after reading this novel.
The story begins at a crossroads forty-two miles south of San Ysidro, California where Steinbeck's history and imagination are shaken up in ways that could not be anything other than delightful to the reader.
Rebel Corners got its name in 1862. It is said that a family named Blanken kept a smithy at the crossroads. The Blankens and their son-in-law were poor, ignorant, proud, and violent Kentuckians. Having no furniture and no property, they brought what they had with them from the East--their prejudices and their politics. Having no slaves, they were ready, nevertheless, to sell their lives for the free principle of slavery. When the war began, the Blankens discussed traveling back across the measureless West to fight for the Confederacy. But it was a long way and they had crossed once, and it was too far.
Thus it was that in a California which was preponderantly for the North, the Blankens seceded a hundred and sixty acres and a blacksmith shop from the Union and joined Blanken Corners to the Confederacy. It is also said that they dug trenches and cut rifle slits in the blacksmith shop to defend the rebellious island from the hated Yankees. And the Yankees, who were mostly Mexicans and Germans and Irish and Chinese, far from attacking the Blankens, were rather proud of them. The Blankens had never lived so well, for the enemy brought chickens and eggs and pork sausage in slaughter time, because everyone thought that, regardless of the cause, such courage should be recognized. Their place took the name Rebel Corners and has kept it to this day.
A general store/ diner/ service station has been built on Rebel Corners amid the shade of great white oaks that have stood for generations. The establishment is owned and operated by Juan Chicoy and his wife Alice. Some fifty years old, Juan is a handsome man, part Mexican and part Irish. From the hours of ten-thirty to four, Juan drives an old four-cylinder bus lovingly known as "Sweetheart" between Rebel Corners and San Juan de la Cruz, where passengers dropped off at his crossroads can be picked by another Greyhound bus to points north or south. Alice runs the diner and has become increasingly nervous as she ages, anxious that her husband might one day leave her.
A busted transmission on Sweetheart has stranded several passengers bound for San Juan de la Cruz at the crossroads until morning, where they stay as guests of the Chicoys and their two employees. Juan's apprentice is a sugar loving layabout with an unfortunate case of acne and the name to go with it: Pimples Carson. Norma is the waitress, a shy and nubile girl who writes love letters to Clark Gable and fantasizes about moving to Hollywood. When Alice wakes up even more nervous than usual and is caught rifling through Norma's letters, the waitress quits. She boards the bus for San Juan de la Cruz with the other passengers:
-- Elliot Pritchard is vice-president of a midsize corporation taking his family on a trip to Mexico against his will. Elliot is a proliferate joiner who finds himself intimidated by strangers who don't belong to his company, club, church or political party or their prescribed way of thinking.
-- Bernice Pritchard imagines every setback on the trip as a potential episode she can impress her friends with. She keeps her husband and daughter in line by "suffering" from stress related headaches when she feels she needs to.
-- Mildred Pritchard is a student-athlete proud of the secrets she keeps from her parents, namely the two lovers she's taken while away at college. She is sexually attracted to Juan and wonders if her parents might drop dead if they only knew.
Mildred was looking at Juan, fascinated. There was something in this dark man with his strange warm eyes that moved her. She felt drawn to him. She wanted to attract his attention, his special attention, to herself. She had thrown back her shoulders so that her breasts were lifted. "Why did you leave Mexico?" she asked, and she took off her glasses so that when he answered he would see her without them. She leaned on the table, and put her forefinger to the corner of her left eye, and pulled the sin and eyelid backward. This changed the focus of her eye. She could see his face more clearly that way. It also gave her eyes a long and languorous shape, and her eyes were beautiful.
-- Ernest Horton is a war veteran who works as a traveling salesman for a novelties company. Energetic and bright, his approval becomes very important to Mr. Pritchard, who is alarmed when the young man fails to see as much hope in the future as the business executive does.
-- Mr. Van Brunt is a misanthrope who uses his knowledge of their route, their local geography and the weather to contradict Juan at every opportunity. Van Brunt has a court date he wishes to keep and makes sure everyone knows it. He later approaches Mildred to tell her that her skirt is showing.
-- A mysterious blonde reveals her name to be "Camille Oaks," a dental nurse on her way to Los Angeles. "Camille" is a stripper whose constitution and genetic gifts have given her certain powers over men. She recognizes Mr. Pritchard from one the stag parties she worked and uses Norma in an attempt to keep him and the other male passengers from trying to get her alone.
Steinbeck puts these characters in motion on the highway to San Juan de la Cruz, where a cloudburst above Pine Canyon has raised the San Ysidro River up to a foot an hour. Juan stops the bus at Breed's Service Station, where Mr and Mrs Breed serve as the unofficial custodians of the bridge over the river. Juan doesn't know if the bus can make it safely across and puts their options up for a vote: take their chances on an unsafe bridge, turn back to Rebel Corners, or try their luck with an old stage road that goes up the side of the mountain. The old road is the winner.
In The Wayward Bus, Steinbeck goes considerable lengths to make the bus into a character as well.
Hanging from the top of the windshield were the penates: a baby's shoe--that's for protection, fo the stumbling feet of a baby require the constant caution and aid of God; and a tiny boxing glove--and that's for power, the power of the fist on the driving forearm, the drive of the piston pushing its connecting rod, the power of person as responsible and proud individual. There hung also on the windshield a little plastic kewpie doll with a cerise and green ostrich-feather headdress and provocative sarong. And this was for the pleasures of the flesh and of the eye, of the nose, of the ear. When the bus was in motion these hanging items spun and jerked and swayed in front of the driver's eye.
Any apocalyptic science fiction novel dealing with a band of survivors as they make their way across inhospitable territory is essentially The Wayward Bus. The only elements missing here are zombies and attacks. John Stienbeck tells stories like a man who's traveled far, loved and lusted deeply, drank and fought fiercely, and when he settled down, opened up a bookstore. His novels are like a leather bound books he's pulling off a shelf, blowing dust off and reading. They start with history that comes to life with action and wit and pathos and sets the stage for his characters, all of whom I felt like I've met.
Another thing I noted in this novel is how Steinbeck is fearless in exploring the darker or seemlier side of nearly all of his characters. Some of them let their demons get the better of them with wildly inappropriate behavior -- alcoholism, sexual abuse, emotional blackmail -- while others feel those genies stirring in the lamp and clamp the lid on tight. It probably should go without saying at this point -- Steinbeck is one America's great authors -- but there isn't a Mary Sue lurking her perfect head anywhere in this book. If there's anyone approaching a central character, it's Juan Chicoy, and he comes right out and tells one of his passengers what's on his mind:
"Sure, it's all right." He leaned his arms on the counter and spoke confidentially. "I get fed up sometimes. I drive that damn bus back and forth and back and forth. Sometimes I'd like to take and just head for the hills. I read about a ferryboat captain in New York who just headed out to sea one day and they never heard from him again. Maybe he sunk and maybe he's tied up on an island some place. I understand that man."
I understand that Steinbeck is my favorite author and remains so after reading this novel.
July 26, 2020
Oh my, this is dripping in symbolism—but I like it. I like it a lot! It’s to be picked up when you’re in a mood for analyzing what characters and their actions figuratively and metaphorically represent. There is more being said than that on the surface. Figuring out the symbolism is fun.
Start by glancing at the title. What is the significance of the word wayward? Is it not people that are usually referred to as being wayward?
Definition of wayward: 1. Following one's own capricious, wanton, or depraved inclinations-- ungovernable a wayward child. 2. Following no clear principle or law-- unpredictable. 3. Opposite to what is desired or expected.
Here it is the bus as well as the passengers aboard that are wayward!
I could go through the book pointing out the symbols, but I am not going to do that. Why? The enjoyment derived is at its maximum when you do this yourself. Each reader will latch on to those symbols most meaningful to themselves.
Understanding what makes a person tick and why each behaves as they do is what intrigues me. Religious connotations, moral standards, the situation in America after the Second World War and political leanings are other issues on which the book could be said to pivot and for which symbols are drawn.
Steinbeck throws at readers a group of individuals, none of whom are attractive. One’s immediate reaction is to wonder why one should care about these schmucks?! None are exceptional; they are losers of the ordinary, common type. Steinbeck shows us there is more to each and every one of them. What we consider uninteresting, ordinary losers at the start have by the book’s end become individuals each with their own identity, backstory, internal conflict and reason for interest.
You do not read this book for its plot. You read it to study the characters. Here they are sorted into two groups:
Residents at Rebel Corners, a combined car repair shop, convenience store and food counter in California’s Salinas Valley. It is here where the eponymous bus starts and returns—transporting passengers to San Juan de la Cruz where large Greyhound buses await.
*Juan Chicoy—an Irish-Mexican car repair mechanic and bus driver. Runs Rebel Corners with his wife.
*Alice Chicoy—Juan’s wife, a misogynist. She is an angry woman, disappointed and depressed, has a tendency to turn to drink.
*Norma—the current waitress at the food counter. There is a steady stream of waitresses since Alice is difficult to get along with. Norma fantasizes about Hollywood and Clark Gable.
*Ed Carson—take one guess why he is called Pimples. Go a step further—how would you feel if that were your nickname?! There is quite a bit more to his story. He is constantly munching on food. He yearns to be called Kit after the famed Kit Carson! He is Juan's assistant mechanic.
Passengers on the bus on the day of the story: These are in addition to Juan, Norma and Pimples.
*Elliott Prichard—a married, self-important businessman.
*Bernice Pritchard—Elliott’s benign, self-effacing wife.
*Mildred Pritchard—their college-aged daughter.
(The Pritchards are on a vacation trip to Mexico, but each has a different explanation for why the trip is taken. Their expectations vary too.)
