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Travels with Charley: In Search of America

by John Steinbeck

4.06 · Rating Details · 49,202 Ratings · 3,502 Reviews

An intimate journey across and in search of America, as told by one of its most beloved writers, in a deluxe centennial edition

In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people. To reassure ...more

Paperback, 214 pages

Published February 5th 2002 by Penguin (first published 1962)

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Sep 11, 2010 karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction, i-joined-a-bookclub

dude, steinbeck is so much better than kerouac.

and i know that is a totally obvious statement, but if i want to read a story about a man traveling across america and describing his findings, it is going to be a man with a varied vocabulary, a keen eye for detail, and some powers of interpreting his experiences. john, i am listening...

this is my first nonfiction from steinbeck, and i am impressed with how conversational it reads. he has a real skill in making his experiences near-visible to the r ...more

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Aug 10, 2014 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any HERE. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”

photo 29095a40-91bf-4933-b339-aefea996521b_zps0be83509.jpg

The steed...Rocinante!

John Steinbeck was not feeling very well before he decide ...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Will Byrnes rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

John Steinbeck put a house on a pickup, left the wife behind in their Long Island home and traveled the nation for several months. This is his tale of that experience. I found many quotables here, and I guess one should expect that when the traveler’s name is Steinbeck. In a book of about two hundred pages, one can hardly expect a detailed look at all of America. Steinbeck picks his spots. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. It was, of necessity, merely a sketch of some parts of the country. But John Steinbeck put a house on a pickup, left the wife behind in their Long Island home and traveled the nation for several months. This is his tale of that experience. I found many quotables here, and I guess one should expect that when the traveler’s name is Steinbeck. In a book of about two hundred pages, one can hardly expect a detailed look at all of America. Steinbeck picks his spots. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. It was, of necessity, merely a sketch of some parts of the country. But some of those sketches should hang in the Louvres. Two in particular grabbed me. His description of “The Cheerleaders,” a group of women who gathered every day at a newly integrated southern elementary school to taunt and threaten the black kids and Steinbeck’s look at the culture surrounding that was chilling, a close portrait of an incendiary place at an incendiary time, and is, alone, a reason to read this book. The other was his depiction of a redwood forest in northern California, where the massive trees alter dawn and blot out the night sky.

description

Steinbeck and Charley - from the NY Times

The subtitle of the book is “In Search of America.” What travel books are really about, particularly when undertaken by a literary person, is self-discovery. It works the same as in literature. The road, the quest, the journey all exist in an interior landscape and lead to an inner destination. I did not feel that this was much at work here, and was disappointed. Steinbeck kept his eyes on the external road. Sometimes his snapshots of early 1960s America were uninteresting. Sometimes they were compelling. The compelling parts made the trip one worth taking.

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Apparently, there is some thought that not all the material in this book was actually...um...real. GR friend Jim sent along a link to a site by a guy named Bill Steigerwald, who writes about Steinbeck. Looks like he did a fair bit of research and concluded that Steinbeck's journey may have been more of an internal one than we believed. check it out. ...more

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Aug 14, 2007 Diane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, travelogues, memoirs

I first read this book in high school, and it's what made me fall in love with travelogues. In 1960, John Steinbeck drove a small camper around the United States with his dog, Charley. He wrote that he wanted to get to know his country again, to learn more about this "new America."

"For many years I have traveled in many parts of the world. In America I live in New York, or dip into Chicago, or San Francisco. But New York is no more America than Paris is France or London is England. Thus I disco ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel, audiobook

In 1960, when John Steinbeck was 58 years old, ill with the heart disease which was to kill him eight years later and rather discontented with life, he decided to embark on a road trip around the United States in a fitted-out pick-up truck, accompanied by his standard French poodle, Charley. Steinbeck’s plan was to re-connect with the America which had informed his fiction and to assess how much it had changed over the years.

This book is the result of that trip: part memoir, part travelogue, pa
In 1960, when John Steinbeck was 58 years old, ill with the heart disease which was to kill him eight years later and rather discontented with life, he decided to embark on a road trip around the United States in a fitted-out pick-up truck, accompanied by his standard French poodle, Charley. Steinbeck’s plan was to re-connect with the America which had informed his fiction and to assess how much it had changed over the years.

