The Red Pony (Puffin Classics S.)

by John Steinbeck

book data

5,378 ratings, 3.23 average rating, 279 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		13%
4		28%
3		35%
2		14%
1		8%

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published

2001 (first published 1933) by Puffin Books

binding

Paperback, 128 pages

isbn

0141312564 (isbn13: 9780141312569)

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09/11/07

Lisa Bodin rated it:

bookshelves: booksread

Read in September, 2007

I love this book. It's short, succinct, and encapsulates the dramatic, but realistic suffering side of life in three ways: the red pony, the black colt, and Jody's relationship with adults.

The Red Pony's also peppered with moments of human courage, brilliance and love. Jody's devotion to the red pony is sweet, and his idolization of Billy Buck is, I think, a realistic representation of how boys look up to men.

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08/09/07

k.wing rated it:

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: Steinbeck fans

WARNING! HORSE-LOVERS: DON'T READ THIS BECAUSE YOU THINK IT WILL BE ABOUT HORSES AND DON'T REVIEW IT SAYING THAT THAT'S WHAT YOU EXPECTED BECAUSE I JUST WARNED YOU. I am sorry if you were forced to read this book for school - it would really take the beauty out of it if someone forced you to read The Red Pony. I feel that way about all Steinbeck books actually.

It is a little difficult to get into in the beginning, but overall, this book shows the raw and unpredicible way people de...more

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08/25/08

Melissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0140187391)

bookshelves: classics

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: fans of Steinbeck or short stories about ranch life.

I sometimes don’t enjoy Steinbeck because his storylines can make me mad at the world. He’s not really known for happy stories, is he? Having known Steinbeck usually goes from bad situation to worse, I was not expecting a heartwarming horse story a la Misty of Chincoteague when I picked up The Red Pony. I daresay I was right. Staying true to form, it is free and clear of clichés, sentiment, and last minute miracles. If you hated the movie Spirit, you'll be pleased.

The Red P...more

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01/21/08

Andy rated it:

Read in August, 2007

My reintroduction to Steinbeck began with The Red Pony.

Sure I had read Of Mice and Men and Grapes Of Wrath in High School, but that was a number of years ago, and I can hardly remember either.

I found The Red Pony (a mass market paperback edition) all worn and hidden on one of the bookshelves in the classroom I work in. Apparently before it was my room, the teacher used to use it as a classroom text for 4th graders. The cover was striking and I'd been meaning to start rea...more

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12/09/08

Alayna rated it:

I struggled to finish this book. And it has about 100 tiny little pages. I can read that in an hour or so. And yet, I struggled for at least 5 days to finish this book. In fact, the ONLY reason I forced myself to finish was so I could read the online cliff notes and try and figure out what I missed. What meaning or significance could make it worth my reading. This was not an enjoyable reading experience, to say the least - except for that baffling "you must be kidding" sentiment ...more I struggled to finish this book. And it has about 100 tiny little pages. I can read that in an hour or so. And yet, I struggled for at least 5 days to finish this book. In fact, the ONLY reason I forced myself to finish was so I could read the online cliff notes and try and figure out what I missed. What meaning or significance could make it worth my reading. This was not an enjoyable reading experience, to say the least - except for that baffling "you must be kidding" sentiment at the end of each short story/chapter.

Here's the thing. I've never liked Steinbeck on my first read, and this is no different. Spoiler alert - I'm going to tell you the plot and spare you reading this yourself:

Chapter 1: Boy gets pony. Pony dies.
Chapter 2: Stranger comes. Stranger takes old horse and leaves.
Chapter 3: Boy promised new pony. Difficult birth. To keep promise, mare must be killed.
Chapter 4: Grandfather comes to visit; tells same stories that everyone has heard before. Boy is considerate of Grandfather, proving his maturity.
Book Ends.

My most common reaction was "are you kidding me?!" I mean, pretty much at the end of each short story/chapter I was left saying those exact words - it just unnecessary killing off of people or things of meaning to this young boy, and then no extra explanation or reason or working it in to the broader context. Its the story of a boy growing up and and the disappointments he faces along the way, but we never learn to love or identify with him. The best character is Billy Buck (the farm worker) because we feel for him so dearly; how he doesn't want to disappoint Jody, but has to because ... life is disappointing sometimes.

So, the positive: characterization is very very well done. You get the very essence of a person from just a simple description. Excellently done. Billy Buck is a wonderful character. You get a thorough sense of the place, and time, and life on the farm, and the awkwardness between father and son then. The rural life; the virtues they appreciated then (horsemanship, hard work, etc.)

The only other thing I'll point out is that I wasn't clear if it was supposed to be 4 short stories or 4 chapters. Steinbeck seems to muddy the lines between that - the third chapter refers back to the first, but the fourth reintroduces people as if we did not know.

