John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating man, troubling biography
Review: Although I've enjoyed the book and getting to know Steinbeck, who I find funny and frustrating as man and writer, I thought this biography rather odd in certain aspects. One is the curiously intimate tone Benson takes in writing it. There are instances, especially in discussing Steinbeck's first wife Carol, that Benson actually argues in print with her. At other times he seems to be instructing the (dead) subject of his book. This is a first in any biography I've read.
The other, very odd and troubling aspect regards reviews of Steinbeck's work. John Steinbeck was one of the major American writer of the first half of the 20th Century. He wrote several novels that continue to be read into the 21st Century. Along with writing the screenplay for the Kazan/Brando film Viva Zapata, 4 of his books (The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden) were turned into major motion pictures. He was personal friends with Elia Kazan. And there are no, repeat, no clips from the reviews of any of these efforts. For a biography of a writer this is a huge hole to leave unfilled. And for the biography of a major writer whose work remains controversial it's a tremendous failing in an otherwise fine book

Rating:
Summary: Want to know Steinbeck? Start here!
Review: For my doctoral research, which involves the history of coastal California, I wanted one big, clearly written book that was solidly put together but not clogged with footnotes. I found it here. Fifteen years of research, some of it with friends and relatives of Steinbeck's, went into this biography, which reads like a straight-up narrative of the writer's adventurous life. Though long, it reads quickly, devoid of academic jargon. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Want to know Steinbeck? Start here!
Review: For my doctoral research, which involves the history of coastal California, I wanted one big, clearly written book that was solidly put together but not clogged with footnotes. I found it here. Fifteen years of research, some of it with friends and relatives of Steinbeck's, went into this biography, which reads like a straight-up narrative of the writer's adventurous life. Though long, it reads quickly, devoid of academic jargon. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite 5-stars, but very, very good...
Review: Frankly, it just got a little long for me. Steinbeck was---and probably still is---my favorite American writer. This book reminded me why: Not only for the beauty of his prose and amazing powers of description, but for his uncompromising integrity, loyalty and devotion to his craft. I learned a lot about this man, but also about the book publishing business and the literary world.

One has to tip his hat to the author for the level of detail and the research performed, especially his good fortune in being able to interview all three of his wives. Reading this after reading most of Steinbeck's major works, gave insight into what drove JS to write each one of his works and helped dispel any misconceptions about his political tendencies and whether he was trying to write "political message" books or not.

Most appalling was to find out how little regarded Steinbeck was among the literary critics in the last 25-30 years of his life, to the point that they questioned the Nobel Prize Committee's decision-making process once JS was honored with the award.

There is a lot to learn in this book. I wouldn't have minded reading a little less detail on some of the progress (or lack of) on some of his lesser works and some of his travels. But for the Steinbeck fan, this is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: Travels with John, and what a trip it is!
Review: I just finished this one this morning, sticking around in bed for an extra twenty minutes to polish off to last chapter or so. What a surprise it is to find you're at page 1,038 and never even tired of the length along the way. It's a tale of an engaging life told in engaging language that grabs your attention and keeps you thoroughly engaged to the end. What a life John Steinbeck had, and what a way to tell it by Jackson J. Benson.

Benson must have started with near a mountain of research to draw together such a complete picture of Steinbeck's life. It's a task that could have caught lesser writer's struggling much like Steinbeck did with the translation of Morte D' Arthur in an unfinishable Pandora's Box of a book. But Benson sees it through with apparent love for the writer and care for the detail. In such a private life of a fiercely guarded private man, it's amazing that Benson adds such a degree of minute detail along the way. You realize some of the details have to be largely anecdotal and especially anecdotes loyally told carry a good degree of fiction with them. That's just what makes this book so magical and passionate...a life well told and lived carries a large freedom of fiction along with it. I think that John Steinbeck would have had it no other way. Actually, he probably would have hidden away from anybody trying to capture his life in words. It would have been a horror for him, but thank God we have this book from Jackson and are left with Steinbeck's writing.

I made the Haj to Salinas on Steinbeck's 100th Birthday and heard John Jr. speak about his Father and had a little birthday cake to boot. I played a game with the neighbor's kid as he held Benson's paperweight of a book and ran from me as I chased him down. I responded with horror as he launched it flying over the fence landing splayed on the ground. The adult in me told him, we don't throw rocks and we especially don't throw books. But as I wiped the dirt and dust off of the book and later finished the last fifty pages with grass stains burned into the leaves of pages...I was glad. A little California earth to go with Steinbeck. A book well worn is so more sacred than one pristine. I should have thanked the neighbor's son for the unintended connection. Rocks against the earth will never grow, but books picked up from the ground...now that's a different thing. For all those Steinbeck-philes don't miss this book. For those who have hardly heard of Steinbeck, there's a good deal of life in this book. I urge you not to miss out on that life.