This book is the result of that trip: part memoir, part travelogue, part philosophical treatise … and part fiction. Just how much of the narrative is fiction rather than fact has been the subject of investigation and discussion in recent years, much of it instigated by the work of journalist Bill Steigerwald, who recreated Steinbeck’s trip and exposed what he argues to be the fallacies in the narrative. This article in the New York Times summarises Steigerwald’s findings and typing Steigerwald’s name into any reliable search engine will locate a range of Steigerwald’s writings on the issue, as well as some responses to his position on the book.

While I've read Steigerwald’s conclusions about Steinbeck’s journey with interest, it matters little to me that the work has been edited in such a way as to make it look like Steinbeck and Charley were travelling alone almost all the time, whereas Steinbeck’s original manuscript (held at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City) shows that Steinbeck’s wife Elaine was with him for much of the time and that he probably spent more than half the nights he was away sleeping in hotels rather than in the truck. Likewise, it matters little to me that Steinbeck’s reported conversations with people he meets on the way are fiction rather than reportage.

In relation to this, the fact that Steinbeck preserved and then donated his manuscript indicates that he was not concerned that readers might discover that there was more (or possibly less) to the journey than appears in the book. Further, the narrative itself is full of disclaimers. Steinbeck does not claim that the book is a day-by-day, diary-style account of his journey. Rather, what he conveys is a range of impressions on a number of topics, some insights into issues he considered important and some at times painful self-reflection, all conveyed in Steinbeck’s powerful yet accessible prose. On some matters Steinbeck was ahead of his time. For example, what he wrote about the destruction of the environment and the overuse of packaging products (“The mountain of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use.”), expressed what I doubt was a matter of widespread public concern as early as 1960.

Other parts of the narrative are much more personal. Steinbeck’s encounter with old Latino drinking buddies in a bar in Monterey is particularly poignant. As Steinbeck’s friend tries to persuade the New York resident to come “home”, Steinbeck names all of their friends who have died and concludes that Thomas Wolfe was right: “You can't go home again because home has ceased to exist except in the mothballs of memory."

Possibly the most powerful incident in the book is Steinbeck’s witnessing of the “cheerleaders” in New Orleans – a group of women who stood across the street from William Frantz Elementary school and yelled obscenities at Ruby Bridges - the first black child to attend the all-white school - and at the few white parents who did not comply with the white boycott of the school. Ruby, who had started at the school only a week or two before Steinbeck was in New Orleans, was escorted to school by federal marshalls. Her ordeal is recorded in this painting by Norman Rockwell.

Shortly after witnessing the behaviour of the cheerleaders, Steinbeck decided to cut his journey short and head straight back to New York City. The narrative gives the strong impression that the incident left him heart-sick and distressed.

Overall, whatever may be this book’s shortcomings as a piece of travel reportage, it's a moving and engaging piece of writing. Steinbeck had become rather a cranky old man by the time he embarked on the journey, and was an even crankier old man by time he finished it. He was certainly no longer the novelist at the peak of his powers. But there’s still passion, warmth and humour in his words and plenty for the reader who loves Steinbeck’s writing to engage with. And there's Charley. Charley is wonderful.
...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Jason Koivu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Goddamn it! I've driven coast to coast across the U.S. fives times already and yet, thanks to Travels with Charley I'm ready to go again!

During the mid-century period, discovering America and/or oneself through the medium of the road-trip came into vogue. While other prominent authors, such as Kerouac and Thompson, were publishing their own, more heralded versions, I prefer Steinbeck's. It lacks the hedonism of the others and I love him for that. And furthermore, these journals often get offtrac ...more

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Oct 27, 2010 K.D. Absolutely rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books (Memoirs)

Shelves: 501, memoirs, nobel, travel

Six years before he died, John Steinbeck (1902-1968) had a lonesome trip aboard a camper named Rocinante (after Don Quixote’s horse) around the USA. He said that he would like to see this country on a personal level before he died as he made a good living writing about it. Considering his heart condition, such trip alone could have been disastrous to his health but he insisted. The main question that he would like to be answered was “What are Americans like today?” and after travelling with his Six years before he died, John Steinbeck (1902-1968) had a lonesome trip aboard a camper named Rocinante (after Don Quixote’s horse) around the USA. He said that he would like to see this country on a personal level before he died as he made a good living writing about it. Considering his heart condition, such trip alone could have been disastrous to his health but he insisted. The main question that he would like to be answered was “What are Americans like today?” and after travelling with his poodle Charley for around 10,000 miles for 3 months, he did not like the answer that he got.

