John Steinbeck

by Catherine Reef

A photobiography of John Steinbeck, covering his life and writing career, with excerpts from his works.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1996

About the author

Catherine Reef is the author of more than 35 nonfiction books for young people. Her books for Clarion include the highly acclaimed JOHN STEINBECK and SIGMUND FREUD, which was the recipient of the 2002 Sydney Taylor Award, presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries. She lives in College Park, Maryland.

Reviews

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

After more than 2 years of heavy reading, John Steinbeck is still my favorite author for all times. His The Grapes of Wrath (1939) was one of the books that made me who I am now: a certified voracious reader. The book craved me to read more modern classics. It shocked me to know the sad flight of the Oklahoma “Okies” farmers during the late 30’s. It is unthinkable now considering that the world, especially the Third World countries, looks up to American as the land of milk and honey. It was so shocking yet beautifully written. I still remember how my heart beat faster and my mind seemed to burst out reading the alternating-chapters: odd ones describing the Oklahoma farmers as they went through their lives during the Great Dust Bowl years and the even ones focusing on the Joad family.

That’s why I bought this book, John Steinbeck by Catherine Reef. I saw this last weekend being sold only for P150 (~$3.5) and with lots of pictures both of the Steinbecks as well as the locales of his novels particularly the California farms (The Grapes of Wrath), Salinas Valley (East of Eden), San Francisco canneries (Cannery Row), etc., I bought this without any second thought and started reading upon arriving home. Being an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age and a Jefferson Cup Honor Book, the narration was sparse and easy to understand.

I was not disappointed. The book covers all the things that I wanted to know about Steinbeck and this book cemented my belief that he is one of America’s literary greats. Some of the inspiring trivias:

1) His first novel Cup of Gold was turned down by most publishers not because it was not written well but because of the Great Depression. He and his wife struggled during that era living one day at a time. When finally published, this and his second book, The Pastures of Heaven did not sell well primarily because of the same reason. One day publisher Covitt was visiting a bookstore and heard an owner suggesting to his customer to try Steinbeck’s books. This made Covitt interested on Steinbeck. He financed the publication of Tortilla Flat and it became Steinbeck’s first clear literary success so Covitt also re-published the first two books. However, after few years, Covitt also folded up his publishing business.

2) Steinbeck was an intuitive writer. He did not outline his plot. He allocated at least 4 hours a day to fill up at least 20 pages of his journal. At the early part of his career in writing, he paid more attention on how his sentences sounded and let the proofreaders catch his errors in spelling, syntax or grammar. But later when there was a big push to be a better writer, he changed this and made sure that his grammar, spelling and syntax were correct.

3) He listened to classical music while writing. He noticed that when he played Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake he finished more pages than when he played other classical tunes.

4) That novel that made him interested in writing was Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. He and his younger sister Carol played knights in search of the chalice during their childhood years riding a pony in Salinas Valley.

5) He was branded as a communist during the height of The Grapes of Wrath-created controversy. His detractors were only silenced when he supported the US government stand during the Vietnam war and for a while, this made him unpopular among the masses.

Just like any other writers, famous or not, Steinbeck’s life also had his ups and downs. However, in the end, it was a well-spent life for him: Nobel Prize for Literature (1962) awardee and 1939 Pulitzer award for The Grapes of Wrath plus an array of best-selling critically acclaimed works such as East of Eden, Of Mice and Men and In Dubious Battle among many others.

I am delightfully inspired by this bio. Put our pictures side by side. Don't you notice that we have some similarities? *wishing* :)

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, makes me want to read more of his books.

[Donnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to get an overview of Steinbeck's life--one adult bio of him is close to 1,000 pages.

Was a bit disappointed. First, several of Steinbeck's books are not mentioned--like The Wayward Bus and Sweet Thursday. Most significantly, though, the wives are provided with no details. He was married to Carol then he was married to Gwyn, sort of like that.

Luckily I also had a copy of "John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men" by Debra McArthur. A MUCH shorter bio, yet The Wayward Bus and Sweet Thursday are mentioned. There are even quotes from the sons.

Also, most significantly, we get more details about the wives.

Most of the following does NOT come out in the Reef book;

John marries Carol when he is a just barely published, and still struggling, writer. Then, after the success of OF Mice and Men and the Grapes of Wrath, when he is running all over the country and Carol wants a more normal life and wants to see him more and wants to have a child--he dumps her for a much younger woman. This is Gwyn who is part of the glamorous Hollywood world. Then, even though he made Carol have an abortion, relatively recently, which gave her an infection that prevented her from having anymore children--he has two sons with Gwyn. She then dumps him. These sons and Gwyn later inspire the two sons and their horrible mother Cathy in East of Eden. Steinbeck's revenge.

The lonely Steinbeck is then snapped up by Elaine, at the time they meet she is married to actor Zachary Scott. She is sort of a mix of a little of the Hollywood glamour of Gwyn and the reliability and companionship of Carol.

In addition to the wrongs to Carol: Biographers tend to make it sound like their divorce and separation were a result of the two not getting along and having frequent arguments as if the two were equally at fault. However, it could be that the fault was largely with Steinbeck and the arguments were because he was treating Carol so poorly.

[Pamela Trawick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding story of Steinbeck's life.

[Carolann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great short read about the life of John Steinbeck.

I finished this in a day, but still feel like I learned something worthwhile.