The Pastures of Heaven (1932) - John Steinbeck

Written by John Steinbeck
Read by Sean Runnette
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: April 1, 2013
Duration: 07:13:54

Steinbeck gives us here a novel consisting of twelve interconnected stories. Characters you meet in one story turn up in another. By the end you know the inhabitants of Corral de Tierra valley in Monterey, California, and you know them well. It is a beautiful fertile valley, and it does exist. Although it may appear to be “the pastures of heaven”, as the title indicates, life in the valley has the difficulties one finds elsewhere.

Each of these self-contained stories is linked to the others by the presence of the Munroes, a family whose misguided behavior and lack of sensitivity precipitate disasters and tragedies. As the individual dramas unfold, Steinbeck reveals the self-deceptions, intellectual limitations, and emotional vulnerabilities that shape the characters’ reactions and gradually erode the harmony and dreams that once formed the foundation of the community.

“Each story has a reader thinking. Often a message is conveyed. I will give but a few examples. A teacher, in trying to help a student, instead awakens the child to the disgrace of poverty. A mother does all that she can for her children. In the process she becomes bitter and cold, the result being that the children cannot feel love for her. A young woman cannot bare to face reality; she simply cannot admit that her beloved father is a failure and has deserted the family. There is a story about two sisters which shows not only the love they have for each other but also that one must not make hasty judgments of other people—what looks evil and wrong may not be so.” Goodreads