He saw the wastefulness of the people. He got worried about excessive packaging that consumers liked. He noticed the ambiguity of culture brought about my mass media technologies. Advancement in technologies, though giving people instant gratification, could alienate members of the families from each other. He met people who could not be trusted even by giving the right direction. He met poor migrant potato pickers from Canada (that reminded me of the Joads family in his opus, The Grapes of Wrath). He finally saw Niagara Falls that made him happy because finally we could say we saw it already. He met unreasonable and illogical border authorities. He saw how people in different states differ on how they talk to one another and treat other people. For example, in New England people spoke very little and waited for him to come over while in Midwestern cities, people were more outgoing and did not hesitate approaching him. He got amazed on how fast the population grew in those states that he had visited before. When he visited Sauk Centre because he would like to see the birthplace of his favorite writer, Sinclair Lewis he got disheartened. A waitress in the restaurant did not know who Lewis was. In fact, ignorance, according to him, was prevalent in most people he encountered particularly in politics, economics and culture. In Texas, he despised the so-called “Cheerleaders” who were protesting the integration of black children in a school in New Orleans. In New Orleans, he learned that racism of the South was not confined with those towards blacks but also towards Jews. The trip ended with Steinbeck missing a U-turn and telling the policeman: “Officer, I’ve driven this thing all over the country – mountains, plains, deserts. And now I’m back in my own town, where I live – and I’m lost.”

This is my 3rd book by Steinbeck and for me this is the most down-to-earth. Although I have only been to California, Philadelphia, Texas and Ohio, visualizing those places he visited and conversations that he had with the people he met was not a problem. I used to enjoy watching American movies in the 50’s and 60’s and I was able to picture those scenes in my mind. Also, I think Steinbeck wanted to have a last hand long look with the people he wrote about in his novels that made him who he was – one of the greatest American authors (and certainly one of my favorite novelists of all times). So what if he had a heart problem? So what if he was alone with just a dog to talk to? So what if there was a raging snow storm outside? So what if he might be killed by dangerous mad men in the forests and highways? The thought of Steinbeck risking his life to be able to see the country for the last time and talk to the people who patronized his novels was a marked of a good artist or, simply, a good humble man.

And oh yes, if you love reading about dogs, read this because Charley could even talk. Steinbeck imagined words being said by his dog in one of the scenes and their dialogues were so clever and amusing. Steinbeck could write anything. He could make any scenario believable. Enough for me to gasp for air as his words were always outrageously breathtaking.
...more

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May 31, 2008 Grip Dellabonte rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: people who enjoy Steinbeck, travelogues, standard size poodles!

Recommended to Grip by: No one recommended this book to me

I hadn't expected to enjoy this book as much as I did. It was my first travelogue, and I only read it because, a) I was bored and b)I figured I couldn't go wrong with Steinbeck - a writer I already enjoyed reading (still do).

But I have a wicked streak of wanderlust in me, too, and Steinbeck really caught me at a good time. It was Summertime, and I was already in a daydream-y mood. That mood lasted all through the book.

I managed to get through the whole trip with the cranky writer, and he was act ...more

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Nov 18, 2016 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, travel, creative-non-fiction, read2016

I read the Steinbeck trifecta in junior high and highschool - The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. Since that time, graduating 20 years ago, I have not read Steinbeck again. I bought this book to read on a train trip I had planned in California, since I knew that Steinbeck's father was a train man and that he grew up in California. Since that trip was cancelled the book has lingered on my shelf at home, long enough for me to forget I had it. So when the audio version of the bo I read the Steinbeck trifecta in junior high and highschool - The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. Since that time, graduating 20 years ago, I have not read Steinbeck again. I bought this book to read on a train trip I had planned in California, since I knew that Steinbeck's father was a train man and that he grew up in California. Since that trip was cancelled the book has lingered on my shelf at home, long enough for me to forget I had it. So when the audio version of the book came up on a BOGO sale in Audible, narrated by Gary Sinise, I bought it without checking. Ah well, the audio was great. The book will be nice to refer back to. Win/win.

Steinbeck reminds me of Orwell in his non-fiction writing. Talking to individuals and writing about their experiences, focusing on people in rural areas living their everyday lives. He is traveling the country with his dog Charley in 1960, from Maine to Wisconsin to Oregon to California to Texas to the south. The world is getting ready to change and there is this feeling of the "last times" of whatever we can call the years before the president and MLK Jr are assassinated, before the Civil Rights Movement. The chapters in the south are particularly insightful and painful to read.

A few broad comments on travel that I liked:

"I felt at last that my journey had started; I think I hadn't really believed in it before."

