The amount of stars is the average for both stories 4 for the first The Pearl and 3 for the second, The Red Pony.

The first story I liked a lot. Especially the beginning, when I had the idea that I was there in the book, in the hut near the ocean.
A wonderful tale of the human nature captured in words that went straight to my heart.

The Red Pony I liked less. It was not nearly as scenic, I had difficulty with the graphic scene with the fowling horse. And just the story itself was not so gripping, touching, compelling. ( )

The Pearl is a story I had not read since my school days. It's funny, I remembered it as an "island story" but it's really set in Mexico. And man, is it a tragic tale. The end is just too darn sad. But it is superbly well written!

The Red Pony is great, and sad, too! Reading Steinbeck is like talking to a great friend! I read the first story in this collection in school and I'm really glad I re-read it and read the whole thing! The characters are so vivid - Jody, Billy Buck, Gabilan, and Gitano, to name a few - and the settings are alive with the author's vibrant description! ( )

Would have given it five stars except "The Red Pony" ended so abruptly and left me feeling unsatisfied. Overall, Steinbeck's lyrical use of language to describe the ineffable nearly left me breathless. The theme of greed in "The Pearl" was so subtly described and played against the "simple" values of the protagonists that I held my breath in anticipation. "The Red Pony" is a coming of age, rites of passage story about a young boy with the horse in each of three sections representing a different stage of growth. My heart broke at the end of the first section, Steinbeck's language intimating the pain and confusion the boy must have felt. I couldn't help but be carried through the rest of the story knowing that heartbreak had already happened and wondering if there was more in store. I loved these stories so much, I'm sure I will return to them again and again. ( )

Two great short stories from Steinbeck:
The Pearl - a Mexican folk tale, the deeply moving story of the great pearl's discovery and how it was lost, along with the dreams it represented.
The Red Pony, set on a ranch in the California mountains, the story of the joy and sorrow a young boy finds in his responsibility for his horse. ( )