*Ernest Horton— a war veteran employed as a travelling salesman of novelty goods. Steinbeck has down pat how such salesmen behave. One cannot help but laugh.
*Mr. Van Buren—an opinionated, elderly man who warns of the danger of an imminent flood. You say one thing, he will say the opposite!
* ”A blonde”—known as Camille Oaks. She is pretty, appealingly dressed and exudes a sexual allure. Norma and Mildred admire her for what she knows and they do not, which is to say her experience and knowledge of men. She knows how to wrap men around her finger.
I appreciate the book’s realism. One observes where the characters start and their respective situation at the book’s end. There is the possibility that life may improve for some. For others, the situation looks grim. I like the spread.
The prose is simple and crisp. The language used and the jargon in the dialogue reflect America in the late forties, after the war. The book was first published in 1947.
Richard Poe narrates the audiobook very well—four stars for the narration. Every word spoken is clear and easy to decipher. The tempo is not rushed. One recognizes that he is an old hand at reading books. He knows his trade. He is an American actor, has worked in movies, on television and on Broadway. He was born in California, which is appropriate here.
I recommend this to those who enjoy books focusing on character portrayal. In my opinion, it is a book by Steinbeck worthy of higher acclaim than it has received.
************************
Steinbeck’s books in order of preference :
*Of Mice and Men 5 stars
*The Grapes of Wrath 5 stars
*In Dubious Battle 4 stars
*The Wayward Bus 4 stars
*Travels with Charley: In Search of America 4 stars
*The Moon Is Down 4 stars
*Cannery Row 4 stars
*The Winter of Our Discontent 3 stars
*A Russian Journal 3 stars
*The Pearl 3 stars
*Sweet Thursday 2 stars
*East of Eden 2 stars
*To a God Unknown TBR
*Once There Was a War TBR
*The Red Pony TBR
*The Pastures of Heaven TBR
Start by glancing at the title. What is the significance of the word wayward? Is it not people that are usually referred to as being wayward?
Definition of wayward: 1. Following one's own capricious, wanton, or depraved inclinations-- ungovernable a wayward child. 2. Following no clear principle or law-- unpredictable. 3. Opposite to what is desired or expected.
Here it is the bus as well as the passengers aboard that are wayward!
I could go through the book pointing out the symbols, but I am not going to do that. Why? The enjoyment derived is at its maximum when you do this yourself. Each reader will latch on to those symbols most meaningful to themselves.
Understanding what makes a person tick and why each behaves as they do is what intrigues me. Religious connotations, moral standards, the situation in America after the Second World War and political leanings are other issues on which the book could be said to pivot and for which symbols are drawn.
Steinbeck throws at readers a group of individuals, none of whom are attractive. One’s immediate reaction is to wonder why one should care about these schmucks?! None are exceptional; they are losers of the ordinary, common type. Steinbeck shows us there is more to each and every one of them. What we consider uninteresting, ordinary losers at the start have by the book’s end become individuals each with their own identity, backstory, internal conflict and reason for interest.
You do not read this book for its plot. You read it to study the characters. Here they are sorted into two groups:
Residents at Rebel Corners, a combined car repair shop, convenience store and food counter in California’s Salinas Valley. It is here where the eponymous bus starts and returns—transporting passengers to San Juan de la Cruz where large Greyhound buses await.
*Juan Chicoy—an Irish-Mexican car repair mechanic and bus driver. Runs Rebel Corners with his wife.
*Alice Chicoy—Juan’s wife, a misogynist. She is an angry woman, disappointed and depressed, has a tendency to turn to drink.
*Norma—the current waitress at the food counter. There is a steady stream of waitresses since Alice is difficult to get along with. Norma fantasizes about Hollywood and Clark Gable.
*Ed Carson—take one guess why he is called Pimples. Go a step further—how would you feel if that were your nickname?! There is quite a bit more to his story. He is constantly munching on food. He yearns to be called Kit after the famed Kit Carson! He is Juan's assistant mechanic.
Passengers on the bus on the day of the story: These are in addition to Juan, Norma and Pimples.
*Elliott Prichard—a married, self-important businessman.
*Bernice Pritchard—Elliott’s benign, self-effacing wife.
*Mildred Pritchard—their college-aged daughter.
(The Pritchards are on a vacation trip to Mexico, but each has a different explanation for why the trip is taken. Their expectations vary too.)
*Ernest Horton— a war veteran employed as a travelling salesman of novelty goods. Steinbeck has down pat how such salesmen behave. One cannot help but laugh.
*Mr. Van Buren—an opinionated, elderly man who warns of the danger of an imminent flood. You say one thing, he will say the opposite!
* ”A blonde”—known as Camille Oaks. She is pretty, appealingly dressed and exudes a sexual allure. Norma and Mildred admire her for what she knows and they do not, which is to say her experience and knowledge of men. She knows how to wrap men around her finger.
I appreciate the book’s realism. One observes where the characters start and their respective situation at the book’s end. There is the possibility that life may improve for some. For others, the situation looks grim. I like the spread.
The prose is simple and crisp. The language used and the jargon in the dialogue reflect America in the late forties, after the war. The book was first published in 1947.
Richard Poe narrates the audiobook very well—four stars for the narration. Every word spoken is clear and easy to decipher. The tempo is not rushed. One recognizes that he is an old hand at reading books. He knows his trade. He is an American actor, has worked in movies, on television and on Broadway. He was born in California, which is appropriate here.
I recommend this to those who enjoy books focusing on character portrayal. In my opinion, it is a book by Steinbeck worthy of higher acclaim than it has received.
************************
Steinbeck’s books in order of preference :
*Of Mice and Men 5 stars
*The Grapes of Wrath 5 stars
*In Dubious Battle 4 stars
*The Wayward Bus 4 stars
*Travels with Charley: In Search of America 4 stars
*The Moon Is Down 4 stars
*Cannery Row 4 stars
*The Winter of Our Discontent 3 stars
*A Russian Journal 3 stars
*The Pearl 3 stars
*Sweet Thursday 2 stars
*East of Eden 2 stars
*To a God Unknown TBR
*Once There Was a War TBR
*The Red Pony TBR
*The Pastures of Heaven TBR
February 27, 2020
A group of bus company employees and passengers come together at a rest stop and on the bus. Each has a dream for his or her life that is not coinciding with reality. The final bus ride turns into a seething broth of frustration and sexual assault. If any of this occurred today, the bus company would have so many law suits that it would never recover, but this was in the 1940s so the women just straightened their skirts and soldiered on. The author’s character sketches were vivid and insightful, but the book switched points of view too much. It felt like collection of related short stories. 3.5 stars
February 25, 2017
John Steinbeck is one of my favourite writers. The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden - masterpieces all. Even his less “important” novels like Cannery Row and its sequel Sweet Thursday, as well as his nonfiction book, Travels with Charley, where he goes on an RV tour of America with his poodle Charley, are superb.
He’s written some stinkers too though. The Red Pony and The Short Reign of Pippin IV are both tedious and Tortilla Flat is just ghastly. Unfortunately The Wayward Bus is one of the latter.
Set in post-war America, a bus breaks down in a rural Californian pitstop so the passengers hunker down in the cafe for the night. They get into the bus in the morning, it breaks down again, and the novel’s over. Why…
Steinbeck’s writing is still good - as always I could very clearly see everything he described and the characters are well-written - but I wish the novel had a point! I guess it’s about the characters who are all at change moments in their “wayward” lives or something? Maybe the meandering style is meant to be reflective of the theme? Maybe the cast are a microcosm of American society in the midst of a transformative state following the Second World War, on their way to becoming something else? It still doesn’t make the book any less dull to read.
The Wayward Bus is one of Steinbeck’s minor works for a reason: it doesn’t seem to have a point and if it does it doesn’t express it either strongly or memorably. I was very bored for most of the novel which is disappointing as Steinbeck usually produces good stuff. I don’t know who this book would appeal to but I’d say even Steinbeck fans needn’t bother with it.
He’s written some stinkers too though. The Red Pony and The Short Reign of Pippin IV are both tedious and Tortilla Flat is just ghastly. Unfortunately The Wayward Bus is one of the latter.
Set in post-war America, a bus breaks down in a rural Californian pitstop so the passengers hunker down in the cafe for the night. They get into the bus in the morning, it breaks down again, and the novel’s over. Why…
Steinbeck’s writing is still good - as always I could very clearly see everything he described and the characters are well-written - but I wish the novel had a point! I guess it’s about the characters who are all at change moments in their “wayward” lives or something? Maybe the meandering style is meant to be reflective of the theme? Maybe the cast are a microcosm of American society in the midst of a transformative state following the Second World War, on their way to becoming something else? It still doesn’t make the book any less dull to read.
The Wayward Bus is one of Steinbeck’s minor works for a reason: it doesn’t seem to have a point and if it does it doesn’t express it either strongly or memorably. I was very bored for most of the novel which is disappointing as Steinbeck usually produces good stuff. I don’t know who this book would appeal to but I’d say even Steinbeck fans needn’t bother with it.
May 29, 2022
امتیاز واقعی 3/5
افراد مختلفی که قراره با یک اتوبوس همسفر بشن. شخصیتپردازی اشتاینبک مثل همیشه عالی بود 😍
نویسنده محبوبم چنین خوب چرایی؟ ❤️❤️
افراد مختلفی که قراره با یک اتوبوس همسفر بشن. شخصیتپردازی اشتاینبک مثل همیشه عالی بود 😍
نویسنده محبوبم چنین خوب چرایی؟ ❤️❤️
December 20, 2023
„Безпътният автобус“ е забележителна книга! Не самият сюжет е най-важното в нея, а майсторски и правдоподобно изградените герои, които ми направиха изключително силно впечатление. Стайнбек е представил фрагмент от живота на обикновени хора, проницателно и увлекателно описвайки техните противоречиви характери и сложни взаимоотношения...