Time to look up some other people's analysis and so I can see if there was anything I can salvage out of this experience. (less)

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10/07/07

Kate rated it:

(review of isbn 0140177361)

Read in March, 1992

recommends it for: no one

If I could give this less stars I would. It's not about a Red Pony...it doesn't even SYMBOLIZE a red pony, nor does the actual red pony, who turns out to be insignificant, symbolize anything. It's just loooong Seven Years in Tibet-length descriptions of the clouds and landscape. I swear he spent five frikkin' pages on the rancher's moustache. Just awful.

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01/09/09

Sonnet (Kira) rated it:

Read in January, 2004

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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03/03/09

Jieun rated it:

bookshelves: english-12

Read in March, 2009

Plot Summary
The Red Pony is divided into four stories, all centered on a young boy named Jody Tiflin. Each part of the book tells critical events in Jody's childhood. The first story is called The Gift. This story describes Carl Tiflin's family and ranch, which will be the setting of all four stories. Jody is Carl's son. Another central character is Billy Buck, the ranch's employed hand. While Carl is a stern, strict man, Billy is kinder, and spends a lot of time teaching Jody how to take ...more

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04/20/08

Emily rated it:

Read in January, 1987

One of the most vivid books my mom ever read-aloud to me when I was a girl. I still distinctly remember the images that were painted in my mind with this vivid portrait of the rough life of a ranching family.

Jody's need to love and be loved by his brusque father, and the sudden understanding of death and its contrast to life are so stark; it made my sisters and me weep hot tears as my mom read. I still remember the way my heart heaved and ached as I heard the climax of this story.

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3 comments

06/21/09

Poe Bird rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101900)

bookshelves: favourites

Read in June, 2009

I’m sitting here trying to think of the best way to describe the reasons why I like John Steinbeck. I can’t put my finger on it; maybe if I was a better writer I could do him justice.

There’s a kind of atmosphere that Steinbeck creates, perhaps you can only know that atmosphere if you’ve lived in the country somewhere in the states. Maybe for that reason I can notice his attention to detail with some clarity, it feels real to me. What amazes me is that he takes the ordinary a...more

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02/21/08

Artie rated it:

(review of isbn 0140177361)

If you read my Travels with Charlie review, you'll see that I do not entirely appreciate John Steinbeck and his works. Nevertheless, this one was acceptable as the plot took us on a sort of "Old Yeller" journey. But with a horse.

Also, if this book were even a page longer I would immediately downgrade it to 2 stars. But since you can roll through this novelette, as it were, in less times than it takes me to eat lunch, it is passable.

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12/28/08

Juliekjewell rated it:

(review of isbn 0582434734)

Read in December, 2008

John Stenibeck descriptions are unique. He describes the hired hand, Billy Buck, as a broad, bandy-legged little man with a walrus mustache. Wonderful description! The Red Pony is the story of a young boy with a demanding, demeaning father. Billy Buck teaches him ways of tenderness and compassion with animals that eventually spill over into his treatment of his elderly grandfather. The boy learns about the ways of nature, sadness, and recovery.

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01/07/09

Roxana rated it:

Read in January, 2006

This book talks about a boy that lives with his family and he receives a pony from his uncle and his father. The intension for giving him the pony was that he was to take good care of it because his uncle bought it with his money. So, the boy shows it off when one day he goes to school but he makes a big mistake because that day it was going to rain (and ponies get sick when it rains). The red pony dies of how effected he got by the rain and the boy becomes very sad. To find out what happens nex...more

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12/23/08

Katie rated it:

bookshelves: 1993-and-before, classics, horse-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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04/02/08

Floyd rated it:

Short. Sad. Red Pony.

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12/21/08

Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 0140177361)

bookshelves: 2009, classics

Read in January, 2009

1/29/09

Original review here.

The Red Pony is a set of four stories about a young boy named Jody Tiflin and his family. He lives on a ranch in southern California with his parents and a farmhand named Billy. I read from various sources online that the stories were fairly autobiographical, but I have no proof of that. If they aren't, Steinbeck at least calls on his experiences growing up in that area in writing these stories. As with every Steinbeck book that I've read, the ...more 1/29/09

Original review here.

The Red Pony is a set of four stories about a young boy named Jody Tiflin and his family. He lives on a ranch in southern California with his parents and a farmhand named Billy. I read from various sources online that the stories were fairly autobiographical, but I have no proof of that. If they aren't, Steinbeck at least calls on his experiences growing up in that area in writing these stories. As with every Steinbeck book that I've read, the details and characterizations are immaculate.

The stories center on the themes of death, life, aging, and family. The strongest and most prominent of these is probably death. In the first story, "The Gift," Jody receives a pony from his father. The boy matures in the months that he owns this pony - going from a kid who neglects his chores and plays all day to a young adult disciplined in his work - but retains his youthful outlook of the world. He loves his horse and expects them to have a great life together. He believes Billy, the farmhand, is infallible and can cure any ailment. Jody is disillusioned on both accounts when he experiences the death of a loved one for the first time.

