John Steinbeck writes brilliant fiction, but this was my first foray into his nonfiction. I am pleased to say that Travels With Charley is just as well written and topical for today as it was written it was written in 1960.

It’s an older Steinbeck who decides to travel America coast to coast and back again to see what the country is like now. He feels a bit out of touch with what the American people are thinking and takes his ute with a caravan on the back and his dog Charley on a trip. He aims to stay off the huge highways and away from the big cities, exploring the back roads and talking with everyday people. Of course, sometimes he deviates (for example when he’s just wanting to get home or when Charley is ill) and sometimes he stays in highway motels. What Steinbeck aims to do is to take the temperature of America politically and culturally. He somewhat succeeds, finding that the differences between the states is becoming less and less from news to accents. The people are generally becoming a homogenous mix and the radio and newspapers state the same thing. But he perseveres and meets some interesting characters, with views that vary from the old to the modern. His descriptions of the landscape are phenomenal and his joy in finding out that Wisconsin is the cheese state would bring joy to anyone’s face! (As an Australian, I did not know that).

Steinbeck arrives in his old stomping ground in California and the mood turns melancholy. Everyone is older, some friends are no longer around and things have changes but in Steinbeck’s head, they are still as they were during his youth. It’s there that the narrative and the author are ready for home and the familiarity that goes with it. He moves on to Texas and Thanksgiving with his wife and friends (I have no idea if his comments about the state have truth to them, but they are amusing at times). He then travels to New Orleans to see for himself the ‘cheerleaders’ – women who yell abuse at the desegregation of schools and the Black children who attend. It’s a sobering experience for both Steinbeck and the reader and the book closes relatively quickly after that.

I feel that Steinbeck’s writing captures the issues of today just as well as those of yesteryear. People are over politics, full of hate or genuinely trying to do their best in a world that is change. His writing is just as eloquent in Travels With Charley as in his novels, capturing the mood and painting the scene clearly as if it was the modern era. It’s full of wit but also doesn’t sugarcoat the country’s problems. I recommend it just as highly as Steinbeck’s novels.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )

http://runningbowline.com/2009/05/18/travels-with-charley-by-john-steinbeck/ ( )

Really enjoyed this travelogue narrated by the late, great Ron McLarty. Made a nice break from my regular fiction. Ya gotta like Steinbeck. Surprising how timely it is now since his trip took place in 1960. Recommended ( )

Unsurprisingly, the Russian translation I read bears no mention of the discussion of Khruschev's UNO tantrum, that took place in New Hampshire between the author and a farmer. I noted this omission by following this book up with a modern investigation of the trip 'Dogging Steinbeck'.

Travels with Charley is a great story of Steinbeck‘s road trip around America. While it dances on the line between fiction and non-fiction, it succeeds beautifully in capturing both the essence of wanderlust and a telling snapshot in time of the US. At times I wished I had read this in print so that I could highlight some of its many memorable passages, but then I would have missed this excellent feat of audiobook narration by Gary Sinise. ( )