Travels With Charley: In Search of America

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Travels With Charley: In Search of America

by John Steinbeck

3.98 · rating details · 14,840 ratings · 1,390 reviews

To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light--these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of 58, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

Paperback, 214 pages

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

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Jan 15, 2012

karen rated it

· review of another edition

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

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 experienc...more

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May 31, 2008

Grip Dellabonte rated it

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 crank...more

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Sep 22, 2011

K.D. rated it

· review of another edition

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

Shelves: travel, memoirs, nobel, 501

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 ...moreSix 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.
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Jun 06, 2009

Laurel rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, classics, travel-adventure, memoir

This is John Steinbeck's wonderfully written memoir of his journey across America with his dog, Charley. As one who loves Steinbeck, travel, and travel memoirs -- it's no surprise that I really enjoyed this book.

What did surprise me was Steinbeck's humor. His recollections are full of witty tales about his dog and his encounters with various people they meet along the way. There’s one scene that is quite funny where his dog comes across a bear for the very first time. Normal...more
This is John Steinbeck's wonderfully written memoir of his journey across America with his dog, Charley. As one who loves Steinbeck, travel, and travel memoirs -- it's no surprise that I really enjoyed this book.

What did surprise me was Steinbeck's humor. His recollections are full of witty tales about his dog and his encounters with various people they meet along the way. There’s one scene that is quite funny where his dog comes across a bear for the very first time. Normally a quite cowardly little french poodle, Charley suddenly thinks he's a ferocious killer who could murder any giant bear daring to cross his path. Steinbeck writes, "Charley became a maniac. He leaped all over me, he cursed and growled, snarled and screamed. I didn't know he had the ability to snarl. Where did he learn it? ...His lips flared, showing wicked teeth that have some trouble with a dog biscuit." It actually reminded me a lot of Bill Bryson. In fact, there were many times through out this book that I almost felt as though I were reading a Bryson memoir vs. a Steinbeck one. I mean that as a compliment to Steinbeck, though I think maybe Bryson would be more flattered by it. :)

Not much happens in this book. Steinbeck is more interested in reflection and in description (both of landscapes and people) than he is in telling of events. One of my favorite descriptions was that of the redwoods in CA:

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes. No, they are not like any trees we know. They are ambassadors from another time. They have the mystery of ferns that disappeared a million years ago into the coal of the carboniferous era. They carry their own light and shade. The vainest, most slap-happy and irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of wonder and respect. Respect. That's the word. One feels the need to bow to unquestioned sovereigns.”
(Any grammatical errors are my own; I listened to the audio version).

Worth reading, especially if you are lover of travel. I'd also recommend it to dog lovers; I'm more of a cat person myself, but I easily fell in love with Charley.

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Mar 24, 2008

Shellie rated it

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

Recommended to Shellie 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 tr...more

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Dec 02, 2007

CELIA rated it

· 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 bla...more

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Jan 05, 2012

Adam Floridia rated it

I just adore Steinbeck’s prose in this work. Honestly, that is what makes up for the general lack of content. And I don’t mean that previous sentence to be disparaging, it’s just not what I expected…the journey wasn’t what Steinbeck expected either. I thought there would be almost a state by state index, categorizing the “American” people and their differing habits, beliefs, customs, passions, and foibles. However, it’s not surprising that Steinbeck realizes that defining “American” is nigh ...moreI just adore Steinbeck’s prose in this work. Honestly, that is what makes up for the general lack of content. And I don’t mean that previous sentence to be disparaging, it’s just not what I expected…the journey wasn’t what Steinbeck expected either. I thought there would be almost a state by state index, categorizing the “American” people and their differing habits, beliefs, customs, passions, and foibles. However, it’s not surprising that Steinbeck realizes that defining “American” is nigh impossible, for defining any group of individuals is, by definition, problematic. Ultimately, he is only able to make such sweeping generalizations as “For all our enormous geographic range, for all our sectionalism, for all our interwoven breeds drawn from every part of the ethnic world, we are a nation, a new breed” (159). He also admits that any distinctions that actually could be made by any observer are, essentially, confined to and shaped by that single person’s perspective: “This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me” (159).