Now I'm off to chase my neighbor's son around the back yard as he carries "The Grapes of Wrath" to the end zone...spike and score.

Rating:
Summary: Travels with John, and what a trip it is!
Review: I just finished this one this morning, sticking around in bed for an extra twenty minutes to polish off to last chapter or so. What a surprise it is to find you're at page 1,038 and never even tired of the length along the way. It's a tale of an engaging life told in engaging language that grabs your attention and keeps you thoroughly engaged to the end. What a life John Steinbeck had, and what a way to tell it by Jackson J. Benson.

Benson must have started with near a mountain of research to draw together such a complete picture of Steinbeck's life. It's a task that could have caught lesser writer's struggling much like Steinbeck did with the translation of Morte D' Arthur in an unfinishable Pandora's Box of a book. But Benson sees it through with apparent love for the writer and care for the detail. In such a private life of a fiercely guarded private man, it's amazing that Benson adds such a degree of minute detail along the way. You realize some of the details have to be largely anecdotal and especially anecdotes loyally told carry a good degree of fiction with them. That's just what makes this book so magical and passionate...a life well told and lived carries a large freedom of fiction along with it. I think that John Steinbeck would have had it no other way. Actually, he probably would have hidden away from anybody trying to capture his life in words. It would have been a horror for him, but thank God we have this book from Jackson and are left with Steinbeck's writing.

I made the Haj to Salinas on Steinbeck's 100th Birthday and heard John Jr. speak about his Father and had a little birthday cake to boot. I played a game with the neighbor's kid as he held Benson's paperweight of a book and ran from me as I chased him down. I responded with horror as he launched it flying over the fence landing splayed on the ground. The adult in me told him, we don't throw rocks and we especially don't throw books. But as I wiped the dirt and dust off of the book and later finished the last fifty pages with grass stains burned into the leaves of pages...I was glad. A little California earth to go with Steinbeck. A book well worn is so more sacred than one pristine. I should have thanked the neighbor's son for the unintended connection. Rocks against the earth will never grow, but books picked up from the ground...now that's a different thing. For all those Steinbeck-philes don't miss this book. For those who have hardly heard of Steinbeck, there's a good deal of life in this book. I urge you not to miss out on that life.

Now I'm off to chase my neighbor's son around the back yard as he carries "The Grapes of Wrath" to the end zone...spike and score.

Rating:
Summary: An epic, entertaining biography
Review: John Steinbeck once considered writing an autobiography, and it's a shame the Nobel prize winner never lived to do it. Mr. Steinbeck's letters and journals blaze with sharp and honest introspection, keen insight into human behavior and empathy. It's certain that an autobiography would have been a classic.

So, instead, we rely on those who write biographies to chronicle the life of one of America's great writers.

There have been several Steinbeck biographies and many of those have been well done. But Jackson J. Benson's version, titled simply "John Steinbeck, Writer", is the definitive one - over 1,000 pages of readable and compelling material that follows the writer's life from his Huck Finn childhood in Salinas, California, to the success of his novels and the failures of his marriages in midlife, and finally to domestic bliss mixed with pain from pretentious critics whose stones and arrows he could not duck and would not ignore in his later years.

The ability to wrestle the massive amount of research that this work involved into a book that anyone can enjoy is an achievement that amazes.

It's the next best thing to the autobiography that never was.

Rating:
Summary: Re-issued ..title changed-"True Adventures" dropped
Review: New paperback is titled simply- " Steinbeck: Writer"..but it is the most thorough narrative, a very long..."Travels with Charlie" ...and more, annotated biblio,notes,...captioned photos. Salinas,CA (home of his Museum) native's 100th Birthday comes up next year.

Rating:
Summary: A seamless portrait of a flawed, but always honest, man
Review: Wow. I don't consider myself much of a biography reader, but I bought this book online because I wanted to learn more about Steinbeck, in hopes of rejuicing my own novel writing ambitions.

Benson amazes me: How in the world he was able to collect, collate and present such a detailed portrait, I'll never know. Steinbeck, as presented here, is most admirable for his steadfast refusal to allow "celebrity" to become a roadblock to his only real ambition, to be a writer.

Not all of Steinbeck's work succeeds, as the author himself would have admitted, but he remained ever true to himself as a writer.

Benson is merely brilliant.

Time to pick up that Carlos Baker Hemingway bio now? Maybe so....