July 15, 2014
My favorite present was when I was 15 or 16. A Christmas. There were clothes and things. But my brother wrapped two paperback books for me: The Catcher in the Rye and The Grapes of Wrath. Two days later I was an addict.
I was also a completist. Down went the other Salingers quickly. And Steinbeck? Well, he was God. I had read maybe a dozen or more of his books before Travels with Charley and I had my moment of doubt. What kind of man owns a poodle?
And so there was a hiatus, if you can call forty years a 'hiatus'. What would an old favorite be like after all these years?
_____ _____ _____ _____
Unlikeable people are at a crossroads, figuratively in their lives, and literally at Rebel Corners, an American crossroads where you have to be if you want to go somewhere else. It's a 1950's movie, just before color. The players are of a type, but they don't wear well now, oddly more dated than Dickens.
Maybe like Vonnegut, you have to read Steinbeck at a certain age of life.
_____ _____ _____ _____
I'll retell the Pancho Villa story:
"He used to tell one about Pancho Villa. He said a poor woman came to Villa and said 'You have shot my husband and now I and the little ones will starve.' Well, Villa had plenty of money then. He had the presses and he was printing his own. He turned to his treasurer and said, 'Roll out five kilos of twenty-peso bills for this poor woman.' He wasn't even counting it, he had so much. So they did and they tied the bills together with wire and that woman went out. Well, then a sergeant said to Villa, 'There was a mistake, my general. We did not shoot that woman's husband. He got drunk and we put him in jail.' Then Pancho Villa said, 'Go immediately and shoot him. We cannot disappoint that poor woman.'"
_____ _____ _____ _____
A husband and wife are artificially polite. A hired hand is ravaged by pimples and desire. A waitress has Hollywood dreams. A daughter hides a life as other lives are hidden from her. A malcontent. A returning veteran. A woman with a fake name and easy way about her that changes every man aboard. Alice stays behind and goes all Elizabeth Taylor drunk (although Joan Collins plays her in the movie). And her husband Juan, Mexican and Irish, drives the bus, a heathen making bets with a plastic Virgin of Guadalupe, to flee or stay.
_____ _____ _____ _____
One of the passengers, Norma, came to the defense of 'Camille'.
"I hit him," she said. "I hit him because he said you were a tramp."
Camille looked quickly away. She stared across the valley where the last of the sun was disappearing behind the mountains and she rubbed her cheek with her hand. Her eyes were dull. And she forced them to take on life and she forced them to smile and she gave the smile to Norma.
"Look, kid," she said. You'll just have to believe this until you find out for yourself -- everybody's a tramp some time or other. Everybody. And the worst tramps of all are the ones that call it something else."
_____ _____ _____ _____
We get tossed together. We act. We get by, but we're plagued with doubts and dreams. Some know; some never will. Some lie to others; some to ourselves. It's bleak, a black and white film. Memorable. Read it before it turns sepia.
I was also a completist. Down went the other Salingers quickly. And Steinbeck? Well, he was God. I had read maybe a dozen or more of his books before Travels with Charley and I had my moment of doubt. What kind of man owns a poodle?
And so there was a hiatus, if you can call forty years a 'hiatus'. What would an old favorite be like after all these years?
_____ _____ _____ _____
Unlikeable people are at a crossroads, figuratively in their lives, and literally at Rebel Corners, an American crossroads where you have to be if you want to go somewhere else. It's a 1950's movie, just before color. The players are of a type, but they don't wear well now, oddly more dated than Dickens.
Maybe like Vonnegut, you have to read Steinbeck at a certain age of life.
_____ _____ _____ _____
I'll retell the Pancho Villa story:
"He used to tell one about Pancho Villa. He said a poor woman came to Villa and said 'You have shot my husband and now I and the little ones will starve.' Well, Villa had plenty of money then. He had the presses and he was printing his own. He turned to his treasurer and said, 'Roll out five kilos of twenty-peso bills for this poor woman.' He wasn't even counting it, he had so much. So they did and they tied the bills together with wire and that woman went out. Well, then a sergeant said to Villa, 'There was a mistake, my general. We did not shoot that woman's husband. He got drunk and we put him in jail.' Then Pancho Villa said, 'Go immediately and shoot him. We cannot disappoint that poor woman.'"
_____ _____ _____ _____
A husband and wife are artificially polite. A hired hand is ravaged by pimples and desire. A waitress has Hollywood dreams. A daughter hides a life as other lives are hidden from her. A malcontent. A returning veteran. A woman with a fake name and easy way about her that changes every man aboard. Alice stays behind and goes all Elizabeth Taylor drunk (although Joan Collins plays her in the movie). And her husband Juan, Mexican and Irish, drives the bus, a heathen making bets with a plastic Virgin of Guadalupe, to flee or stay.
_____ _____ _____ _____
One of the passengers, Norma, came to the defense of 'Camille'.
"I hit him," she said. "I hit him because he said you were a tramp."
Camille looked quickly away. She stared across the valley where the last of the sun was disappearing behind the mountains and she rubbed her cheek with her hand. Her eyes were dull. And she forced them to take on life and she forced them to smile and she gave the smile to Norma.
"Look, kid," she said. You'll just have to believe this until you find out for yourself -- everybody's a tramp some time or other. Everybody. And the worst tramps of all are the ones that call it something else."
_____ _____ _____ _____
We get tossed together. We act. We get by, but we're plagued with doubts and dreams. Some know; some never will. Some lie to others; some to ourselves. It's bleak, a black and white film. Memorable. Read it before it turns sepia.
April 16, 2017
این رمان در 1947 منتشر شده است . اشتاین بک این رمان را به گوین اختصاص داده است . احتمالا اشاره به همسر دوم خود گویندولین کانگر است . ( آنها کمتر از یکسال بعد از اینکه اتوبوس سرگردان منتشر شد طلاق گرفتند ) .
August 7, 2020
Una corriera stravagante, ricca di personaggi che la prosa di Steinbeck cesellato con la consueta bravura e che, pur tutti differenti tra loro sembrano aver una caratteristica comune. Nel cuore di tutti loro si agitano sogni e aspettative, vite da realizzare che sembrano prospettare scenari migliori rispetto a quelli attuali, desideri di ribellione che giungono quasi a realizzarsi, ma che poi la consuetudine induce, in ultimo, ad abbandonare.
April 5, 2022
“There we were on that muddy road, miles from any place. And even the driver didn’t know the road. Well, just anything could happen. Anything. There wasn’t a house in sight and the rain was starting.”
“The Wayward Bus”, for no good reason, is the most underrated of the major novels of John Steinbeck. So claims critic and editor Gary Scharnhorst in the introduction to the novel. I do agree with Gary that, coming between “The Grapes of Wrath” and “East of Eden”, this novel if often and undeservedly overlooked even by ardent fans of the author like myself, who read most of Steinbeck’s novels before I was eighteen. I believe this one wasn’t even translated in Romanian at the time.
Still, my recommendation is to skip the introduction and come back to it after you read the novel first, if you really want to have every salient point and subtle allegory explained. I prefer to draw my own conclusions, before letting somebody else dictate the way the text should be read. Steinbeck himself complained in personal letters that the novel, despite its instant popularity, was often misunderstood, both by critics and by readers. It’s possible he was a little too subtle for his own good and that the public was not ready for a novel without a plot.
And it isn’t going to take a little time and I don’t care, for my bus is something large in my mind. It is a cosmic bus holding sparks and back firing into the Milky Way and turning the corner of Betelgeuse without a hand signal. And Juan Chicoy the driver is all the gods the father you ever saw driving a six cylinder broken down, battered world through time and space. If I can do it well The Wayward Bus will be a pleasant thing.
One thing I could remark on, without any fear of spoilers, is that Steinbeck is a disciplined writer who starts with a clear idea of where he wants to go, and then works diligently (over two years of rewrites in this case) to get as close as his talent permits to the perfect vehicle for that central idea. And Steinbeck’s talent is undeniable.
>>><<<>>><<<
An old bus nicknamed “Sweetheart” makes a journey of forty-nine miles from a roadside station at Rebel Corners to a small town across the coastal mountain range of California. A premise as ordinary as they come, but in the author’s vision, the bus is an allegory for the whole world heading into the unknown. Each passenger on the bus is representative of the American society at large, a snapshot of the years immediately after the end of World War Two. For each of them, this becomes a dangerous journey of self-discovery, a trial of their worthiness to reach the final destination.
Steinbeck gave us the key to understand the allegory in the epigram, a quotation from the late-fifteenth-century English morality play ‘Everyman’. Other clues are placed in the names of the passengers, in their defining character traits, and even in the scenery by the side of the road:
A few initials had been scratched on the sandstone cliff, but the surface was so soft that they soon became illegible. Only the large, weathering word “Repent” was still clear. The wandering preacher had let himself down with a rope to put up that great word in black paint, and he had gone away rejoicing at how he was spreading God’s word in a sinful world.
Steinbeck was no preacher himself. His views on the Bible are interpretative, not dogmatic. He is trying to re-imagine the message from a modern perspective. Another critic called the novel a modern version of a medieval palimpsest like The Decameron or The Canterbury Tales, as illustrated by multiple stories from people thrown together by Chance or by Fate and searching for salvation/redemption.
What I really like about the way the novel is constructed is the fact that Steinbeck, unlike his interpreter Gary Scharnhorst, is not offering a clear-cut, well-defined path through the story. He does not preach one way to salvation but merely presents portraits of people he considers representative of society at the given time and puts them in situations where their salvation or their failure are not guaranteed. None of the passengers are entirely evil, none are entirely good. But they are definitely alive and convincing for me. I liked a passage from one of the author’s letters, where he wrote that he himself is sometimes surprised by the way his characters have a will of their own and tend to act and speak independently of his plans.