What there was in terms of content, though, was a very subtle critique of the American way of life. Many of his misgivings reminded me of Vonnegut’s; however, Steinbeck’s actually came across more as a lamenting shrug than a harsh criticism. He notes how, “Everywhere a frantic growth, a carcinomatous growth…I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction…Everything was convenient centrally located and lonesome” (138-139 my italics). Thus, progress leads to loneliness, the ultimate American disease according to Vonnegut. Technology is ruining individuality: “Communication must destroy localness, by a slow, inevitable process” (82). Mechanization is ruining…well everything: “Even while I protest the assembly-line production of our food, our songs, our language, and eventually our souls, I know that it was a rare home that baked good bread in the old days” (83). Note, however, how Steinbeck explicitly recognizes here his own tendency to fall into the “golden age” fallacy.

Potpourri: As a dog lover, I really loved his relationship with and descriptions of Charley.
"[Charlie] was born in Bercy on the outskirts of Paris and trained in France, and while he knows a little poodle-English, he responds quickly only to commands in French. Otherwise he has to translate, and that slows him down" (7). Conversely, the descriptions of the scenes he witnessed in the segregation-torn south were sickening.

A favorite description: “The owner [of the gas station] was a giant with a scarred face and an evil white eye. If he were a horse, I wouldn’t buy him” (141).

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Nov 07, 2010

CD rated it

Shelves: dog, american-literature, nobel-authors, pop-culture, pulitzer-prize

John Steinbeck is far from my favorite author or writer, but he is one of my favorite story tellers.

Knowing that I wrote more than one 'report' or serious paper in school about Steinbeck works, to repeat in a typical review what others have contributed before and since is not what I want to do in this brief commentary.

Steinbeck is becoming dated in many ways that I had not real thought of until of late. The timeless content that partially earned him great accolades has for ...moreJohn Steinbeck is far from my favorite author or writer, but he is one of my favorite story tellers.

Knowing that I wrote more than one 'report' or serious paper in school about Steinbeck works, to repeat in a typical review what others have contributed before and since is not what I want to do in this brief commentary.

Steinbeck is becoming dated in many ways that I had not real thought of until of late. The timeless content that partially earned him great accolades has for now begun to be nostalgic.

These glimpses or moments in time in J.S. works combined with the writing that many found to be so worthy is much of what elevated him to the pinnacle of American fiction writing. Yet never being a fan of his prose style I was none-the-less captured by the stories. East of Eden, Cannery Row, and Tortilla Flat to name three great stories if not his greatest works all tell American Stories in a unique and captivating way. The more than impressive film catalog that were drawn directly from his stories and his direct contribution as a screenwriter (Academy Award nomination even!) adds to the impressive Steinbeck contribution in American literature. Yet . . .

The stories are great but of an era. Is their a better tale of the twentieth century formative hardship of the new American than Grapes of Wrath? If so what? But I am not a 'fan' of the work. The story though is timeless and truly American if western centric. The Pearl is one of his great human stories, but buried under a lot mechanisms of the period and place setting his chooses or knows to use. The California background of his life colors all his work mechanically and in that lies a frozen moment in American and Literary history that leads to my current feelings that his work are now becoming very nostalgic.

So what is more nostalgic than a story about an aging man and his dog trekking for what may be the last time? What is more American than doing it cross country in the mid 20th century United States at the perhaps the height of the 'Car Culture'? Nothing. This is a tale of rediscovery,revelation, and revulsion. Steinbeck really has lost none of his powers in what would be one of his final major works before his death thousands of miles from home. Though the trip with the poodle of the universal dog name occurred about a decade prior to his death, it is a fitting last bookend to his body of work. His last years are another story and his travels with Charley reveal an America that Steinbeck almost doesn't know. He finds revelation and some redemption in the final wilderness areas of the lower 48 in his search for solace from the homogenization of America in things not worthy of a great nation. Another captivating and important story from Steinbeck. Maybe one of the greatest travelogues ever written can be found in Travels with Charley is what warrants the 5 stars.

Finally a note or two concerning what got me thinking about this work. Yes, off and on I've been indulging in 'dog literature'. That has, along with a few friends who've been looking for suggestions of quality dog stories, been a reason that this work has popped up again. There is also in the nostalgic and historic prescient elements of Steinbeck and other giants of American Letters a curiosity of who will inherit that mantle in the now early 21st Century.

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Dec 28, 2009

Emily rated it

· review of another edition

In my next life, i do believe I will take Steinbeck as my mistress(?)

