Rating: 
Summary: Brief review
Review: The Long Valley by John Steinbeck is a compilation of short stories; a collection of biographies of Californians living in the Central Valley. In typical Steinbeck tradition, the author creates a euphonic blend of setting and plot, transforming the seemingly desolate landscape of the Central Valley into something beautiful, and all the while intertwining it with the lives of the people of whom Steinbeck writes so well - the people who work the land. Though this anthology has received little attention, at least compared with some of his greater known works such as The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice And Men, it seems to best exemplify the author's ability to portray the lifestyles of the simple people who came to California in search of Eldorado. Most of Steinbeck's characters are immigrant farm workers from the midwest. Displaced by drought and economic depression, they came to California to seek a new life; for in their minds, California was the land of plenty, where dust storms and drought were unheard of, where water was plentiful and the sweet smell of fruit tree blossoms permeated the air. It is for this reason that Steinbecks' novels and short stories alike have such a powerful effect on everyone who reads them. Both an integral part of California culture and a chronicle thereof, Steinbeck's work and this book in particular belong in the annals of history. abridged from www.pmb.net/books/notes/
Rating: 
Summary: The heart and soul of California
Review: All of the short stories are unforgettable. My favorite is Johnny Bear, which is almost Hitchcock in its eerieness and structure. Get this in hardback. Definitely a keeper for one's library.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Written
Review: I particularly liked the details. Steinbeck just so well paints his stories- you can see what's happening, even though I have never seen the details myself in real life. I wish I had! I wish I could see life as clearly as he does. I find myself realizing for the first time the difference in a woman's chin from that of a man, though subconsciously from a distance you can tell the gender without knowing why. How a man looks old only because of the way his heel touches the ground. I fully understand the uncomfortability of someone with coal black eyes, though I don't remember ever seeing such a person. I see how a peddler can get a buyer by becoming a buyer himself. Or what it is like to be in a mind of a self-justified racist lyncher. Sometimes Steinbeck gets so into the minds of others I am uncomfortably unsure of where he stands- it is as with a consummate actor, who becomes his character. But of course my favorite story of all is Saint Katy the Virgin, of a demonic pig become Christian and saint, "stretched prostrate on the ground, making the sign of the cross with her right hoof and mooing softly in anguish at the realization of her crimes." I've always known that pigs were worthy of salvation...
Rating:
Summary: Not a stand-alone
Review: I'd have to give this one a slightly lower cheer than the other of the pair if I was forced to see the two as separate works. Pastures of Heaven and The Long Valley are a matched set in the Steinbeck library. The two should probably be included together as a single work. It's difficult to separate the two books because they overlap so. With a writer of the Steinbeck sort a reader might experience difficulty declaring, "This is my favorite." I agree completely. However, if John Steinbeck had never written Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, and Travels with Charlie, I'd probably have to say Pastures of Heaven and The Long Valley are my favorites.
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Summary: The best short stories I've ever read
Review: Its interesting how Steinbeck's star has risen since I was in grad school in the 70s. A few weeks ago I watched the Cspan episode about Steinbeck and became interested in reading some again. I took the Long Valley from my son's shelf and began reading..I don't remember if I read this one, because Steinbeck was never taught in grad school in the 70s, but I was imediately taken by the intense underlying subtext of repressed sexual desire and its toll on simple people..The Snake was a revelation..sure the symolism is almost Victorian, but the eerie combination of perfectly observed rituals of nature and the almost primeval sexual hunger of the woman to see the mice being eaten was incredibly subversive and unexpected in a setting of such clinical austerity..it was almost Hitchcockian in its perversity...and The Harness really speaks to the untold psychosexual power that women have over men's desires..not too mention the disturbingly insightful The Vigilante, where the young man realizes that lynching a man makes him feel the same sexual euphoria that intercourse provides...The Murder, and the truly bizarre sexual relationship the man has with his foreign wife..sex is all over these stories, almost in a Lawrencian way..I was seriously surprised..and saw lots of Hawthorne here too..I don't think these stories have gotten the attention they deserve for the ahead of their time explorations of a lush landscape of crippling sexual tensions comments??
