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Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by John Steinbeck (Author), Jay Parini (Introduction) "When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure..." (more)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (1 Mar 2001)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0141186100
ISBN-13: 978-0141186108
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 24,726 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#24 in Books > Reference > Atlases & Maps > Continents & Regions > The Americas > North America
#58 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > United States > Regions

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Product Description

In 1960, when he was almost sixty years old, John Steinbeck set out to rediscover his native land. He felt that he might have lost touch with its sights, sounds and the essence of its people. Accompanied only by his dog, Charley, he travelled allacross the United States in a pick-up truck. His journey took him through almost forty states, and he saw things that made him proud, angry, sympathetic and elated. All that he saw and experienced is described with remarkable honesty and insight.

About the Author

Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His novels have been huge best-selllers in the UK for many years. Steinbeck's complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Steinbeck regards his country with a dispassionate eye., 19 Jul 2001

By A Customer

Predating Bill Bryson by a couple of decades (and saying in a single chapter more than Bryson could in a whole book), John Steinbeck looks for America. The book details the time he spent travelling through his country, alone (save for Charley, his dog) and anonymous, no mean feat for a writer of Steinbeck's stature. This anonymity allows him to settle in more easily with other men and find out what is felt at the heart of Americans of the day. He seeks to identify and analyse traits in the national soul, and succeeds to a large extent, finding basic friendship and goodwill in many cases. He is unafraid to criticise other humans when he wishes to, especially when faced with racial prejudice, and this gives the book a convincing structure. He is also unafraid to criticise his country as a whole, therefore making the book more credible to non-USA readers. The book contains some wonderful descriptive passages of his interactions with Charley, lending a humour not visible in his other writings. It is very easy to read, and contains a number of very evocative descriptions of scenery and people. The reader feels he is meeting the people Steinbeck meets, or seeing his sights through his own eyes. A wonderful piece of travel literature, showing the author's usual talent for identifying with his readership.

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enduring classic that is a joy to read, 9 Jul 2004

By	Chris Pearson (Gloucestershire, UK) - See all my reviews

This is my favourite Steinbeck book. I originally read it 22 years ago whilst living in the USA. Its themes and insights are as pertinent today as they were then,and as Steinbeck saw them in '62, when this book was written.

It's easy to read, beautifully written and full of keen observations. And the relationship between the writer and his dog is an engaging one throughout.This book is often marginalised by his great fiction, but it really is a gem of a book.

My original US edition features uninspired cover art, but this Penguin classic issue is also worth buying soley for the superb cover shot of 'one man and his dog'.

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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel Along!, 22 May 2003

By	James Gallen (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Paperback)

“Travels with Charlie” is the delightful narrative by a master story teller of his 1962 journey across America with his pet poodle, Charlie. Feeling a need to become reacquainted with America, Steinbeck purchased a custom made mobile home which he outfitted, by his own admission, to excess, before setting out on his travels. Although warned that his fame and familiarity would prevent him from maintaining his anonymity, Steinbeck was able to meet America at its own level. From sea to sea he was recognized only by friends and relatives. This anonymity permitted him to drift in and out of American society, tasting and testing, interacting and remembering. From New England to California and back to New York, we are admitted to his conversations with taciturn Yankees and French-Canadian migrant agricultural workers. Traveling west, we read of border guards, the representatives of the government bureaucracy, state specific highway designations and Steinbeck’s observations of topography. His roadside visit with an actor and his entertainment by rich friends in Texas provide a sharp contrast in outlooks and behavior of different Americans. During his return to his hometown of Salinas, California, Steinbeck learns the truth that “you can’t go back home again.” Home has changed, his friends have changed, and Steinbeck had changed. It is sad, but true.

Steinbeck dreaded the South but knew that he could not be avoided. Traveling in 1962, Steinbeck saw some of the dramatic events of the Civil Rights movement while he sampled the prevailing racial attitudes of Southerners of the day.

At the start, Steinbeck was looking to become reacquainted with America. I was hoping that the would finish with some wise conclusions gleaned from his experience. He did conclude that Americans were more united as Americans than they were divided as residents of different regions. He is amazed to find the degree to which diverse immigrant groups have amalgamated into a new nationality in less than two centuries. I passed this on to a distant cousin in France with whom I have been discussing themes in American and French history. Beyond this, we are left to draw our own conclusions from the facts reported.

I wonder how many of the people to whom Steinbeck referred have read and recognized themselves in this book. How many of us, who did not meet Steinbeck, see ourselves or our acquaintances reflected in its pages?

This a a hard book to put down, so don’t try. Pick it up, free your mind and enjoy “Travels with Charlie.”

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels with Charley
I love `Travels with Charley: In Search of America', maybe that's because I like travelogues or maybe it's because I love Steinbeck's sublime eloquence, but whatever the reason,... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Spider Monkey

5.0 out of 5 stars "I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger."
(4.5 stars) When John Steinbeck obeys a life-long urge to drive from coast to coast in 1960, he little anticipates the variety of the "American experience. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Mary Whipple

5.0 out of 5 stars Acutely Observed
Don't you just hate it when you get to the end of a truely engrossing book? I certainly do, and feel even more frustrated when you reach the end of a journey with a writer who... Read more

Published on 25 Nov 2002 by Mr. Andrew I. Love

4.0 out of 5 stars "Fttt" and the Comments of his Human Companion
Steinbeck clearly thought at the time he was writing The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) that America was in the middle of a serious moral and ethical crises, that the traditions... Read more

Published on 27 Oct 2002 by Patrick Shepherd

5.0 out of 5 stars A book by a great writer who loved ordinary people.
I have read most of the works of this great writer and this book gave me a greater understanding of the man himself. Read more

Published on 16 May 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A book by a great writer who loved ordinary people.
I have read most of the works of this great writer and this book game me a greater understanding of the man himself. Read more

Published on 16 May 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A pure joy to read
Written in the early 1960,s Steinbeck gives us an insight into 60,s rural America,as we follow him and his four legged soulmate. Read more

Published on 27 Jan 2000 by dafydd@dafydd32.freeserve.co.uk

4.0 out of 5 stars America Discovered
As a Steinbeck fan I had no hesitation in joining the author as, at the age of 60, he picks up a few belongings and sets off, with his faithful dog Charley, on a journey across... Read more

Published on 10 Dec 1999

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