(What. The. Fuck.)

The Long Valley is perhaps one of the most intriguing Steinbeck story collections as it both showcases his immense range of themes and literary devices but also sets them in a terrifying cacophony against each other. With his novels it's easier to remove the epic (Grapes of Wrath) from the humorous (The Short Reign of Pippin IV), the historical realism (The Moon is Down) from the spiritual fantasy (The Pearl), but here they all muddle into one overwhelming river. This collection contains some of his finest writing (The Chrysanthemums, Flight), best political pieces (The Raid, The Vigilante), most troubling moments of racism, ableism, and sexism (Johnny Bear, The Murder), and AN ACTUAL STORY OF A PIG BEING CONVERTED IN 14TH CENTURY FRANCE. Reading this collection was both utterly isolating, with some stories unreadable (The Snake), and fascinating and emotional, containing some of the most beautiful, cherished, and relatable (The White Quail) stories he's ever penned.

as the introduction explained, the long valley is really a collection of shorts that showcase how steinbeck came to develop his signature style. i liked them all, but compared to everything else i've read of his so far, they pale in comparison.

5/5

I love reading John Steinbeck's stories and this is one such wonderful collection of short ones. And the way in which he writes gives strength to the context he chooses to write about. There's always a softness in his portraiture of the beauty of valley and the lives of the people in Salinas, California (his birthplace and the region around which most of his stories are set). Along with it is also the maturity that one can grasp while reading, a kind of truthfulness in whatever he sketches. This generally brings little darker, failing and disappointing, and eventually, utterly realistic aspects of life. So while his stories about lives of farmers and peaceful farm life feel escapist, being completely different from the kind of busy, noisy lives that we are leading, it is followed by the realisation of hunger and honour that served as the basis of lives distant from us. Even the setting of the cultivated lands and populations living in fertile yet once inhospitable regions of Western California serves as a symbol of the survival spirit of humans. This imparts a primitiveness to the truth that the author tells, like the relationship between men and women, like the ingrained dependence of life among the members of a family, or like the way nature reminds us of its everlasting, uncontrollable forces against the face of our dominance and conquering persistence.
Especially reading the 'The Red Pony' among these was a delight!