In "The Great Mountains," death is seen in a different light: hopeful, triumphant, almost heroic. It takes on a third meaning in "The Promise," where new life is coupled with death. And in the last story, "The Leader of the People," death becomes symbolic - the death of a time period, of memories, of legend.

This novella, while well-written, doesn't have the same depth as other Steinbeck books I've read. I didn't relate to it as much as I did to The Grapes of Wrath, where the characters felt like they could have been from my own family history. But it was interesting to see a replica of the way a poor ranch family lived about a hundred years ago. I can't imagine living like the mother of this family, constantly cooking or cleaning, tied to the house; nor can I imagine having children that disemboweled birds because they were bored, or collected reptiles in their lunch pails on the way home from school. The world I live in is so different, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that people actually did live that way, and not so very long ago. This was the way some of my grandparents lived. That fact sort of brings home how much the world has changed. Honestly, I'm glad. I'm glad for my little luxuries, for not needing to raise and kill my own food, for doctors and vets. I don't mind that I don't possess the same knowledge my ancestors had (how to give a horse a tracheotomy, how to turn a breech colt fetus, how to cut open infected glands to drain the pus...). I far prefer living now, even if life has lost the simplicity that it might have once had. Books like The Red Pony help reinforce my thankfulness.(less)

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07/02/08

Judy rated it:

Read in August, 2008

Some interesting equine medical issues here: a tracheotomy and a puss-filled neck boil symptomatic of the "strangles" but primarily this book is about human psychology on a California ranch circa the early 20th century.

Snapshots of male human relations between generations following the end of our western expansion as a nation—the different ways each have become heroes.

For the father in middle age he is the breadwinner, for the grandfather in old age he is th...more Some interesting equine medical issues here: a tracheotomy and a puss-filled neck boil symptomatic of the "strangles" but primarily this book is about human psychology on a California ranch circa the early 20th century.

Snapshots of male human relations between generations following the end of our western expansion as a nation—the different ways each have become heroes.

For the father in middle age he is the breadwinner, for the grandfather in old age he is the storyteller.

For Billy Buck, an unmarried ranch hand, he needs to smack a birthing mare twice on the forehead with a hammer and rip her belly open to be a hero and save face with the boy—essentially re-playing his own childbirth during which his mother died.

For Jody, a little boy still, he becomes a hero by the simple kindness of listening to the older generation.

These family members love each other, I think, ( stoic as they are) but in daily interactions, the father injures those around him with cruel and thoughtless words. It is a symptom of a powerlessness he feels ( or asperger's syndrome) —perhaps because of hard times during the depression. Perhaps because the mysteries of his own boyhood have not been solved but bitterly laid aside. Or maybe he is just nasty.

There's a brief look at how abuse and disappointment can cause little boys to murder little animals. This is the crossroads where a boy with borderline psychosis might begin a criminal life. Or is ripping the wings off and decapitating an innocent bird just "boys being boys"?

Of interest is the dog who acquires a limp when yelled at or snapped at by a rat trap...purposely bated with stale cheese by the boy in his mean mood. ( The boy drags his foot similarly when expecting to be reprimanded )

But Jody, when eventually feeling less mean, strokes the horny toad on his soft underbelly until groggy....... then merely incarcerates him in his tin lunch pale along with several lizards, additional horny toads and a blue snake.

And Jody, blessed with mental health and a conscious, probably grows up to be Steinbeck himself writing even better stories.(less)

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03/22/09

Angela rated it:

(review of isbn 0553278363)

Read in March, 2009

i forgot i had done a book report on this book for Ms. Huey in 8th grade CLUE class until I was about 3 pages into this.. i wish i still had that project. i forgot how depressing the first half of this short story is. steinbeck always makes me wish i lived in the 20s in southern california. i feel as though i have lived less for never having grown up on a farm.

** there is a short story at the end of this "junius maltby" which is really touching and somewhat social commentar...more

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02/11/08

Jessica M rated it:

(review of isbn 0553278363)

Read in February, 2008

There was a period in my life when I was obsessively buying used books from the library. I picked this one up for $0.35 about three years ago. I read about half a chapter, then forgot about it until a couple weeks ago. It became my commuting book.

I enjoy John Steinbeck. He's a little bit sullen, but he's also kind of hilarious in this unassuming way. The way he describes characters and sets up situations. I often find myself smiling/chuckling to myself on the bus/rapid transit.
...more

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05/27/09

Michael rated it:

Susan Shillinglaw, the director of the Steinbeck museum at San Jose State University, told a story about Steinbeck writing this book and loosing the manuscript before it was published during a move. He sat down and re-wrote the entire book from memory. After his death the original manuscript was disovered; when compared, there were only three words difference between the original manuscript and the published version.

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