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Summary: California Tales
Review: My first Steinbeck book! O.K., I should have read "Mice and Men" when it was assigned in the 9th grade, but you know how that goes. The five years I have spent in college have awakened a love of the classics, making Steinbeck essential reading at some point. This book is a collection of his short stories written in 1933-34. In the introduction, written by John Timmerman, we find Steinbeck slaving away on these stories while taking care of his ill mother. We also discover that Steinbeck wrote his stories on a notebook copped from his father's desk. Timmerman points out that "The Long Valley" stories constitute an important bridge between Steinbeck's earlier efforts and the later canon of literature that secured his lasting fame. The first two stories are the kind of works that English teachers love to assign; they involve women trying to break out of social roles. In the first story, Steinbeck starts his tale with: "The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." Obviously, someone is trapped. I don't care for these two stories because I've read so many like them over the years, usually at the threatening point of a grading pen. But as the book progresses, I quickly discovered that Steinbeck is an excellent writer. My favorite stories were "The Harness," "Johnny Bear," "Saint Katy the Virgin," and "The Red Pony." In "Johnny Bear," Steinbeck writes a freaky tale about an idiot savant that has an odd talent, much to the chagrin of the community. I figured out how it was going to end ahead of time, but it was still great fun. "Saint Katy the Virgin" is a strange tale, set in the Middle Ages, about a pig who converts to Christianity. This story does seem to be a criticism of the Catholic Church, but there is enough ambiguity in it to make me wonder if the story is actually pro-religion. "The Red Pony," which is actually a cycle of four stories, has to be the best of the lot. I seriously believe Steinbeck could have made a comfortable living by turning this into a series. The stories focus on Jody, a boy living on a ranch in California. What impressed me most about these stories is the emphasis placed on discipline, hard work, and clean living. Along the way, Jody learns valuable lessons about death, old age, and respect for his elders. While reading about Jody, it is impossible not to draw comparisons with the pampered youth of our era. Almost no child living in this country today could maintain the patience Jody shows while waiting for the birth of his colt. I thought Steinbeck would be stodgy reading; I was quite worried when I pulled this off the shelf and made a go of it. I can't say I'm going to dive right into his other works right away, but if his other stuff matches up to some of the stories here, they will be good reading.
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Summary: Excellent Short Stories -- And At Least One Is True
Review: Of the story The Snake, another reviewer wrote that it was "a revelation..sure the symolism is almost Victorian, but the eerie combination of perfectly observed rituals of nature and the almost primeval sexual hunger of the woman to see the mice being eaten was incredibly subversive and unexpected in a setting of such clinical austerity..it was almost Hitchcockian in its perversity." Fact is, according to Steinbeck in "About Ed Ricketts," that incident occurred almost exactly as described -- and all the author had to do was write it down.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect collection of short stories
Review: Recently, I have been on a John Steinbeck binge. I am not a lover of short stories, I find them too brief, like a wonderful treat taken away too soon. However, the skill in which Mr. Steinbeck writes each short story represents a condensed novel. They are truly capable of fulfilling the promises of longer novels. Flushed and sifted, he carefully extracts his words into a version just as promising and thought provoking as a longer story. One need not feel unsatisfied, these stories are utterly amazing, absolutely incredible and without doubt some of the best literary work I have ever read. These are beautiful stories, all taking place around Steinbeck's favorite place on earth, Monterey and Salinas Valley in California. The stories are diverse, rich, stunning and original. Please allow yourself the opportunity to read these stories. You will not be disappointed, and the beauty is to feel the heart and soul of the author, John Steinbeck.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect collection of short stories
Review: Recently, I have been on a John Steinbeck binge. I am not a lover of short stories, I find them too brief, like a wonderful treat taken away too soon. However, the skill in which Mr. Steinbeck writes each short story represents a condensed novel. They are truly capable of fulfilling the promises of longer novels. Flushed and sifted, he carefully extracts his words into a version just as promising and thought provoking as a longer story. One need not feel unsatisfied, these stories are utterly amazing, absolutely incredible and without doubt some of the best literary work I have ever read. These are beautiful stories, all taking place around Steinbeck's favorite place on earth, Monterey and Salinas Valley in California. The stories are diverse, rich, stunning and original. Please allow yourself the opportunity to read these stories. You will not be disappointed, and the beauty is to feel the heart and soul of the author, John Steinbeck.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed
Review: The Long Valley is a series of short stories that Steinbeck had published in periodicals at varying times in his career. Unlike Pastures of Heaven, there is not an underlying theme to connect the stories. While none of the stories are particularly noteworthy, they do demonstrate the early stages of Steinbeck's development as a writer.
Several of the short stories are just plain strange. In Saint Katy the Virgin, a evil pig is converted to Christianity and sainthood. In The Murder, Steinbeck seems to be encouraging spousal abuse. I am still not entirely clear about the author's point in Johnny Bear. Other stories have similar flaws in being outlandish. The one story that reflects Steinbeck's future brilliance is the three part story (the fourth part is under a different name), The Red Pony. It is the one story that has a sense of purpose. It is a coming of age story, set during Steinbeck trademark time period. In The Red Pony, a young boy accepts responsibility for a two different ponies and gains respect for his elders. I also found The White Quail to be enjoyable.
Fans of Steinbeck's other work may find some measure of disappointment in these stories. While none of the stories seem awful, they do not measure up to the standard one expects of Steinbeck.
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