Celia's review
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
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 person in the passenger seat, a terrible episode, but a telling one.
For you teachers out there or those of you who enjoy themes, I read this when Fast Food Nation came out, and it's a good prequel. Lars Eighner's Travels with Lizbeth, which I've yet to get my hands on except for the excerpt "On Dumpster Diving" in the comp book I teach, also looks like a good follow-up (Eighner wrote about his experiences as a homeless man with his dog, Lizbeth). Also thought a lot about it w...more
For you teachers out there or those of you who enjoy themes, I read this when Fast Food Nation came out, and it's a good prequel. Lars Eighner's Travels with Lizbeth, which I've yet to get my hands on except for the excerpt "On Dumpster Diving" in the comp book I teach, also looks like a good follow-up (Eighner wrote about his experiences as a homeless man with his dog, Lizbeth). Also thought a lot about it w...more