"We know so little of our own geography." (Maine)

"It is possible, even probable, to be told a truth about a place, to accept it, to know it, and at the same time, to not know anything about it... Why then was I unprepared for the beauty of this region?" (Wisconsin)

"For all of our enormous geographic range, for all of our sectionalism... we are a nation."

I need to read more Steinbeck. Between his literature classics everyone studies in school and his non-fiction works like this one, he wrote several novels that I have never read. The main one I think of is East of Eden, which I also have bought and left on a shelf. I used to think I disliked him, but what I disliked as a child are traits that make me appreciate him now. His descriptiveness, his straightforward nature, his tone. I was jarred by it at age 12. I didn't realize that was a sign of growth. ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Maciek rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, reviewed, read-in-2013, travelogue

Eight years before a lifelong smoking habit finally killed his heart, John Steinbeck embarked on one last road trip across the United States. Steinbeck desired to see the country he described all his life with his own eyes - "to look again, rediscover this monster land", become reacquainted with its people. His sole companion would be Charley, a French standard poodle. Together they would board the Rocinante - Steinbeck's truck named after the horse of Don Quixote - and go and try to understand ...more

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Mar 02, 2008 Chicklit rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: people who don't like "classics"

Recommended to Chicklit by: book group

Shelves: book_group_selection, 2008

I have a feeling that if I had read Travels with Charley back in high school instead of The Grapes of Wrath or even Of Mice and Men, I would have actually liked Steinbeck rather than merely appreciated him.

Part of my Steinbeck indifference was obviously influenced by my teenage attitude. At 15 there were other things I'd much rather have been doing than reading novels about the great depression. Also, I had that "what does this have to do with me" attitude I saw so frequently while trying to tea ...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoirish, favorite-authors

You know how the heroes of westerns and comic books and adventures are always good men? My dad likes that kind of story where the moral is, "nothing is better than a good man!" He is the type that thinks a "man" just lives the best way he can! He loves legends and spooky tales and always made himself the hero. He told us, my friends and me, that he once saved his whole platoon by jumping on a grenade, and we believed him, though he never served in the military.

So how can I not give five stars t ...more

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Oct 13, 2016 Luís C. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: animals, g-biography, g-travel, 2016, usa-canada, borrowed

When I chose this title of Steinbeck to the bookstore, I did not knew exactly what I expect, not knowing the title. But I imagined a journey across a large part of United States, many meetings and a kind of report on the 1960's America. Somewhat a journalist's book. In fact over the eleven weeks Steinbeck toured the USA. If there are meetings, often over a bottle, they do not learn much about the region in which they take place. Except perhaps in the South. Let us recall that he'd voyaged in 196 ...more

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Apr 01, 2014 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, non-fiction, memoir, american, 20th-century, audiobooks

What is there not to love about a travelogue featuring John Steinbeck and his French poodle Charley? Look at them, they're best friends:

And check out the awesome Rocinante (named after Don Quixote's horse), a custom-made camper truck that carried them around America:

This is the route they took that I'd love to retrace someday:

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Aug 11, 2012 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: bio, usa, travel, audible

Gosh, there are so many good reviews here to read, why should I add my two cents?

While I was reading it, I found it interesting, insightful, humorous and sad. Now that is a wide range of emotions captured in a small book.

A question that always arises is: how much of this is true and how much is imagined? There is a simple answer to this. Steinbeck points out that no two people will see the same event with the same eyes. What you see depends upon who you are. This is what Steinbeck saw and expe Gosh, there are so many good reviews here to read, why should I add my two cents?

While I was reading it, I found it interesting, insightful, humorous and sad. Now that is a wide range of emotions captured in a small book.

A question that always arises is: how much of this is true and how much is imagined? There is a simple answer to this. Steinbeck points out that no two people will see the same event with the same eyes. What you see depends upon who you are. This is what Steinbeck saw and experienced, and he may even have juggled the facts to fit what he wanted to have said by this book. It is said that his wife he was then married to, Elaine, was there with him for much of the trip. It was not just a trip shared by a man of 58 with his "blue" French Poodle, Charley. They were a threesome. In 1960 he traveled 10,000 miles in his converted truck, which he fondly named Rocinante after Don Quixote’s horse, across America from Sag Harbor, N.Y., to the West Coast and back to find out who were these Americans that he peopled his novels with. Who were they today, and by that I mean 1960? What makes an American an American? Is there something that binds the New Englanders with those of the Midwest and Texans and those of the Deep South? And how are people from these different areas different? He is curious about all of this and about what he values in life, be it a dog, a sparkling brook with the rings of a trout's last jump or a good drink. He sees the the garbage cluttering the ever-expanding cities and small streams. He looks at the climate of racial unrest that was building. Primarily he looks at and tries to talk to the people he meets, although he was lucky if he got even a few "yeps" out of New Englanders in the early hours. Mobile homes, and the beauty of Montana, the dry desert, a kind vet, and a bad one - they are all here. But do remember that what you see is through Steinbeck's eyes. Steinbeck died eight years later from a heart attack.