>>><<<>>><<<
His hands were short and wide and strong, with square fingers and nails flattened by work and grooved and twisted from having been hammered and hurt.
Even a wayward bus needs somebody behind the wheel, and “Sweetheart” is carefully repaired and driven by Juan Chicoy, a man of Mexican-Irish ancestry that has been assigned an almost godly role in the economy of the novel. Steinbeck clearly likes this ‘true’ man and the decision to make him the central piece of the morality play was an easy one. There aren’t very many of them in the world, as everyone finds out sooner or later. . Not only has Juan the same initials as our biblical lord, he also sheds his blood for the good of others in the opening chapter:
“Hurt it bad?” Pimples asked.
“No, it’s good luck, I guess. You can’t finish a job without blood. That’s what my old man used to say.”
Juan Chicoy is the owner of the garage/diner/bus in Rebel Corners. His wife Alice loves him dearly and is aware she has caught a good man, but she is troubled by her fiery temper and by jealousy. She takes good care of the dining room, with some help from a young girl named Norma, while Juan has a teenage apprentice in the garage nicknamed Pimples.
His mind and his emotions were like his face, constantly erupting, constantly raw and irritated.
Pimples and Norma are stand-ins for the young generation, people born in poverty during the Great Depression, whose dreams are heavily influenced by Hollywood and by advertising. Pimples dreams of becoming a radar specialist and of saving beautiful damsels in distress. Norma has a secret crush on Clark Gable and is made insecure about her own looks from perusing glamour magazines.
Norma was even more submerged than an iceberg. Only the tiniest part of Norma showed above the surface. For the greatest and best and most beautiful part of Norma lay behind her eyes, sealed and protected.
One thing I can say about these two young people, something that can be extrapolated to every single character in the book, is that Steinbeck is always caring about his creations, is always willing to find a redeeming feature, even if it is obscured at the start of the journey, even if the first impression is often a negative one. This, above all, is the reason the 49 mile bus trip becomes more than a step in geography, it becomes a spiritual journey.
Wherever he went he was not one man but a unit in a corporation, a unit in a club, in a lodge, in a church, in a political party. His thoughts and ideas were never subjected to criticism since he willingly associated only with people like himself. He read a newspaper written by and for his group. The books that came into his house were chosen by a committee which deleted material that might irritate him.
The Pritchards are a family of three that is going on vacation to Mexico. They cover the affluent, bourgeois, traditional section of society. Elliott Pritchard is a bigoted industrialist, full of his own self-worth and casually racist, just like his wife Bernice.
“You speak very good English,” Bernice Pritchard said as though it were a compliment.
The Pritchards are forced to spent the night in the Chicoy diner when the bus has a mechanical problem, but instead of expressing their gratitude, they make demands about their comfort and complain about the service. More attention is paid to the fur coat that they took on vacation not because they were worried about the cold there, but because it represents them.
... to him, as well as to his wife, the coat was the badge of their position. It placed them as successful, conservative, and sound people. You get better treatment everywhere you go if you have a fur coat and nice luggage.
Their daughter is the third avatar of the young generation, this time of the well-educated and well endowed elites, but she is a lot more appealing than her parents. Mildred is a rebel against conventions, and would like to tackle life on her own terms. She is particularly annoyed by her mother’s weaponizing migraines in order to get what she wants in the household.
For a time Mildred had thought them pure sham, and even now, when through reading she knew the pain was real, Mildred still considered the headaches a weapon her mother used with complete cunning, with complete brutality.
Three more passengers get on the bus at Rebel Corners: Ernest Horton is a veteran from the war who now works as a travelling salesman; an angry old man named Van Brunt who seems the epitome of the ‘get off my lawn’ archetype [ Whatever side everybody else is on, Van Brunt is gonna be on the other side. There’s a fellow wouldn’t vote for the second coming of Christ if it was a popular measure. ] and a mysterious woman who calls herself Camille Oaks and who seems to cause trouble wherever she goes.
What she hated most about her gift, or her failing, was the fighting that went on. Men fought each other viciously when she was about. They fought like terriers, and she sometimes wished that women could like her, but they didn’t. And she was intelligent. She knew why, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
What she really wanted was a nice house in a nice town, two children, and a stairway to stand on. She would be nicely dressed and people would be coming to dinner. She’d have a husband, of course, but she couldn’t see him in her picture because the advertising in the women’s magazines from which her dream came never included a man.
In an ideal movie adaptation Camille would be played by Marilyn Monroe, a woman of exceptional sex-appeal who secretly would trade her beauty for a peaceful life. Unlike Marilyn, the fictional Camille is well anchored in reality and capable of taking care of herself and of putting men in their place, even as she is making her living from stripping and dancing at stag parties. Camille has enough strength left over to offer some to the timid Norma.
A couple of walk-in cameos from another driver named Louie as a sex predator and from a Negro sweeper named George that is taken advantage off round up the cast of characters.
>>><<<>>><<<
“I get fed up a little sometimes. I drive that damn bus back and forth and back and forth. Sometime I’d like to take and just head for the hills. I read about a ferry-boat captain in New York who just headed out to sea one day and they never heard from him again. Maybe he sunk and maybe he’s tied up on an island some place. I understand that man.”
Even God is fed up from time to time with the folly of the world, and Juan Chicoy is only a man in the end. He is tempted to abandon each and every one of his charges, starting with his drunk wife Alice and ending with that pain in the behind Van Brunt. Let them extricate themselves from their problems for once! One cannot carry the weight of the world on his shoulders every day without any hint of recognition, let alone gratitude.
While trying to keep away from spoilers, and saying as little as possible about the actual events of the journey, I would like to close my comments with the observation that Steinbeck is not a pessimist. He can see where we took a wrong allegorical turn as a society, but he hopes that we can eventually find our way back
The former soldier who feels rejected by his own country that doesn’t know what to do with him now that he is back from the war, tells a story about his father’s loss of faith in the American Dream, once he was confronted with the venality of those in power:
He found out that the most admired people weren’t honest at all. And he died wondering, a kind of awful wondering, because the two things he believed in didn’t work out – honesty and thrift. It kind of struck me that nobody has put anything in place of those two.
This is my own interpretation [Steinbeck leaves the question unanswered], but partly from this book, and partly from my own fantasies about a better future, I would put in place of honesty and thrift [or beside them, because we don’t need to throw them away] kindness to strangers and taking responsibility for your own actions. Because ultimately everyone is a wayward stranger, fed up with the ways of the world and in need of a higher purpose.
“Look, kid,” she said. “You’ll just have to believe this until you find out for yourself – everybody’s a tramp some time or other. Everybody. And the worst tramps of all are the ones that call it something else.”
>>><<<>>><<<
April 2, 2015
I should put this under poetry. I should put all Steinbeck under poetry.
One of the unfortunate victims of teaching (and especially student teaching) are the books we seek to read outside of scouring the curriculum day-in and day-out. I started this sorry soul about two months ago, and even though my heart swelled each time I picked it up, I was lucky to get a page in between finishing lesson planning at night and passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow. GAH! And so, out of defiance of getting ahead on JC as well as insomnia that is once again rattling my aching brain and soul, I let this book take me until 3 AM when I finally finished it once and for all. Can I get an AMEN?
And up until about where I picked it up last night--about 60 pages from the end--I liked it a whole lot. I was prepared to give it four stars, but I realized when I picked it up again last night that I had hit the story's climax, and everything else came tumbling down in its brilliance and humanity. It's exactly the kind of book I like. It spans the course of one single day; I love that kind of "real" time in a book. And really, it's all about people waiting around for a bus in Steinbeck's good old late 1940s California...that's about it. So ultimately this is a book solely concerned with characterization, and it's obvious that Steinbeck deeply loved every single one. Every character was deeply felt, deeply created; I effortlessly knew them all. And it's all about sex, reminding us how fundamentally hilarious and fundamentally animal a game it really just is. Clark Gable, Mother Mahoney's Home-Baked Pies, whisky, and lipstick. I also realized at the end that Woody Allen got the premise to every one of his movies through this book, which still allows me to enjoy Allen, but it makes me adore Steinbeck, swear my allegiance further.
That's it. My brain's fried. Go read a book for your ol' pal, Lindsay.
One of the unfortunate victims of teaching (and especially student teaching) are the books we seek to read outside of scouring the curriculum day-in and day-out. I started this sorry soul about two months ago, and even though my heart swelled each time I picked it up, I was lucky to get a page in between finishing lesson planning at night and passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow. GAH! And so, out of defiance of getting ahead on JC as well as insomnia that is once again rattling my aching brain and soul, I let this book take me until 3 AM when I finally finished it once and for all. Can I get an AMEN?
And up until about where I picked it up last night--about 60 pages from the end--I liked it a whole lot. I was prepared to give it four stars, but I realized when I picked it up again last night that I had hit the story's climax, and everything else came tumbling down in its brilliance and humanity. It's exactly the kind of book I like. It spans the course of one single day; I love that kind of "real" time in a book. And really, it's all about people waiting around for a bus in Steinbeck's good old late 1940s California...that's about it. So ultimately this is a book solely concerned with characterization, and it's obvious that Steinbeck deeply loved every single one. Every character was deeply felt, deeply created; I effortlessly knew them all. And it's all about sex, reminding us how fundamentally hilarious and fundamentally animal a game it really just is. Clark Gable, Mother Mahoney's Home-Baked Pies, whisky, and lipstick. I also realized at the end that Woody Allen got the premise to every one of his movies through this book, which still allows me to enjoy Allen, but it makes me adore Steinbeck, swear my allegiance further.
