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Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage: Portrait of a Marriage
by
Carol Henning Steinbeck, writer John Steinbeck’s first wife, was his creative anchor, the inspiration for his great work of the 1930s, culminating in The Grapes of Wrath. Meeting at Lake Tahoe in 1928, their attachment was immediate, their personalities meshing in creative synergy. Carol was unconventional, artistic, and compelling. In the formative years of Steinbeck’s ca
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Hardcover, 344 pages
Published
October 20th 2013
by University of Nevada Press
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Start your review of Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage: Portrait of a Marriage
I found this to be one of the most frustrating, misleading and biased books I have ever read. The lead-in to the book at the top of this Goodreads intro gives a hint to the mindset of author Susan Shillinglaw when she wrote the book. There she states "Carol’s story is all too familiar: a creative and intelligent woman subsumes her own life and work into that of her husband." I should have been warier after reading that line. While several of the individual facts that the author uses as the basis
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A book about the first wife of an author who's continued fame and relevance could be questioned?
Yet, while I was recovering from surgery it was a good fit--some information, but not taxing, and if I missed a few things, no big deal.
Carol Steinbeck--and we get a sense of her even though the author must provide an image with no diaries and no letters for most of the years--is an untamed woman. Clearly, she was important to John and his ability to become a successful writer. ITs the whole needed a ...more
Yet, while I was recovering from surgery it was a good fit--some information, but not taxing, and if I missed a few things, no big deal.
Carol Steinbeck--and we get a sense of her even though the author must provide an image with no diaries and no letters for most of the years--is an untamed woman. Clearly, she was important to John and his ability to become a successful writer. ITs the whole needed a ...more
Shillinglaw's dual portrait joins a growing number of books in recent years exploring the lives of wives who performed important roles in the careers of their writer/artist husbands. Steinbeck acknowledged his then-wife's contribution in the dedication to The Grapes of Wrath: "To Carol, who willed this book." As former director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies and editor/author of many books about Steinbeck, Shillinglaw (San Jose State Univ.) is perfectly placed to write with sensitivity and
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I liked the subject of this book, and was involved with the way the author presented one of my favorite authors. I was only distracted because I was also reading a fantasy book at the same time and the two worlds were to much of opposites. But overall I liked this book and would revisit it again on a sunny afternoon.
A very good book about the complicated and troubled marriage of Carol and John Steinbeck. I enjoyed this as biography , but also enjoyed reading about the bohemian milieu that was around in California in the twenties and thirties.
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