Book Review – The Red Pony

The Red Pony is about a young boy, Jody, who grows up on a California ranch as an only child to relatively strict parents. Through his various unique experiences on the ranch, four of which are told in this novel, Jody matures from boy to young man.

The Red Pony

My local library landed on Book BINGO for their summer reading program, and I am just over here very strategically reading to get a BINGO or two. Therefore, this classic…

Book 25:
The Red Pony
by John Steinbeck

Genre:
Classic, Fiction

Published:
1933

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, The Red Pony is about a young boy, Jody, who grows up on a California ranch as an only child to relatively strict parents. Through his various unique experiences on the ranch, four of which are told in this novel, Jody matures from boy to young man.

Favorite Quote(s):

“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.”

– John Steinbeck, The Red Pony

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None that I could find.

Pages:
100

My Overall Rating:
2 – Seeming, at first, like Charlotte’s Web, I thought I might enjoy this book, but I soon realized it was nothing like Charlotte’s Web. I don’t get classics. The four stories told in this novel were enjoyable. The fourth one, in particular, even made me laugh as it was too relatable to my life. However, the book as a whole seemed pointless. Sure, it’s a story of the journey from boyhood to manhood, but there are far better stories out there, in my opinion, telling of that journey.

This was just too common – nothing gripping me, no talking animals (lol), nothing making me want to read more… other than getting my BINGO. I mean, I just came off from Recursion where there was a mysterious epidemic that’s taking the world by storm, and The Red Pony had a grand total of like six characters.

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