That's it. My brain's fried. Go read a book for your ol' pal, Lindsay.
December 9, 2023
It's a bit like Baghdad café, a café lost on the side of a long Californian road. In this café, Juan Chicoy, the owner, and his wife, Alice. Being on top of each other 24/7 inevitably kills their relationship. Alice sometimes throws tantrums, and Juan has big tantrums that scare him. Norma is also a young girl who is just passing through like all those who have preceded her and will surely follow her; Norma secretly fantasizes about Clark Gable and dreams of leaving for Hollywood. And finally, Kit, aka the Spotty, assists Juan in the garage.
Because there is a garage, and inside a bus which that day, no luck, broke down. No luck because a few passengers leaving for San Juan have just disembarked at the café, and we will have to accommodate them in the meantime.
All these little people will live together for 24 hours, first in the café and then in the bus that Juan and the pustular man manage to repair. That's twenty-four hours to portray each of them, down to their most secret thoughts and inner flaws, 24 hours where everyone finds themselves at a breaking point.
In Steinbeck's gaze, there is always a spark of generosity, of benevolence that we find here, even if I saw his portraits more ferocious than usual, and no one comes out unscathed, even if, ultimately, we manage to forgive them for their faults, since they are so human.
It's far from Steinbeck's best novel; I was even a little bored, to be honest, before regaining a taste for it towards the end!
Because there is a garage, and inside a bus which that day, no luck, broke down. No luck because a few passengers leaving for San Juan have just disembarked at the café, and we will have to accommodate them in the meantime.
All these little people will live together for 24 hours, first in the café and then in the bus that Juan and the pustular man manage to repair. That's twenty-four hours to portray each of them, down to their most secret thoughts and inner flaws, 24 hours where everyone finds themselves at a breaking point.
In Steinbeck's gaze, there is always a spark of generosity, of benevolence that we find here, even if I saw his portraits more ferocious than usual, and no one comes out unscathed, even if, ultimately, we manage to forgive them for their faults, since they are so human.
It's far from Steinbeck's best novel; I was even a little bored, to be honest, before regaining a taste for it towards the end!
March 8, 2021
Aunque es una novela poco conocida tiene unos personajes sublimes.
Steinbeck retrata a la perfección a un grupo de personas de lo más variado que viajan en un autobús y de los que poco a poco iremos conociendo sus secretos y miserias.
Aviso que no es políticamente correcto, retrata a una parte de la sociedad de los años posteriores a la II Guerra Mundial.
Steinbeck retrata a la perfección a un grupo de personas de lo más variado que viajan en un autobús y de los que poco a poco iremos conociendo sus secretos y miserias.
Aviso que no es políticamente correcto, retrata a una parte de la sociedad de los años posteriores a la II Guerra Mundial.
January 6, 2016
Brilliant! Reading Steinbeck is like reading a perfect character study. The talent here is that it's a character study of 10 different characters in a novel of only 260 pages. And it's one of those rare occasions where an omniscient third person point of view coupled with an intrusive narrator in anything but annoying; in fact, Steinbeck couldn't have possibly achieved this level of complex characterisation in so little space otherwise. I came across a lot of reviews that say nothing much happens in the novel, if plot is what is being referred to, then that's true; but to claim such an overarching generalisation is ridiculous because every line of dialogue, every thought and every action is representative of this group of characters' emotional turmoils and social anxieties, their needs and dreams, all bubbling up as they are forced to interact together in an otherwise unusual situation. What a lovely read to kickstart 2016!
December 29, 2021
"Se preguntó por qué seguía con ella. Por pereza, nada más, supuso. No quería pasar por la tormenta emocional que supondría dejarla. A su pesar, se preocuparía por ella y era demasiado lío. Necesitaría otra mujer enseguida, y para eso haría falta hablar, discutir y camelar un montón."
Dicen que esta es una de las obras menores de John Steinbeck y la verdad es que no sabría decir porque de Steinbeck he leído poco, y sin embargo a mí me ha hecho disfrutar mucho esta novela, ágil y con un perfil de personajes que reconozco como redondo. John Steinbeck construye toda la novela en torno a una docena de personajes, atrapados primero en Rebel Corners una especie de gasolinera al borde una carretera, esperando la salida del autobús, y más tarde atrapados en el autobús cuando se queda atascado en un camino perdido. Un grupo de personas que se van conociendo y poco a poco cuando se van encontrando en una situación incómoda y límite, van saliendo muchos de sus miedos e insatisfacciones personales.
Como digo, Steinbeck hace un trabajo magnífico a la hora de describirnos estos personajes, y en ellos se ve retratada de alguna forma lo que es la esencia de los Estados Unidos mas desconocida y sus habitantes. Rebel Corners está situado en una especie de limbo donde no hay nada, en una carretera entre San Francisco y Los Angeles, un lugar de paso, así que todo el que aparece por allí está camino de alguna parte revelando una parte de la América más extraviada, perdida o a la continua búsqueda de algo, porque cada uno de los personajes de esta historia están buscando algo que no tienen en sus vidas, la mayoria insatisfactorias. Es una novela donde no hay un argumento definido a excepción del objetivo de que el autobús se ponga en marcha, y sin embargo, la novela fluye con cada una de las historias y con la humanidad que despliega Steinbeck a la hora de describir a sus personajes. Y me llama la atención la forma en que Steinbeck aborda ciertos temas en torno al sexo teniendo en cuenta la época: no se corta un pelo a la hora de abordar las tensiones sexuales, y los anhelos más viscerales, porque es una novela donde la tensión sexual casi se puede tocar.
John Steinbeck tiene un estilo fluido, transparente y va conduciendo al lector a lo largo de una historia que le va atrapando, e incluso hoy en día, después de décadas, siguen vigentes muchos de sus temas: la soledad, la búsqueda de tu propia identidad, la insatisfacción y el vacio existencial de encontrarte atrapado en una vida que no quieres. A pesar de una falta de acción aparente, hay una serie de túneles interiores en torno a los personajes que le dan vida a la novela. Una novela estupenda de un maestro que recomiendo encarecidamente. En 1957 se adaptó al cine dirigida por Victor Vicas, una adaptación interesante y bastante fiel al material original. La traducción es de Federico y Antón Corriente.
"Había probado a vestirse de manera más austera , pero no le había servido de mucho. No había forma de conservar un empleo normal. Aprendió a escribir a máquina, pero en las oficinas se armaba el revuelo cuando la contrataban. Ahora tenía un chollete.Se desnudaba en despedidas de solteros. Trabajaba en una agencia con contrato. No entendía las despedidas de solteros ni que satisfacción sacaban de ellas los hombres, pero ahí estaban, ganaba cincuenta dólares por quitarse la ropa, y eso era mejor que luchar para que no te la arrancaran en la oficina. Incluso había leido un poco sobre la ninfomania, lo suficiente, en cualquier caso, para saber que ella no la padecía. Casi deseaba que fuera al contrario. "
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2021...
Dicen que esta es una de las obras menores de John Steinbeck y la verdad es que no sabría decir porque de Steinbeck he leído poco, y sin embargo a mí me ha hecho disfrutar mucho esta novela, ágil y con un perfil de personajes que reconozco como redondo. John Steinbeck construye toda la novela en torno a una docena de personajes, atrapados primero en Rebel Corners una especie de gasolinera al borde una carretera, esperando la salida del autobús, y más tarde atrapados en el autobús cuando se queda atascado en un camino perdido. Un grupo de personas que se van conociendo y poco a poco cuando se van encontrando en una situación incómoda y límite, van saliendo muchos de sus miedos e insatisfacciones personales.
Como digo, Steinbeck hace un trabajo magnífico a la hora de describirnos estos personajes, y en ellos se ve retratada de alguna forma lo que es la esencia de los Estados Unidos mas desconocida y sus habitantes. Rebel Corners está situado en una especie de limbo donde no hay nada, en una carretera entre San Francisco y Los Angeles, un lugar de paso, así que todo el que aparece por allí está camino de alguna parte revelando una parte de la América más extraviada, perdida o a la continua búsqueda de algo, porque cada uno de los personajes de esta historia están buscando algo que no tienen en sus vidas, la mayoria insatisfactorias. Es una novela donde no hay un argumento definido a excepción del objetivo de que el autobús se ponga en marcha, y sin embargo, la novela fluye con cada una de las historias y con la humanidad que despliega Steinbeck a la hora de describir a sus personajes. Y me llama la atención la forma en que Steinbeck aborda ciertos temas en torno al sexo teniendo en cuenta la época: no se corta un pelo a la hora de abordar las tensiones sexuales, y los anhelos más viscerales, porque es una novela donde la tensión sexual casi se puede tocar.
John Steinbeck tiene un estilo fluido, transparente y va conduciendo al lector a lo largo de una historia que le va atrapando, e incluso hoy en día, después de décadas, siguen vigentes muchos de sus temas: la soledad, la búsqueda de tu propia identidad, la insatisfacción y el vacio existencial de encontrarte atrapado en una vida que no quieres. A pesar de una falta de acción aparente, hay una serie de túneles interiores en torno a los personajes que le dan vida a la novela. Una novela estupenda de un maestro que recomiendo encarecidamente. En 1957 se adaptó al cine dirigida por Victor Vicas, una adaptación interesante y bastante fiel al material original. La traducción es de Federico y Antón Corriente.
"Había probado a vestirse de manera más austera , pero no le había servido de mucho. No había forma de conservar un empleo normal. Aprendió a escribir a máquina, pero en las oficinas se armaba el revuelo cuando la contrataban. Ahora tenía un chollete.Se desnudaba en despedidas de solteros. Trabajaba en una agencia con contrato. No entendía las despedidas de solteros ni que satisfacción sacaban de ellas los hombres, pero ahí estaban, ganaba cincuenta dólares por quitarse la ropa, y eso era mejor que luchar para que no te la arrancaran en la oficina. Incluso había leido un poco sobre la ninfomania, lo suficiente, en cualquier caso, para saber que ella no la padecía. Casi deseaba que fuera al contrario. "
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2021...