I like Steinbeck's manner of expressing himself, but I also appreciate his insights, his views and what he is thinking about.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Peter Marinker. Very well done!

Now I am going to do something naughty. I have already begun listening to Songdogs, written by Colum McCann and narrated by Paul Nugent. One shouldn't compare writing skills, but in both books a picture is drawn of a man standing there in his Wellingtons, and in both there is that stream cluttered with garbage. McCann's depiction just sings. It is gorgeous. It is stupendous. How can I not make a comparison when the same "picture" is there in both books, and yet they are not at all the same, and I know which one I prefer? I am still giving “Charley” four stars because while I was reading it I really liked it! ...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Vale rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: north-american-literature, nature-and-travel, favorite

Dopo anni di lotta scopriamo che non siamo noi a fare il viaggio; è il viaggio che "fa" noi.

Nel 1961 John Steinbeck decide di compiere un viaggio attraverso gli Stati Uniti perché ritiene di essersi allontanato dalle persone, dagli americani e uno scrittore questo, non se lo può permettere.
E' un libro per gli irrequieti, gli amanti di Chatwin e di Kerouac e per tutti gli animi vagabondi:

Vedevo nei loro occhi qualche cosa che avrei rivisto tante volte in ogni parte del paese... un desiderio roven ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Judy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Buddy Read with Mikki

Shelves: bio-memoir, non-fiction, favorites, 2012-reads

I read this as a buddy read with my friend, Mikki, and from the first fffft from Charley to Steinbeck's final wrong turn in his home town, no less, Steinbeck kept me cruising through his memoir of traveling 1960's America.

What can I say? I'll admit to an hesitancy to pick up Travels With Charley: In Search of America, it being non-fiction and my Steinbeck reading record being at 3 books read, 3 books loved, after all, a disappointment could be over the horizon. To my joy, Travels With Charley: ...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Carol rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, classics, read-2014, travel

REALLY enjoyed this eventful journey thru 40 States with Mr. Steinbeck and his dog Charley. The adventure begins in September 1960 with Hurricane Donna before he even leaves home and ends with a historic snowstorm, but everything in the middle is pretty darn good too!

The story is written with humor, but with a profound sadness to it (perhaps due to Mr. Steinbeck's declining health) and whether the novel is truly fact or just fiction is unimportant to me as I found it an insightful and entertaini

...more

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Jan 28, 2014 Joe Valdez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs

My dip into the fiction of John Steinbeck turned into a journey, with East of Eden, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, The Winter of Our Discontent, The Grapes of Wrath and Sweet Thursday. It seemed appropriate to end my tour on Travels with Charley, the author's memoir of a circuitous road trip of the United States he began in September 1960 with his French poodle, Charley.

Steinbeck's account begins at his home on Long Island, New York. Getting on in years, he realizes he's been writing about a count ...more

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Nov 29, 2014 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2015

Filled by a desire to see his country one more time, John Steinbeck has a truck modified to be a camper. Named Rocinante, after Don Quixote's horse, and equipping it with guns, books and other essential items, not forgetting Charley his dog, he sets off on his journey.

His 10,000 mile journey takes him on a circular route around the country, starting in the north east, he travels across to the Pacific, down to California, along to Texas and the deep south and back up to New York. On his trip he w ...more

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Jun 05, 2007 Cheri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My father bought me this book when I was probably about eight years old, and I read it quickly and fell in love with it. One day (now that I've thought of it, probably sooner than later) I'll reread it, but for now I'm content believing I would still find it a good read.

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Dec 13, 2014 Kim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: holy-shit, favorite-authors, heartsick, about-fucking-time

That’s it. Goal Met. Challenge conquered. I do not need to read any other book this year. I am satiated.

You know how I have that groupie mentality? Yeah, well… Ilovejohnsteinbecksomuchit’skillingme.

“It happened to so many of my friends. The lecture ends, “Slow down. You’re not as young as you once were.” And I had seen so many begin to pack their lives in cotton wool, smother their impulses, hood their passions, and gradually retire from their manhood into a kind of spiritual and physical semi ...more

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Sep 04, 2014 Luís Miguel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change.”

