The Long Valley

by John Steinbeck

The Long Valley <> Paperback <> JohnSteinbeck <> PenguinBooks

Paperback

Published August 31, 1995

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of stories by Nobel Prize Winner John Steinbeck. Two of the stories are O Henry Prize Winners. The stories are set for the most part in the Monterey Salinas area of California. Steinbeck provides wonderful insights into the hearts of men and women who appear in his stories. Reading these now in 2025, the stories evoke the 1920’s in California. Steinbeck’s writing with carefully chosen details bring out the beauty of the landscape.

Stories like Johnny Bear and The Harness are thought provoking and offer lots to think about or discuss. The Red Pony is a very sad story. I hate reading about animals dying. Steinbeck is a master and some younger readers will complain about his use of “antiquated” vocabulary and have difficulty paying attention to details that form the action in the story.

[jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long Valley is a short story collection which also contains a couple of novellas— I adored this. I’ve read some John Steinbeck, but not as much as I would like to and much of it that I read in high school I would like to revisit. All of these stories were four or five stars save a couple of three stars and I found it to be funny (at times), modern for a classic that was originally published in 1938, and really good at unpacking or introducing themes in short form writing. This is definitely a terrific intro to his work and it highlights the themes that you see in his larger novels and additional works like grief, social issues, desire, and more. It was simple and effective writing with plenty to think about.

Heads up there are offensive words used as a depiction of the setting and also to highlight social issues during the time and there as well as some very sad things with animals. If you are interested in John Steinbeck, and you don’t know where to begin his short stories are great and this collection is just chock full of terrific ones.

My favorite stories from the collection were The White Quail, The Murder, Saint Katy the Virgin (which is actually about a pig) and The Red Pony (one of the novellas).