December 5, 2014
Отдавна не бях преживявала удоволствието на класическата американска литература. Дори този роман малко ме изненада. Нито беше като романите с къртовския земеделски труд („Гроздовете на гнева” или „Към един незнаен бог”), нито като онези „луди градски” романи („Улица Консервна”, „Тортила Флет”). Може би по-скоро представлява галерия от образи; ако трябва да сравнявам; в „Небесните пасбища” имаше толкова разнообразни и привидно несвързани помежду си герои.
Сякаш книгата наистина беше като изложба на типажи, както и на онази позната югозападна част от Америка след Втората световна война. Мисля, че обикновено трудно си представям описани лица и места в книгите. Но при Стайнбек успявам много добре да видя и хората, и природата. В тази книга той отделя доста време на описването на всеки герой, а това не ми омръзва; през няколко глави започва с описание на съответното място и се спирам търпеливо, изчитам го и си го представям безпроблемно.
В целия роман действието се развива (ако изобщо се развива) в рамките на 2-3 дни, но нито за секунда не ми беше скучно и „бездействено”. Всичко беше много живо и реалистично.
Гледах много да не разсъждавам, а само да разглеждам образите, но ми направи впечатление усещането за самота при всички... От една страна жените, които в тези времена е трябвало да полагат доста усилия, за да не са само стока, плът, придатък... От друга страна мъжете, които са били длъжни да поддържат образа на силни, непоклатими, надпреварващи се същества...
Хем типични образи, хем пак интересни: американският предприемач, вживял се изцяло в ролята си и опитващ се да надрасне средната класа; типичната жена домакиня, наглед слаба и подчинена, но невидимо контролираща семейството и симулираща удовлетворение от живота; надигащото се желание за различност при дъщерята в едно такова „хладно” семейство; младеж „без гръб” на прага на живота; девойка „без гръб” на прага на живота; красавица, вече избрала един от обичайните начини за оцеляване и... - ех, мексиканец да стои „вързан” (пък дори и да е полумексиканец-полуирландец като Хуан)... Сякаш само горката лелка Алис остана позабравена – но и на нея не й е лесно ;) ...
Общото при всички - неудовлетворение и търсене. Много добре, че не беше дадено развитието след пътуването, за да се усети именно този момент на вътрешна обърканост и несигурност.
Самата дума и на български (безпътният), и на английски (wayward) усетих като точно отражение на състоянието на героите в този период от живота им.
Може романът да няма претенциите да се нарежда до грандиозните „На изток от рая”, „Гроздовете на гнева”, дори и до малката „За мишките и хората”, на моменти да звучи като сбор от психологически портрети, но това според мен е един обективен филм с чудесни кадри от Америка от миналия век без никакво захаросване на образи и съдби.
Сякаш книгата наистина беше като изложба на типажи, както и на онази позната югозападна част от Америка след Втората световна война. Мисля, че обикновено трудно си представям описани лица и места в книгите. Но при Стайнбек успявам много добре да видя и хората, и природата. В тази книга той отделя доста време на описването на всеки герой, а това не ми омръзва; през няколко глави започва с описание на съответното място и се спирам търпеливо, изчитам го и си го представям безпроблемно.
В целия роман действието се развива (ако изобщо се развива) в рамките на 2-3 дни, но нито за секунда не ми беше скучно и „бездействено”. Всичко беше много живо и реалистично.
Гледах много да не разсъждавам, а само да разглеждам образите, но ми направи впечатление усещането за самота при всички... От една страна жените, които в тези времена е трябвало да полагат доста усилия, за да не са само стока, плът, придатък... От друга страна мъжете, които са били длъжни да поддържат образа на силни, непоклатими, надпреварващи се същества...
Хем типични образи, хем пак интересни: американският предприемач, вживял се изцяло в ролята си и опитващ се да надрасне средната класа; типичната жена домакиня, наглед слаба и подчинена, но невидимо контролираща семейството и симулираща удовлетворение от живота; надигащото се желание за различност при дъщерята в едно такова „хладно” семейство; младеж „без гръб” на прага на живота; девойка „без гръб” на прага на живота; красавица, вече избрала един от обичайните начини за оцеляване и... - ех, мексиканец да стои „вързан” (пък дори и да е полумексиканец-полуирландец като Хуан)... Сякаш само горката лелка Алис остана позабравена – но и на нея не й е лесно ;) ...
Общото при всички - неудовлетворение и търсене. Много добре, че не беше дадено развитието след пътуването, за да се усети именно този момент на вътрешна обърканост и несигурност.
Самата дума и на български (безпътният), и на английски (wayward) усетих като точно отражение на състоянието на героите в този период от живота им.
Може романът да няма претенциите да се нарежда до грандиозните „На изток от рая”, „Гроздовете на гнева”, дори и до малката „За мишките и хората”, на моменти да звучи като сбор от психологически портрети, но това според мен е един обективен филм с чудесни кадри от Америка от миналия век без никакво захаросване на образи и съдби.
November 24, 2013
It's fair to say that John Steinbeck did not write the same book twice, even if he re-explored some of the same themes and used similar (and often archetypal) characters. This novel was published in 1947 and was Steinbeck's second novel since the 1938 publication of The Grapes of Wrath.* The success of that novel made a rod for Steinbeck's back, as throughout of his life (and beyond) readers and critics compared everything he wrote to it.
Well, just to get it out of the way, this is not another "Grapes of Wrath". It's a small novel, with the action compressed into a single day. The characters, individuals representing (up to a point) certain stock types, form a disaparate group which sets out on a bus journey. On the bus are Juan Chicoy - his initials are no coincidence - who is an Irish-Mexican bus driver and service station owner. On the bus with him are his over-sexed teenage mechanic, a self-absorbed businessman, the businessman's manipulative wife and dissatisfied daughter, a war veteran who works as a novelty salesman, a curmudgeonly elderly man whose life work is to nay-say, a beautiful woman who wants a different kind of life to the one she's been leading and the Chicoys' former lunchroom waitress, a young woman obsessed with Hollywood in general and Clark Gable in particular.
The narrative is in the third person, with shifting points of view and an uncomplicated linear progression. The point of the work is not so much the plot - because not a lot happens - but more the characters' internal conflicts and Steinbeck's critique of post WWII American society. Steinbeck sets the work in a fictionalised Salinas valley and starts it with a quote from Everyman, the 15th century English morality play. This is a clue to the fact that the characters represent more than themselves and are to an extent allegorical figures. That they go on a journey together led by a character with the initials JC deepens the allegory, even if the behaviour of some of the characters (Juan Chicoy included) doesn't lend itself to easy interpretation in an Everyman context.
The novel has features which I identify with Steinbeck's writing, including powerful, crisp prose and a strong sense of place. I enjoyed reading it, although it's probably one for Steinbeck completists rather than for readers who have not read Steinbeck before. 3.5 stars.
*That's if Cannery Row is counted as a novel. Steinbeck bibiliographies tend to refer to it as one, although in many ways the work is more a series of linked vignettes or a short story cycle.
July 5, 2016
Primo approccio con Steinbeck, romanzo corale ricchissimo di descrizioni minuziose: personaggi perfettamente delineati, ambientazioni rese fino al più piccolo dettaglio rendono il microcosmo della corriera una piacevole e divertente lettura.
November 29, 2018
Quando Norma poteva ancora diventare Marilyn
***1/2
Uno Steinbeck e una storia inconsueti, se si tralascia "La Santa rossa" che però risale agli esordi dell'autore, apparentemente meno impegnata, non ci sono questa volta i braccianti e le lotte sindacali a fare da protagonisti, sostenuta da una insolita vena brillante.
Un viaggio in corriera da una località all'altra della California - Los Angeles, il Messico e l'immancabile Valle del Salinas fanno da quinta abituale a tutti i romanzi di Steinbeck - è il pretesto per mettere a confronto un gruppo eterogeneo di viaggiatori, i loro sogni e le aspettative di vita di ciascuno di loro.
La corriera è sgangherata, il romanzo inizia proprio dalla sosta forzata di un primo gruppo di viaggiatori, effettuata a "La svolta dei ribelli", il bar sosta di Juan Chicoy e sua moglie Alice, e tutto sembra ostacolare la partenza: prima ancora di partire "Tesoro" - perché anche la corriera è un personaggio "vivo"! - ha bisogno di essere riparata e costringe Juan e Alice ad ospitare nei propri letti un primo gruppo di viaggiatori, ai quali se ne aggiungeranno altri al momento della partenza che inizierà, poi, sotto la minaccia di un nubifragio che flagella la regione, di un ponte che rischia di crollare e di una strada che non viene più battuta dai tempi delle carovane.
La storia è tutta qua perché, come dicevo, a Steinbeck in fondo serve solo per realizzare il suo abituale studio biologico, più che sociologico, del genere umano ed è bellissimo lasciarsi trasportare nei recessi mentali di ciascuno di loro e scoprire che dietro ogni atteggiamento c'è sempre un pensiero inespresso o un sogno che attende di essere realizzato.
Così il carico della corriera stravagante non è solo quello di questi altrettanto stravaganti passeggeri, o le torte che Juan trasporta abitualmente ad ogni corsa, ma anche e soprattutto i pensieri che ognuno custodisce dentro di sé e si trascina dietro, più pesanti di una valigia, più violenti di un temporale.
Ognuno di loro meriterebbe di essere descritto e raccontato, ma perché farlo quando l'ha già fatto Steinbeck?
