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Summary: Ignorance grows as the warning grows
Review: This book is not quite as beautifully written as "Of Mice and Men", but it has a very powerful and true message albeit it might be a little exaggerated in this particular story. It's a tale about the power of the dreams that drives us, taking us places where we didn't dream of going, and neither wanted to go. It's a story about taking one apparently harmless step that forces you to take another step, and yet another until you end up where you didn't expect, one little step that only the wise would avoid taking. It's also a story about day and night, what happens on the surface and what happens beneath.The message becomes apparent early in the book, but it grows stronger and stronger as the main characters grow more and more ignorant towards it. While reaching the last pages my adrenalin was pumping, knowing that something was going to happen, but not knowing exactly what and I was somewhat surprised by the ending. This is the second book I've read by Steinbeck and definitely not the last.
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Summary: TORTILLA FLAT
Review: Some of the themes that I saw in Tortilla Flat are wine drinking. I think Steinbeck puts this in his story because when someone is in sober conditions they don't know what they are saying, they act like children, and since the book is "supposed" to be humorous he makes adults like children. The other theme that I saw in Tortilla Flat is friendship because in the book the character Pilon is wanting to know where the Pirate keeps his treasure but instead the Pirate gave his treasure to Danny for safekeeping. For me this is a theme because The pirate knows that Pilon and Danny are friends and still knowing that he has confidence that Danny wont tell Pilon that the Pirate has given him his treasure. The other symbol I saw in this book is the landscape, because in the book the characters are always describing what is around them they are kind of ashamed of where they live. Their houses and the town they live in. Steinbeck does this because he wants us to see the poverty that his characters live in and how it is different these days.
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Summary: Tortilla Flat REview
Review: PERSONAL REACTION Tortilla flat is a humorous story about some friends, well that what others say, but to me it wasn't all that good. Well I really didn't like it because not all the excerpts in the book connect to each other because in the Portable Steinbeck the chapters that are in it are Ch. I,II,VII,VIII,XIII. So by doing this Steinbeck gets us confused by introducing new characters in each of the different chapters. I think that if I read the whole novel I would be able to understand it better.
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Summary: First of the Salinas Trilogy
Review: Though Steinbeck never called them that. This is the first of the Salinas trilogy, and by some tastes, the funniest. Steinbeck captures a side of poverty to cause belly-laughs from the reader while never losing sight of the underlying environment of stark contrast from the 20th Century middle-class life experience of most of his readers. The author also manages to portray a type of machismo existing in a particular facet of some male Hispanics in an atmosphere both sympathetic and realistic. The characters of Tortilla Flat are the men the evening news of 2003 and the obituaries involving barroom stabbings comprise. Steinbeck illustrates a side of these characters most of affluent America humanity never sees and he does it without prejudice. I consider the Salinas trilogy to be the best of Steinbeck's otherwise valuable lifetime of contributions to American literature.
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Summary: A Merry Tale!
Review: "Tortilla Flat" is an entertaining tale of Danny and his paisano friends as they live the lives of a merry band of unemployed alcoholics. Danny is the core which draws the gradually expanding group to himself and holds it together. Pilon, Jesus Marie, Big Joe Portagee, Pablo and the Pirate all introduce their own personalities into this story. For a group which never works, drinks wine whenever it is available and survives by stealing, they are an amazingly likable lot. Thieves though the are, they each have a good hearted and generous core. This book is an easy read, entertaining and funny. Read and Enjoy!
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Summary: Great Steinbeck Novel
Review: This is yet another of Steinbeck's great California novels. It is a story of friendship, camradery and trust. It is a truly great story that a fan of Steinbeck, or anybody should enjoy. The setting of Southern California provides a great canvas for Steinbeck's work, unlike East of Eden or The Winter of Our Discontent, which are not California novels. This is a truly great book and is a true American clasic.
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Summary: One of Steinbeck's Best
Review: No other book by Steinbeck advocates the hedonestic lifestyle so cherished by Steinbeck as Tortilla Flat does. The plot revolves around four chicanos, who's lively hood centers around drinking wine. A life that exemplifies the simple things in life, a world that completely abandons the capitalist, material wealth life. Steinbeck beautifully illustrates the simplicity and beauty of such a society. Not much you can say other than: IT R0X0RZ!!
Pick it up, it is worth reading, and one of Steibeck's best.
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not Steinbeck's best
Review: The characters were well rounded and the story was unique, but this was far from the powerful storytelling that made Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men two of my all-time favorites. It is still worth reading on over a wintery weekend.
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Summary: ...as opposed to a tortilla that's not flat?!?!
Review: This book is just great, silly title notwithstanding. Compelling characters that drink and smoke and swear and fight and womanize (sounds like some guys I know!)! Does it get any better. If you liked this book and are looking for similar things to read, don't get suckered into reading The Tortilla Curtain. It is VERY different. It is a sad tale of America's oppression of the Spaniards.
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Summary: Hilarious, vintage Steinbeck
Review: I'm a big Steinbeck fan and this is one of my favorites. In a similar vein to Cannery Row, it is funny, beautifully written and shows a great love and understanding of people. Must read for Steinbeck fan or anyone who has a love for unpretentious, funny, inspiring writing filled with a love of humanity.
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