What struck me about this collection of short stories was how real they all felt, and how much the characters felt relatable and just tangible. Like these people actually lived, something accentuated by the first-person POV in some stories. Of course, this being Steinbeck, the writing is beautiful; whether he's describing a landscape or an action, he makes these stories flow like mountain water. And while some of the actual stories aren't that interesting (chiefly, The Raid), the highlights are classics, with themes and symbolism that are the stuff of high school English classes. In fact, almost every story here was enjoyable in its own unique way, and there are a few I will remember for a long time. The best moment of the novel, to me, was near the end of The Red Pony:

Spoiler

the young boy Jody's grandfather has just heard his son-in-law complaining about the stories of Indians he tells so often. The grandfather goes outside, and when Jody tries to comfort him, he says this:

"I tell those stories, but they're not what I want to tell. I only know how I want people to feel when I tell them.

It wasn't Indians that were important, nor adventures, nor even getting out here. It was a whole bunch of people made into one big crawling beast. And I was the head. It was westering and westering. Every man wanted something for himself, but the big beast that was all of them wanted only westering. I was the leader, but if I hadn't been there, someone else would have been the head. The thing had to have a head. Under the little bushes the shadows were black at white noonday. When we saw the mountains at last, we cried – all of us. But it wasn't getting here that mattered, it was movement and westering. We carried life out here and set it down the way those ants carry eggs. And I was the leader. The westering was as big as God, and the slow steps that made the movement piled up and piled up until the continent was crossed.

Then we came down to the sea, and it was done." He stopped and wiped his eyes until the rims were red. "That's what I should be telling instead of stories."

It's hard to describe what I felt when I read that passage, but it seems to put the rest of the book into context: a long journey west, where it isn't the destination but the journey that matters. And I'd have to agree with that.

Favorite story: The Red Pony