Sou parcial quanto a praticamente tudo o que se pode ler neste livro: Steinbeck, América, viagens, cães, cidades pequenas, estradas intermináveis, carros, conversas com desconhecidos... E podia continuar. Já fiz uma pequena ideia de tudo isso, vivi, respirei e amei o ar puro do Montana, deixando no canto da memória Nova Iorque e tudo mais - tal como Steinbeck o havia feito em 1960. A liberdade daquel “It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change.”

Sou parcial quanto a praticamente tudo o que se pode ler neste livro: Steinbeck, América, viagens, cães, cidades pequenas, estradas intermináveis, carros, conversas com desconhecidos... E podia continuar. Já fiz uma pequena ideia de tudo isso, vivi, respirei e amei o ar puro do Montana, deixando no canto da memória Nova Iorque e tudo mais - tal como Steinbeck o havia feito em 1960. A liberdade daquele país foi a mais genuína que alguma vez senti. Antes de ter ido estava lá e depois de regressar contínuo naquela terra em todos os momentos de fuga semi-consciente. Sim, sou parcial, mas este é mesmo um grande livro, de um autor ainda maior.

Destemido, parte num camião (chamado Rocinante) com a casa às costas, acompanhado apenas pelo seu velho cão-de-água (Charley). Objectivo: um longo olhar ao seu país antes de morrer. Sentimental e nostálgico, mostra-se numa visita guiada pelo seu íntimo através do reflexo do país que o moldou. É realmente uma arte escrever um livro de viagens quando personificamos a estrada, o cenário e os transeuntes, quando as nossas doenças são frutos do tempo, quando a saudade é daquilo que já fomos e de épocas passadas em que nos perdemos.

Se escrevo esta crítica, faço-o apenas por respeito à ideia do livro enquanto objecto capaz de cativar outros, mesmo a eles dizendo menos que a mim, pois tão pessoal é a “história” cujas palavras leio na minha recordação. Enquanto obra de ficção é rica em omissão de detalhes demasiado reais e consegue colorir com um toque de fantástico todos os vestígios de qualquer sóbria existência, essa verdade sem sal, captada pelos sentidos em plena razão. Há personagens, no entanto, têm nomes familiares como eu ou tu. O enredo é simples: dar a volta ao país, narrando o que parece mais digno de nota, até quando não se passa nada de muito notório. A marca de um grande escritor leva tudo à sua frente – ou se não fosse ele a assinar e a colocar-se nas páginas e tudo permanecesse igual era bom, não excelente – talvez sejam as suas formulações, claramente expostas, com grande sentido de observação da natureza humana, a levantar o livro, todavia, é o saber apresentar sentimentos autênticos - dissimulando-os até dominarem o leitor – que o fazem voar.

Um sólido objecto cultural, com Steinbeck aparentemente fora da sua zona de conforto em termos literários e completamente ao volante da sua vida... ou será ao contrário? Enfim, para ler com diversas doses de “America” de Simon and Garfunkel ou “American Pie” de Don Mclean, sem perder “Badlands” de Bruce Springsteen, “Mainstreet” de Bob Seger e “Lights” dos Journey. Eu cá vou recostar-me ao som dos cavalos, lançado por rabanadas de vento, onde a poeira sabe ao imenso céu azul. ...more

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Feb 28, 2016 Negin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography

The first time that I read anything by John Steinbeck was in high school (“The Pearl”). Although I remember that it was one of my favorite books in my high school literature class, more than thirty years went by before I read anything by him again (probably due to laziness, lack of motivation, or whatever). I read “East of Eden” several months ago, which I loved. “Travels with Charley in Search of America” is the third book I’ve read by him. Let me just say that he was an amazing writer.
In this ...more

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Mar 31, 2015 Jenny (adultishbooks) rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics2015

3.5 Stars

A slow start but finished strong, this is a wonderful snapshot of America in the 1960s through the eyes of a famous author and his cantankerous dog.

