‘Steinbeck Special’ Tortilla Flat: Afterthoughts

Briefly, Danny, the chief protagonist in this novel, returns from the war to Tortilla Flat (a paisano district that sits upon a hillside above Monterey), to find that he has inherited two houses. What then follows is a comedic tale that fundamentally can be summed up in 5 words – wine, friendship, food, women..and err..wine again )

This is the first John Steinbeck novel I’ve had the pleasure of reading, as a part of a *Steinbeck Special* in my 50 Novels in One Year reading challenge, and quite simply it has left an indelible mark on me. What captivates me in the first instance is the remarkable talent Mr. Steinbeck shows in the quality of his prose. He demonstrates an incredible talent for expressing himself literarily, and in the most poetic way. I could provide endless examples but as an illustration, instead of penning something simple such as “the Pirate used his wheelbarrow to help Danny”, Mr. Steinbeck eloquently scribes it as “then borrowing the Pirate’s wheelbarrow and the Pirate to push it, Danny..”, which, like the most of the sentences in Tortilla Flat, read like silk.

If the quality of Mr. Steinbeck’s prose forms one half of the success of Tortilla Flat, then the sublime depth of his characterisation fills the other half. Mr. Steinbeck succeeds at magnificently bringing his characters to life. Every one is profoundly realised, with each possessing their own idiosyncratic yet appealing qualities. It is a difficult choice to make but the most endearing character for me is “The Pirate’, the man ‘whose head had not grown up with the rest of his body’. Conscientious, hard-working, a man of simple pleasure (a pleasure that consists of him either showing affection for his dogs, or working towards winning the approval of his friends), the Pirate epitomizes how a humble, honest and largely pious life should be lived, which superbly juxtaposes the lifestyles of the other friends in the group (well, with the exception of Big Joe Portagee )) which are as far from pious as one could get.

This is not to say that Danny and his friends never show good intentions at heart. Mr. Steinbeck is masterful at setting his characters on a path of good intention, only for them to either falter, or to manipulate circumstance to meet their own needs. This happens a lot, and more often than not, wine plays a role as either the primary motive or betrayer.

I truly loved reading Tortilla Flat. It is a delightful story, with magnificent characters, and I would consider it to be a work of absolute genius. I never thought it could be possible to be completely captivated by an author on the strength of reading one book, but I can state without fear of contradiction that Mr. John Steinbeck, thanks to Tortilla Flat, has found a rare place in my heart. I look forward to discovering the rest of his collection.

Rating:

Favourite quote: In all honesty I could quote almost the entire book, but restricted to  only one I would pick a quote from a scene where Pilon experiences a rare moment of piety, and with his soul leaving his body and floating amongst the flying sea gulls, he speaks the following: “..These birds are flying across the forehead of the Father. Dear birds, dear sea gulls, how I love you all. Your slow wings stroke my heart as the hand of a gentle master strokes the full stomach of a sleeping dog, as the hand of Christ stroked the heads of little children..” Pilon’s piety was not long lived though and soon his own memory would betray him – “..Pilon’s souls was not even proof against his own memories; for, as he watched the birds, he remembered that Mrs. Pastano used sea gulls sometimes in her tamales, and that memory made him hungry, and hunger tumbled his soul out of the sky”.

Favourite scene: Again there are many, but one that sticks out as being one of the most memorable, is when Pilon ventures to the house of his friend Danny, accompanied by his new ‘lodger’ Pablo, with the intention of scrounging a few eggs from Danny’s neighbour. What follows is an hilarious scene in which Pilon, in the course of his ‘subtle’ inquiring, discovers firstly that the neighbour’s chickens have died. This leads to Pablo seeing a culinary opportunity in the dead chickens, but he finds out that they were sold to the butcher, which then leads Pilon to change tact and inquire about any wine that would have been bought with the profits. The scene culminates in Danny tentatively, but rightfully, hinting about rent payment, at which point Pilon (with Pablo in tow), storms out of Danny’s house bemoaning Danny’s continual demands for rent, which is completely untrue.

What this novel has taught me about writing: Build strong, memorable, endearing characters. Work at constructing a prose, that not only tells a story, but tells a story with as much eloquence as can be mustered up.