The Long Valley

by John Steinbeck

The Long Valley tells the story of the people of the Salinas Valley, California. Here are the paisanos of Tortilla Flat, the barley-ranch from Of Mice and Men, the agricultural workers of The Grapes of Wrath, the migrants, the farmers of Monterey and all the simple people brought to life so vividly in Steinbeck's books. This edition does not contain the story The Red Pony.

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are gritty little stories of people living in or near the Salinas Valley. Red Pony is the standout but they are all good. Impoverished communities producing cheap American food. Backbone of the living standards of the country. Nah!

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

5* for 'Johnny Bear'

[Tom Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is interesting mainly for the progress in skill that Steinbeck achieves. None of these stories are earth shattering but still a good read.

[Galicius · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a “black sheep” story in this collection that blackens the whole lot. It’s totally out of place in the group. Where does it come and what in the world is it doing in the Salinas country? It was totally ok and admirable for George Orwell to make pigs out of communist bureaucrats in “Animal Farm” but it not the same what Steinbeck is doing here making a pig into a virgin saint. This is not a burlesque. He may have styled it as a satire, farce, or irony but it is none of these to me. It is offensive to women and to religion. Steinbeck treats women throughout these stories either as neurotic or seriously inadequate.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a single word in these short stories is less than perfectly applied. In the restraint of the prose and the delicacy of the stories, there is such humanity.