I did mildly lose interest in the beginning and was wondering its focus until it got to the section in California. That's where I really invested in the story and understood its powerful and influence. I wish it was as strong as the last 60-70 pages throughout but it was what it is. I loved what it said about home and change and find its mu ...more

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Feb 09, 2015 Cathleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-lit, gri-monthly-read, 2015-reads

Travels with Charley: In Search of America and East of Eden have made me reassess my lukewarm feelings about John Steinbeck’s writing. I’ll make it a point now to read more of his novels. As an adolescent, I read The Pearl, The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. I found them true but deeply depressing, so I had little desire to revisit Steinbeck’s works. It’s not as though I’m averse to somber novels; one of my favorite authors is Thomas Hardy, and I look forward to rereading at

Travels with Charley: In Search of America and East of Eden have made me reassess my lukewarm feelings about John Steinbeck’s writing. I’ll make it a point now to read more of his novels. As an adolescent, I read The Pearl, The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. I found them true but deeply depressing, so I had little desire to revisit Steinbeck’s works. It’s not as though I’m averse to somber novels; one of my favorite authors is Thomas Hardy, and I look forward to rereading at least one of his novels every year. There was something about Steinbeck, though—something too grim and too grey for me.

When Travels with Charley was selected as a monthly read for the Good Reads Ireland group, I started it with cautious optimism. After all, adolescence was a long time ago, and Steinbeck’s book was described as a travel memoir. Travel writing is a guaranteed good read for me. Steinbeck ostensibly took his journey to reacquaint himself with America and its people. As it turned out, Travels with Charley is not exactly a travel memoir. It’s both an homage and a query to America. The physical description of the landscape is as awe-inspiring as any Ansel Adams photo. He paints the stones, the valleys, hills and roads, so vividly that even for states I’ve never visited, like Montana, if I ever do get there, I think it will seem like familiar territory. He reminds me of how changeable and vast the landscape is here; living in New England is nothing like living in Texas or Louisiana.

As far as his interactions with other Americans, some of them ring more true than others. As a result, it wasn’t too surprising for me to find out that much of his journey may have been fabricated. I imagine he created some of the characters he meets: the Shakespearean actor in the middle of Dakota, or the father and son arguing about the son’s future. They border on stock characters, but they provide a way for Steinbeck to muse about the nature of art in America or to hint at some of the social and political conflicts barely submerged at the time. His time in the South struck me as the least believable of all. It’s not that I doubt his sincerity or the ugliness of school desegregation. His description of Ruby Bridges, unnamed but clearly identifiable, so closely corresponds with news footage that I felt as though he may have written that segment after watching the news, not after actually witnessing Ruby and the “cheerleaders.” To be fair to Steinbeck, though, that segment of American history has to be one of the vilest and ugliest—so if he chose to observe and write from afar, I’m not sure I can fault him for that.

What I admire most is Steinbeck’s way of including as many people, as many voices, as he could in his story. Although he reacquaints himself with some American people, he makes no claims about what “the” American people are, and for that, I’m glad. I’m dubious of claims about “the” national identity; I’m never entirely sure what people mean when they use phrases like that. For me, I’d much prefer spending time in Steinbeck’s company, the astute and observant wondering traveler.

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Feb 13, 2015 Connie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography-memoir, non-fiction, travel, book-club, winter-2014-15

John Steinbeck took a road trip around the United States in the fall of 1960 "to try to rediscover this monster land." He bought a pick-up truck with a camper top, and named it Rocinante (after Don Quixote's horse). Charley, an older large French poodle, was Steinbeck's traveling companion. Charley served as an ice-breaker, making it easier for Steinbeck to meet strangers. Steinbeck had a chronic illness at the time of his trip, and Charley had his own set of veterinary problems, but they offere John Steinbeck took a road trip around the United States in the fall of 1960 "to try to rediscover this monster land." He bought a pick-up truck with a camper top, and named it Rocinante (after Don Quixote's horse). Charley, an older large French poodle, was Steinbeck's traveling companion. Charley served as an ice-breaker, making it easier for Steinbeck to meet strangers. Steinbeck had a chronic illness at the time of his trip, and Charley had his own set of veterinary problems, but they offered emotional support to each other. Charley also added some humor to the story, such as when he turned into a vicious barking beast when he spotted and smelled the bears in Yellowstone Park.

Steinbeck tried to talk to the "everyman" during his journey--farmers, migrant workers, and waitresses--to take the pulse of the country. Although Steinbeck has associated with many famous people, he has never forgotten his humble roots as a dock worker. As one who has lived through the 1960s, I felt that he gave a true sense of the era. He traveled through the Northeast, then took a northern route to the west coast, then headed home by taking a southern route eastward.

The most awe-inspiring stop on his journey was at a forest of majestic redwoods. The most upsetting incident was in New Orleans where a group of women (called the Cheerleaders) shouted racist comments at small black children walking to their recently integrated school. His visit to a bar in his hometown in California showed that you really can't go home again after an absence of many years--people change and the town changes.