Late in his writing, Steinbeck road-trips across America in his trusty truck/camper ("Rocinante"--brilliant) with his trusty shmup Charly the french poodle from France in order to "rediscover" America. Very different from traditional Steinbeck, this novella still diverges into lovely tangents about his observations of people and place, behavior and mannerisms, local color and speech, animals--thi...more

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May 19, 2008

Doneen rated it

Recently our Sunday paper travel section had a list of recommended travel books so that's why I tried this one. Plus I like Steinbeck and think he's pretty funny when he's not writing "Grapes of Wrath" or "Mice and Men." This was written about 1960, when he was older and grumpier. But it's a great take on his ideas about America at that time. There's a quote near the end of the book which really resonated with me.

"In the beginning of this record I tried t...more

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Jan 09, 2008

Rick rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

This is what Clive James would call an ancillary work by Steinbeck. It is an engaging, sloppy narrative of a round-trip Steinbeck took in a cabined pick-up truck in 1960. For me it began with two strikes: conversations with his dog, a named vehicle, but I survived both of those personal irritations and enjoyed long stretches of the journey and some parts of it immensely. Some of the dialogue, I must say, seems manufactured here and there. If not manufactured, then it is at least translated into ...more

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Dec 28, 2007

Trishtator rated it

Shelves: classics, own-it

A quote I really like, as it captures what Steinbeck and I share in our hearts.

For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard or too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not a punishment. I did not want to surrender my fierceness for a small gain in yardage...I k...more

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Sep 12, 2007

Leslie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: reluctant lovers of america

I loved this gentle, open-eyed drive through the US (and a bit of Canada), which Steinbeck made in his later years, after he was famous and settled down comfortably in a house on Long Island. His reason for the trip was that he felt that he'd lost touch with the country which he had become so renowned for knowing and describing. He goes incognito in a pickup truck modified for sleeping one man and one dog. I love the gray French poodle, Charley, especially his adventures in French Canada, where ...more

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Aug 09, 2011

Ryan Milbrath added it

Ahh Steinbeck how enjoy you and your writing style even when public education has sought to destroy any student's intrinsic motivation to just simply read your works. Up until now, I had read mostly Steinbeck's fictional work. Though, it's funny to see the same narrative style and insightful-at times aloof-commentary he uses in his fictional works in this travel diary.

As always, Steinbecks descriptions of landscape and scenery make me at times actually feel, smell, and taste his environment ...more

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Mar 18, 2009

Deborah rated it

Shelves: nonfiction-for-the-fiction-fan, desert-island-keepers

Synopsis:
To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light— these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

This is my favorite Steinbeck book ever. I first read it back in high school, when it was recommended by my english teacher. I don't always enjoy his fiction, even though I love the way he writes - usually his subject ...more

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Mar 11, 2009

Becky rated it

Travels With Charley is my second John Steinbeck book. And it was a delight to read. (In fact I stayed up with this one because I just couldn't put it down!) I recommend it for those that fall into one or more of the following categories: dog lovers--particularly dog owners; travel-lovers--particularly those that dream of taking a cross-country road trip across the U.S.; history-lovers--particularly those that are interested in America's culture and politics; literature-lovers--particularly thos...moreTravels With Charley is my second John Steinbeck book. And it was a delight to read. (In fact I stayed up with this one because I just couldn't put it down!) I recommend it for those that fall into one or more of the following categories: dog lovers--particularly dog owners; travel-lovers--particularly those that dream of taking a cross-country road trip across the U.S.; history-lovers--particularly those that are interested in America's culture and politics; literature-lovers--particularly those that love nice-and-steady prose that satisfies. I love the reflectiveness of the book; it's very straightforward. For those unfamiliar with the premise, it is the story of a man (famous writer though he may be) and his dog as they travel across the United States in 1960. It's also very quotable. I tagged passage after passage after passage. Here's how it starts off:

When I very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job.

It continues,

"When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going. This to the practical bum is not difficult. He has a built-in garden of reasons to choose from. Next he must plan his trip in time and space, choose a direction and destination. And last he must implement the journey. How to go, what to take, how long to stay. This part of the process is invariable and immortal. I set it down only so that newcomers to bumdom, like teenagers in new-hatched sin, will not think they invented it. Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brassbound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it."