Mi limiterò quindi a regalare a Norma, la cameriera della "svolta" che si licenzia, afferra la sua valigia e parte insieme agli altri, il suo momento di notorietà, il suo primo ruolo da prima attrice: Norma che ha lo stesso nome di una ragazza destinata a diventare una delle attrici più amate di Hollywood, Norma (nel film interpretata da Jane Mansfield, nella foto con Joan Collins, anche lei nel cast) che sogna di incontrare Clark Gable, Norma che può sopportare ogni cosa tranne che si vada a frugare tra i suoi sogni.
Sullo sfondo, gli Stati Uniti di Steinbeck, la California in odor di Messico ed una nazione dove a tutti era ancora consentito sognare di cambiare vita e diventare protagonisti.
Peccato, come al solito, per la traduzione traduzione datatissima: la "birra alla chiavetta" penso che possa sintetizzare tutto.
***1/2
Uno Steinbeck e una storia inconsueti, se si tralascia "La Santa rossa" che però risale agli esordi dell'autore, apparentemente meno impegnata, non ci sono questa volta i braccianti e le lotte sindacali a fare da protagonisti, sostenuta da una insolita vena brillante.
Un viaggio in corriera da una località all'altra della California - Los Angeles, il Messico e l'immancabile Valle del Salinas fanno da quinta abituale a tutti i romanzi di Steinbeck - è il pretesto per mettere a confronto un gruppo eterogeneo di viaggiatori, i loro sogni e le aspettative di vita di ciascuno di loro.
La corriera è sgangherata, il romanzo inizia proprio dalla sosta forzata di un primo gruppo di viaggiatori, effettuata a "La svolta dei ribelli", il bar sosta di Juan Chicoy e sua moglie Alice, e tutto sembra ostacolare la partenza: prima ancora di partire "Tesoro" - perché anche la corriera è un personaggio "vivo"! - ha bisogno di essere riparata e costringe Juan e Alice ad ospitare nei propri letti un primo gruppo di viaggiatori, ai quali se ne aggiungeranno altri al momento della partenza che inizierà, poi, sotto la minaccia di un nubifragio che flagella la regione, di un ponte che rischia di crollare e di una strada che non viene più battuta dai tempi delle carovane.
La storia è tutta qua perché, come dicevo, a Steinbeck in fondo serve solo per realizzare il suo abituale studio biologico, più che sociologico, del genere umano ed è bellissimo lasciarsi trasportare nei recessi mentali di ciascuno di loro e scoprire che dietro ogni atteggiamento c'è sempre un pensiero inespresso o un sogno che attende di essere realizzato.
Così il carico della corriera stravagante non è solo quello di questi altrettanto stravaganti passeggeri, o le torte che Juan trasporta abitualmente ad ogni corsa, ma anche e soprattutto i pensieri che ognuno custodisce dentro di sé e si trascina dietro, più pesanti di una valigia, più violenti di un temporale.
Ognuno di loro meriterebbe di essere descritto e raccontato, ma perché farlo quando l'ha già fatto Steinbeck?
Mi limiterò quindi a regalare a Norma, la cameriera della "svolta" che si licenzia, afferra la sua valigia e parte insieme agli altri, il suo momento di notorietà, il suo primo ruolo da prima attrice: Norma che ha lo stesso nome di una ragazza destinata a diventare una delle attrici più amate di Hollywood, Norma (nel film interpretata da Jane Mansfield, nella foto con Joan Collins, anche lei nel cast) che sogna di incontrare Clark Gable, Norma che può sopportare ogni cosa tranne che si vada a frugare tra i suoi sogni.
Sullo sfondo, gli Stati Uniti di Steinbeck, la California in odor di Messico ed una nazione dove a tutti era ancora consentito sognare di cambiare vita e diventare protagonisti.
Peccato, come al solito, per la traduzione traduzione datatissima: la "birra alla chiavetta" penso che possa sintetizzare tutto.
October 9, 2023
Deși acțiunea acestui roman destul de straniu este ca și inexistentă, totuși există argumente în favoarea lecturii sale. Primul și cel mai important dintre acestea are legătură cu modul în care își construiește Steinbeck personajele; mai exact spus, le lasă acestora libertatea de a gândi și de a se exprima, dar și de a se face singure de râs, de a cădea în ridicol și de a reuși să meargă mai departe, în ciuda piedicilor pe care ei singuri sau ele singure și le pun. Nu este puțin lucru, această abilitate a scriitorului american de a jongla cu caractere foarte diferite și de a le obliga să se pună în lumina reflectoarelor cititorilor este cu adevărat extraordinară.
Pe de altă parte, Autobuzul rătăcitor nu este o carte oarecare, ci una care îndeamnă la reflecție asupra condiției umane: suntem oameni, prin urmare avem o capacitate de-a dreptul remarcabilă de a-i minți pe ceilalți, dar mai ales de a ne minți pe noi înșine. Acesta pare să fie unul dintre mesajele principale ale romanului și, în ciuda faptului că nu există niciun personaj de care să ne atașăm excesiv - nici de cuplul bizar Alice și Juan Chicoy, șoferul autobuzului care merge spre nicăieri și nici de pasagerii aceluiași autobuz: familia Pritchard, Bernice și Elliott, împreună cu fiica lor, Mildred, între care s-a căscat un abis, cei trei fiind o familie doar cu numele, Ernest Horton, un inventator ce este și comis-voiajor în același timp, femeia fatală ce se prezintă cu numele Camille Oaks, deși nu acesta este numele său real, pe care nici măcar autorul nu pare să-l cunoască, Norma, fosta chelneriță din localul familiei Chicoy, obsedată de Clark Gable, ce tocmai și-a dat demisia și pare să fie în căutarea unei noi obsesii și Van Brunt, un bătrân ce își ascunde frica de moarte în spatele unor izbucniri pline de agresivitate - totuși, fiecare dintre ei are ceva memorabil, astfel încât să nu dispară cu ușurință din memoria supraîncărcată a cititorului.
În concluzie, deși nu este cea mai bună carte a lui Steinbeck, totuși merită o șansă. Sunt convins că Autobuzul rătăcitor va fi apreciat de marea majoritate a admiratorilor lui Steinbeck și nu numai. Lectură plăcută!
Pe de altă parte, Autobuzul rătăcitor nu este o carte oarecare, ci una care îndeamnă la reflecție asupra condiției umane: suntem oameni, prin urmare avem o capacitate de-a dreptul remarcabilă de a-i minți pe ceilalți, dar mai ales de a ne minți pe noi înșine. Acesta pare să fie unul dintre mesajele principale ale romanului și, în ciuda faptului că nu există niciun personaj de care să ne atașăm excesiv - nici de cuplul bizar Alice și Juan Chicoy, șoferul autobuzului care merge spre nicăieri și nici de pasagerii aceluiași autobuz: familia Pritchard, Bernice și Elliott, împreună cu fiica lor, Mildred, între care s-a căscat un abis, cei trei fiind o familie doar cu numele, Ernest Horton, un inventator ce este și comis-voiajor în același timp, femeia fatală ce se prezintă cu numele Camille Oaks, deși nu acesta este numele său real, pe care nici măcar autorul nu pare să-l cunoască, Norma, fosta chelneriță din localul familiei Chicoy, obsedată de Clark Gable, ce tocmai și-a dat demisia și pare să fie în căutarea unei noi obsesii și Van Brunt, un bătrân ce își ascunde frica de moarte în spatele unor izbucniri pline de agresivitate - totuși, fiecare dintre ei are ceva memorabil, astfel încât să nu dispară cu ușurință din memoria supraîncărcată a cititorului.
În concluzie, deși nu este cea mai bună carte a lui Steinbeck, totuși merită o șansă. Sunt convins că Autobuzul rătăcitor va fi apreciat de marea majoritate a admiratorilor lui Steinbeck și nu numai. Lectură plăcută!
August 17, 2018
I've probably said it before, but John Steinbeck was not the writer most of us thought he was. By that I mean that many of us think of Steinbeck rather narrowly. Even I, having read almost everything he has written, tend to think of Steinbeck as a writer of realist fiction of downtrodden farmers and paisanos. But from To a God Unknown to Burning Bright, Steinbeck's style has never been quite so easy to nail down.
The Wayward Bus is one of the novels that defies our perception of Steinbeck. This is most evident in the way the story is told, a continually roving character study. The narrative jumps from character to character as they prepare, then embark on a bus journey during a potentially dangerous rainstorm. Steinbeck rarely spends as much as two pages on any particular character before he's moving down the line, giving the perspective of the next character, then the next. Never do I recall in a work of Steinbeck any such character roulette. And it works magnificently for this book with its strangers-on-a-journey motif.
And these are great characters with so much potential. Characters who act contrary to their beliefs. Characters who put on airs. Characters who are so realistic because each one tries to convey their insignificance while unconsciously acting on the knowledge that they are the center of the universe.
The Wayward Bus was well on its way to being one of my all-time favorite Steinbeck reads, but toward the end, the book itself modeled the journey: it lost traction and went off the road. The problem is that the end is rushed. The reader spends so much time getting to know these characters and all their quirks, that once the characters face their greatest challenge, it's time for the story to conclude. The conflict you anticipate for a couple hundred pages fizzles. Also, I was personally disappointed that the story never returned to Alice, the only significant character who is not a passenger on the bus. Overall, I thought the resolution was poor.
Unfortunately, The Wayward Bus is sort of forgettable. So much time is spent with each character's thoughts that little action occurs. Normally, I like stories like this when there is a pay-off, but the conclusion is flat. Still, I liked The Wayward Bus if for no reason other than the build-up. Steinbeck was on to something with this style, but he might have lost interest in the project before he finished, or maybe he was just unable to translate his idea for the conclusion to the page. Whatever the reason, The Wayward Bus is every bit a Steinbeck tale, but parallel to none other.