Steinbeck got lost quite often during his trip. He seemed to suggest that America was also getting lost as the population moved from the country to the city to work in industry. He was concerned about damage to the environment as factories, garbage dumps, and interstate highways ringed the cities.

There has been some controversy about the accuracy of Steinbeck's tale, especially in journalist Bill steigerwald's book, "Dogging Steinbeck". Steinbeck did not camp out as often as his book relates, his wife flew out to meet him quite often during the trip, and his conversations with people seem to often be composites of several people. That really did not bother me since I find that most travel books give the flavor of a location, and are not a day-to-day diary. I can also understand why Steinbeck would be spending many nights in motels, considering his poor health. I enjoyed the hours I spent with Steinbeck and Charley on the road. ...more

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Oct 31, 2013 Robert rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, non-fiction

I haven't read many travelogues; off-hand I can only think of three prior to this one. Two of those were pleasant enough but unspectacular and the other was so dull I did not finish. But this is Steinbeck! Travelogue by a Nobel Prize winning writer - surely it's got to be good? After all I'm a big fan of his fiction - surely I would like this!

And I did. It's 1962 and Steinbeck has decided he's out of touch with his own country so he's going to go on a road trip in a camper van, taking his dog, C I haven't read many travelogues; off-hand I can only think of three prior to this one. Two of those were pleasant enough but unspectacular and the other was so dull I did not finish. But this is Steinbeck! Travelogue by a Nobel Prize winning writer - surely it's got to be good? After all I'm a big fan of his fiction - surely I would like this!

And I did. It's 1962 and Steinbeck has decided he's out of touch with his own country so he's going to go on a road trip in a camper van, taking his dog, Charley the elderly French Poodle, with him and leaving his wife behind...interesting choice there, John! But before he can leave a hurricane hits Long Island and he has to heroically rescue his boat. This tale of adventure before the trip even starts reminds me that Steinbeck was a fully paid up member of the WAMS - that is the White American Macho School (of writers). The founding father of this school was Jack London and the epitome was Earnest Hemingway. Note that what they wrote is irrelevant; membership is determined by their character and actions. Steinbeck's macho tendencies seem to be somewhat mellowed by age at the point of embarking on this trip - but not if his beloved boat is at stake!

So Macho John goes off to explore 40 of the lower 48 States in the space of a few months, decrying "progress" as he goes; insufficiently macho nature of the new generation, rampant comsumerism (you ain't seen nothin' yet, John!), inner city decay, enormous population growth, consequent environmental degradation... But this is no litany of complaints, most of it involves high quality description of the landscape and poking gentle fun at all and sundry (including himself and Charley) in various amusing anecdotes - reminding me that when he wanted to, Steinbeck could write humour as well as despair, something I find easy to forget.

Towards the end he arrives in the Deep South which is going through the throes of Desegregation and we are treated for the first and only time, to Steinbeck's anger, outrage and contempt; he can't figure out why anybody thinks Black people are different from White people in any meaningful way, you see...

Well worth a look if you're a Steinbeck fan; if you aren't, well, it's still worth a look! ...more

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Dec 02, 2007 Celia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who liked Fast Food Nation

Really loved this book. It's basically Steinbeck's cross-country musings about his travels with his big poodle, Charley. What I loved about it was that it lacks Steinbeck's usual heavy-handed doom and gloom. It's not lighthearted, just thoughtful. It's interesting to see how the US was becoming what it is now, McDonaldland. There's a really great section where he describes the growth of cookie-cutter hotel rooms. In the South, he speeds by someone who mistakes his big black poodle for a black p ...more

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Aug 05, 2013 Diane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, classics, own-already, animal-related, buddy-read, on-deck, bought-acquired-2014

I am very partial to John Steinbeck and this book, just like the others I've read, does not disappoint.

This non-fiction 'memoir' of sorts made me laugh (many times) and also delved into some very serious and sensitive subject matter - given that it was a journey across America in the turbulent year of 1960 gives you an idea of what I am talking about. Along lighter lines, imagine buying/renting a self-contained sturdy vehicle, packing it up (overloading it as JS admits, causing a tire blowout w ...more

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About John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Later he used real historical conditions and events in the first half of 20th century America, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter.

Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later body of work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology.

One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. He died in 1968 in New York of a heart attack and his ashes are interred in Salinas.

Seventeen of his works, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat. ...more

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