Travels with Charley is an intelligent novel; but it's an accessible one as well. Steinbeck might have been smart; he might have had a way with words--but he knows how to tell a story. There's nothing pretentious about it; it's meant to be read and enjoyed. I have several favorite bits. One of the more humorous ones is when Steinbeck is telling about Charley's reaction to the bears in Yellowstone National Park! Though he was in the truck--named Rocinante after Don Quixote's horse--Charley was determined to show those bears what for!

Less than a mile from the entrance I saw a bear beside the road, and it ambled out as though to flag me down. Instantly a change came over Charley. He shrieked wit rage. His lips flared, showing wicked teeth that have some trouble with a dog biscuit. He screeched insults at the bear, which hearing the bear reared up and seemed to me to overtop Rocinante. Frantically I rolled the windows shut and, swinging quickly to the left, grazed the animal, then scuttled on while Charley raved and ranted beside me, describing in detail what he would do to that bear if he could get at him. I was never so astonished in my life. to the best of my knowledge Charley had never seen a bear, and in his whole history had showed great tolerance for every living thing. Besides all this, Charley is a coward, so deep-seated a coward that he has developed a technique for concealing it. And yet he showed every evidence of wanting to get out and murder a bear that outweighed him a thousand to one. I don't understand it. A little farther along two bears showed up, and the effect was doubled. Charley became a maniac. He leaped all over me, he cursed and growled, snarled and screamed. I didn't know he had the ability to snarl. Where did he learn it? Bears were in good supply, and the road became a nightmare. For the first time in his life Charley resisted reason, even resisted a cuff on the ear. He became a primitive killer lusting for the blood of his enemy, and up to this moment he had had no enemies....

And how could I resist his passages about Texas? I couldn't! From his, "Once you are in Texas it seems to take forever to get out, and some people never make it" to his, "Most areas in the world may be placed in latitude and longitude, described chemically in their earth, sky and water, rooted and fuzzed over with identified flora and peopled with known fauna, and there's an end to it. Then there are others where fable, myth, preconception, love, longing, or prejudice step in and so distort a cool, clear appraisal that a kind of high-colored magical confusion takes permanent hold. Greece is such an area, and those parts of England where King Arthur walked. One quality of such places as I am trying to define is that a very large part of them is personal and subjective. And surely Texas is such a place....What I am trying to say is that there is no physical or geographical unity in Texas. Its unity lies in the mind. And this is not only in Texans. The word Texas becomes a symbol to everyone in the world. There's no question that this Texas-of-the-mind fable is often synthetic, sometimes untruthful, and frequently romantic, but that in no way diminishes its strength as a symbol."

But perhaps the most significant section covers Steinbeck's travels into New Orleans to witness the "Cheerleaders" protesting the integration of the schools. You can only read it in awe that it really and truly happened. That hate and prejudice really was so dominant, so loud, so jarring, so front-and-center.(less)

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Jan 27, 2009

Will rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

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...more

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Nov 24, 2008

Powells.com rated it

Wanderlust is a pervasive, seemingly incurable "virus of restlessness." Not contagious in any clinical sense, you either have it or you don't. John Steinbeck did, in spades. As the 1960s commenced, Steinbeck, according to his oldest son, sensed his impending twilight, and thus set out with his French poodle, Charley, to see his country a final time. Spanning nearly 10,000 miles — from New York, through New England, across the northern U.S. border, into the Pacific Northwest, down throu...more

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Sep 24, 2011

Murdock Hendrix rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It's been a long time since I have read a Steinbeck novel, probably since high school. Shame on me! His writing is so vivid and so complete that reading this book has re-kindled my desire to read more of his offerings.

In the book Travels with Charley in Search of America John Steinbeck travels America with his dog, Charley, in a huge loop from Sag Harbor, New York over the plains to the Northwest, down through California, across the West and down into the Deep South of New Orleans and ...more

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Aug 30, 2011

Istop4books rated it

Shelves: book-ring, non-fiction, pulitzer-author

Seems to me that many of us Americans have the itch to get on the open road and see our beautiful country - perhaps overlooking its flaws. After reading Travels with Charlie, I got the distinct feeling that Steinbeck intended this trip to be one of learning about the beauty of the country, and instead -- somewhere between the taciturn waitress in Maine, the memories of his now-unrecognizable home town in California and the blatant racism of the South, he became discouraged and practically highta...more