The Wayward Bus is one of the novels that defies our perception of Steinbeck. This is most evident in the way the story is told, a continually roving character study. The narrative jumps from character to character as they prepare, then embark on a bus journey during a potentially dangerous rainstorm. Steinbeck rarely spends as much as two pages on any particular character before he's moving down the line, giving the perspective of the next character, then the next. Never do I recall in a work of Steinbeck any such character roulette. And it works magnificently for this book with its strangers-on-a-journey motif.
And these are great characters with so much potential. Characters who act contrary to their beliefs. Characters who put on airs. Characters who are so realistic because each one tries to convey their insignificance while unconsciously acting on the knowledge that they are the center of the universe.
The Wayward Bus was well on its way to being one of my all-time favorite Steinbeck reads, but toward the end, the book itself modeled the journey: it lost traction and went off the road. The problem is that the end is rushed. The reader spends so much time getting to know these characters and all their quirks, that once the characters face their greatest challenge, it's time for the story to conclude. The conflict you anticipate for a couple hundred pages fizzles. Also, I was personally disappointed that the story never returned to Alice, the only significant character who is not a passenger on the bus. Overall, I thought the resolution was poor.
Unfortunately, The Wayward Bus is sort of forgettable. So much time is spent with each character's thoughts that little action occurs. Normally, I like stories like this when there is a pay-off, but the conclusion is flat. Still, I liked The Wayward Bus if for no reason other than the build-up. Steinbeck was on to something with this style, but he might have lost interest in the project before he finished, or maybe he was just unable to translate his idea for the conclusion to the page. Whatever the reason, The Wayward Bus is every bit a Steinbeck tale, but parallel to none other.
December 15, 2021
A great story. A busload of people are forced to stay in a cafe overnight. They are a disparate group. A beautiful stripper, naive waitress and Pimples an apprentice mechanic, the bus driver Juan and his alcoholic wife, a grumpy old man, ex soldier who sells novelty amusements and a wealthy couple with their daughter.
All are facing a transition or cross roads in their life. Over a day they travel on the bus and events happen to change their perceptions and lives. The ending is anti climatic but Steinbeck captures people’s dreams and aspirations in his prose as well as the description of the California landscape b
All are facing a transition or cross roads in their life. Over a day they travel on the bus and events happen to change their perceptions and lives. The ending is anti climatic but Steinbeck captures people’s dreams and aspirations in his prose as well as the description of the California landscape b
November 23, 2021
DNFed after 60 pages.
Never-ending descriptions of everything and nothing. Wooden, tedious dialogue. After 60 pages, nothing's happened. If other reviews are something to go by, nothing DOES happen for the rest of the novel. And to take the (coconut) cake with a dying fly in it: there's an unfortunate youngster character called Pimples. Yep, that'd probably be "pizza face" in today's vernacular. How disgusting. 🤢
DNFed because too many mildly distasteful images and references piled up, as well as simply being bored silly by the (non) story. Probably something only for fans.
Never-ending descriptions of everything and nothing. Wooden, tedious dialogue. After 60 pages, nothing's happened. If other reviews are something to go by, nothing DOES happen for the rest of the novel. And to take the (coconut) cake with a dying fly in it: there's an unfortunate youngster character called Pimples. Yep, that'd probably be "pizza face" in today's vernacular. How disgusting. 🤢
DNFed because too many mildly distasteful images and references piled up, as well as simply being bored silly by the (non) story. Probably something only for fans.
July 9, 2015
Absolutely loved this book!
It's been a while since I read anything by John Steinbeck.
I had forgotten just how brilliant a writer he was.
His descriptions of his characters physically and psychologically
is just incredible.
And his descriptions of nature...just stopped me in my tracks to
admire single sentences!
Just great!
It's been a while since I read anything by John Steinbeck.
I had forgotten just how brilliant a writer he was.
His descriptions of his characters physically and psychologically
is just incredible.
And his descriptions of nature...just stopped me in my tracks to
admire single sentences!
Just great!
May 10, 2017
John Steinbeck had written the screenplay for Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) which was about a bunch of survivors thrown together in a boat after their ship is attacked during the second world war. Three years later, Steinbeck published The Wayward Bus which had a similar story. The Wayward Bus is about a bunch of people thrown together - at a cafe and theirjourney together in a bus.
A businessman and his family which includes his repressed wife and a teenage daughter struggling with her sexual awakening. The bus driver Juan (half Irish and half Mexican) and his alcoholic wife Alice who runs the cafe. Norma and Kit, two confused youngsters who work at the cafe. Camille, a voluptuous and world weary femme fatale. Ernest, a traveling salesman. These are the book's main characters who are thrown together. There are a couple of Hindus with turbans and they are described as holding each others hands at the beginning of the bus journey. But they make no further appearance in the book after that initial description.
All the men are attracted to Camille, who has a hard time staving off their advances. The men struggle with their intense sexual fantasies involving Camille while barely being able to maintain their public personas. The women are no better. They struggle with their silly dreams and desires and repressions. The characterizations are quite detailed for a 200 page novel.
But the ending sort of ruined the book for me. It was way too abrupt and the half hearted resolutions of the conflicts indicated to me that Steinbeck might have finished the book off in a hurry.
I gave it 4 stars for the depiction of small town life centered around the cafe and the bus. Steinbeck's vivid and atmospheric descriptions of the American landscapes and the weather foreground the vagaries of nature and are juxtaposed with the drama that is being played out inside the bus. The Wayward Bus is an entertaining and erotic little novel filled with animalistic characters.
A businessman and his family which includes his repressed wife and a teenage daughter struggling with her sexual awakening. The bus driver Juan (half Irish and half Mexican) and his alcoholic wife Alice who runs the cafe. Norma and Kit, two confused youngsters who work at the cafe. Camille, a voluptuous and world weary femme fatale. Ernest, a traveling salesman. These are the book's main characters who are thrown together. There are a couple of Hindus with turbans and they are described as holding each others hands at the beginning of the bus journey. But they make no further appearance in the book after that initial description.
All the men are attracted to Camille, who has a hard time staving off their advances. The men struggle with their intense sexual fantasies involving Camille while barely being able to maintain their public personas. The women are no better. They struggle with their silly dreams and desires and repressions. The characterizations are quite detailed for a 200 page novel.
But the ending sort of ruined the book for me. It was way too abrupt and the half hearted resolutions of the conflicts indicated to me that Steinbeck might have finished the book off in a hurry.
I gave it 4 stars for the depiction of small town life centered around the cafe and the bus. Steinbeck's vivid and atmospheric descriptions of the American landscapes and the weather foreground the vagaries of nature and are juxtaposed with the drama that is being played out inside the bus. The Wayward Bus is an entertaining and erotic little novel filled with animalistic characters.
April 14, 2018
Uno Steinbenck diverso da "solito", quello presente nella Corriera Stravagante, pronto a toccare temi più "leggeri" rispetto a quelli presenti in altri romanzi. La storia fluisce libera e semplice una pagina dopo l'altra senza mai toccare momenti di intensa emozione ed è forse questo che mi ha portato a malincuore a dare due stelle. La prosa invece è quella tipica dell'autore in cui ritrovarsi ed immergersi fino all'ultima pagina.
December 3, 2023
Стайнбек е изключителен познавач на човешката душевност и вътрешен свят, майстор в създаването на плътни и характерни персонажи, които толкова умело са описани, че сякаш оживяват сред страниците. Този роман ни среща с едни неудовлетворени хора, всеки опитващ се да се справи със своята си самота, да намери мястото си в живота, копнеещ да се почувства видян и оценен, нуждаещ се от близост и обич. Хора търсещи своята голяма промяна, но въпреки всичко не успяващи да я постигнат...
И все пак, въпреки гения на писането му, което винаги ми носи голямо удоволствие, някак самата история, в която липсва реален сюжет, ми бе далечна и този път не успя да ме развълнува.
Цитати:
„Тя го обичаше. Наистина го обичаше. И той го знаеше. А тъй не можеш да оставиш човека. То е нещо като постройка, има си архитектура — не можеш да го изоставиш, без да откъсне�� парче от себе си.“
"За по-нататък не искаше да мисли. Мислиш ли прекалено, разваляш си късмета."
„Никога ли няма да бъда щастлив? Нищо ли не може да се направи?“ Реши да си спомни старите времена, когато му се струваше, че е щастлив, когато бе изпитвал чиста радост, и в ума му нахлуха откъслечни сцени. Беше рано-рано една сутрин, въздухът прохладен, слънцето тъкмо изгряваше зад планините, а по калния път подскачаха малки сиви птички. Нямаше особена причина за радост, но беше радостен."
И все пак, въпреки гения на писането му, което винаги ми носи голямо удоволствие, някак самата история, в която липсва реален сюжет, ми бе далечна и този път не успя да ме развълнува.
Цитати:
„Тя го обичаше. Наистина го обичаше. И той го знаеше. А тъй не можеш да оставиш човека. То е нещо като постройка, има си архитектура — не можеш да го изоставиш, без да откъсне�� парче от себе си.“
"За по-нататък не искаше да мисли. Мислиш ли прекалено, разваляш си късмета."
„Никога ли няма да бъда щастлив? Нищо ли не може да се направи?“ Реши да си спомни старите времена, когато му се струваше, че е щастлив, когато бе изпитвал чиста радост, и в ума му нахлуха откъслечни сцени. Беше рано-рано една сутрин, въздухът прохладен, слънцето тъкмо изгряваше зад планините, а по калния път подскачаха малки сиви птички. Нямаше особена причина за радост, но беше радостен."
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