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Aug 09, 2011

Sarah rated it

Shelves: america, road-trips, dogs, travel

My first Steinbeck! How did they let me become a librarian without ever reading him? In the early 1960's, Steinbeck leaves his wife at home, and embarks on a cross-country road trip to rediscover America. He has outfitted his camper truck, Rocinante (named after Don Quixote's horse), with equipment to cover all the elements and the unexpected. His only travel companion is Charley, his trusted poodle. They begin in the Northeast, head over Northern America to Montana and Washington (with a b...more

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Jul 08, 2011

Sarah rated it

Shelves: travel-narrative

Definitely a page turner that kept me reading later than I should have stayed up. I loved that he created full, imperfect, but still sympathetic characters. Both main characters were heroic in their own right but were still realistic in their reactions. I also liked that there was suspense and action, but that the author didn't actually hold up the story to draw out the suspense. All in all tightly plotted and deftly written.

This was my first Steinbeck (clearly my high school li...moreDefinitely a page turner that kept me reading later than I should have stayed up. I loved that he created full, imperfect, but still sympathetic characters. Both main characters were heroic in their own right but were still realistic in their reactions. I also liked that there was suspense and action, but that the author didn't actually hold up the story to draw out the suspense. All in all tightly plotted and deftly written.

This was my first Steinbeck (clearly my high school literary education was lacking), and I know it sounds silly, but reading it I understood why he was such a popular writer. Yes, he wrote books that defined his time, but he also his prose is so clean that he made what was essentially a travel journal interesting and page-turing. I might have to go read one of his other, better known books.

I loved his descriptions, in particular of Maine, Wyoming and Central California. I also loved that nothing is ever new: he spent the book lamenting about the loss of regionalism and the uniqueness of the different pockets of the country. He was afraid that radio and TV were going to make us one big anonymous country. He had a lot of interesting observations about the character of the American soul, race relations and, interestingly enough, environmentalism. However, I'll leave those parts to each person because I image that this book is a like a Warshak test - what you get out of it says more about you and how you view America than anything Steinbeck might have intended you to take away.

I do disagree with a statement made in the introduction by Jay Parini who said that Steinbeck made a point to talk to people where ever he was because "he wanted to know what America was thinking. Unfortunately, he soon came to realize that very little was on the mine of the average U.S. citizen." I don't think Steinbeck was that hard on the people he met and his empathy and interest showed in his characterizations of his conversations. Steinbeck loves people, that is clear from his writing, and he doesn't judge them, unlike dear old Jay Parini, who doesn't seem to be at all interested in the subtly with which Steinbeck painted his interactions and the characters that he met.

All in all, this was eminently readable and well worth the time to see the country through Steinbeck's eyes. (less)

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May 06, 2011

Carmen rated it

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Of course I love John Steinbeck. Always have since they made me read The Pearl in grade school. I don't think I'd ever come to a full appreciation of his work until I read East of Eden last summer. Travels With Charlie is actually the 5th of his works I've finished and I love him even more now than I ever did.

It's a quick read and I was fascinated with his descriptions of towns and peoples and his state of mind as he traveled alone with his dog. I went to the Steinbeck museum in Sal...more

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May 05, 2011

Julie Luekenga rated it

I love this book. Steinbeck writes a non-fiction tale of his cross-country travels with his standard french poodle, Charley. Steinbeck starts out to rediscover America in the early 60's-- just years before his death in 1968. He equips his sturdy pick-up truck with a custom made camper and sets out with his faithful companion. He contrasts the development of urban sprawl (just think if he made that same trip today!) with the America he once knew and describes the boring, endless ribbons of hig...more

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May 01, 2011

Pawan rated it

This travelogue by John Steinbeck is very close to my heart, not because of great writing but due to the idea of such a travel. Literature wise, many of his other books like “East of Eden” are really great, but “Travels with Charley: In search of America” makes you crave for such a journey. During the end of his career, he took a road trip in a specially designed camper named Rocinante along with his French Standard poodle “Charley” around the United States. This book is the story of that journe...more

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Apr 16, 2011

Jeff rated it

Shelves: 311-312

Inspirational quote: "But if there is indeed an American image built of truth rather than reflecting either hostility or wishful thinking, what is this image? What does it look like? What does it do? If the same song, the same joke, the same style sweeps through all parts of the country at once, it must be that all Americans are alike in something. The fact that the same joke, the same style, has no effect in France or England or Italy, makes this contention valid. But the more I inspec...more

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Mar 15, 2011

Marigold rated it

Shelves: dogs, memoir, non-fiction, travel, five-stars

I want to marry John Steinbeck & have his babies. That's how much I loved this book. Yeah yeah, I know he's dead, but in my universe he's alive so I can sit down & chat with John & his gentleman poodle, Charley, in a camper/truck named Rocinante, and drink coffee with whiskey in it - & look at the scenery & talk about everything & nothing.
If you want to find out what America was like in 1962, this is your book. Steinbeck crosses what he calls the “great hives of production” – and then he ...moreI want to marry John Steinbeck & have his babies. That's how much I loved this book. Yeah yeah, I know he's dead, but in my universe he's alive so I can sit down & chat with John & his gentleman poodle, Charley, in a camper/truck named Rocinante, and drink coffee with whiskey in it - & look at the scenery & talk about everything & nothing.
If you want to find out what America was like in 1962, this is your book. Steinbeck crosses what he calls the “great hives of production” – and then he mentions Youngstown, Cleveland, Akron, Pontiac and Flint. He makes friends with a man who starts off by accusing him of trespassing, & sits down for a drink with him. Throughout the book, for the most part Steinbeck talks to people he meets, finds commonality, & makes friends even with people who obviously disagree with his point of view. I wonder if that could even happen now?
I love John because he ruminates on the emotional state of his dog, without being maudlin. He hates sterilized hotel rooms where everything is covered in plastic. He gets lost, frequently but hilariously. He meets people who live full-time in RVs & is fascinated by them. He loves finding and listening to “regional speech,” which he realizes is going away. He imagines a man named Lonesome Harry who once stayed in a hotel room in Chicago. He doesn’t shoot coyotes.
I live in Oregon, & just about bust a gut laughing at this, written after John gets a flat tire on an Oregon highway. “It was obvious that the other tire might go at any moment, and it was raining and it was Sunday and it was Oregon. If the other tire blew, there we were, on a wet and lonesome road, having no recourse except to burst into tears and wait for death. And perhaps some kind birds might cover us with leaves.” That’s about the best description of any Oregon day that I’ve ever read!
Warning, there’s lots of use of “the n word” in this book – because it was used for real in the South in 1962 – and John doesn’t like the state of mind among the less educated southerners one bit. He writes that the way some whites treat blacks in the south raises a “weary, hopeless nausea” in him, & he’s not even a little bit funny about it, so all the gentle comedy of the book goes into hiding during this section. Again, I loved the book even more because Steinbeck didn’t try to soften the rough edges.
So if I ever decide to wander the countryside in a camper van, I’ll try to keep a full coffeepot & a bottle of whiskey, along with an open mind. Thank you, John & Charley!

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Mar 02, 2011

Troy Parfitt rated it

I read a lot of Steinbeck as a teenager: East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, Cannery Row, and a collection of his short stories. I bought Travels with Charley when I was 18 and took it to work one day, intending to read it at lunch, but got teased so badly that I began to leave it at home and eventually to neglect. "What kind of sissy crap is that yer readin'?" I was asked. I had a blue-collar job.

What I didn't realize was that I had casually tos...more

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Feb 21, 2011

Kim rated it

Shelves: travel-literature, john-steinbeck

The whole concept of journaling "The Road Trip", which is what Steinbeck does in this book, was tantalizing. I repeatedly wanted to start loading things into the car and heading off for who knows where as I was reading it.

I always find Steinbeck a little too earthy and fixed for my tastes. He takes for granted that everyone shares his value for roots and tradition where for a personality like mine those aren't the unshakable thing he seems to accept as a ground zero value. So...more

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Feb 04, 2011

Rachel rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

Great little book about Steinbeck's travels across the U.S. with his dog. Often, the book says more about Steinbeck (and Charley) than about the U.S. But the racial conflict of the time (1960s) was explored deeply and intelligently.

It contains perhaps my favorite passage about beards ever:

"I wear a beard and mustache but shave my cheeks; said beard, having a dark skunk strip up the middle and white edges, commemorates certain relatives. I cultivate this beard not for ...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 u...moreJohn 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.(less)

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“I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found.” — 337 people liked it

“I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.” — 327 people liked it

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