Steinbeck was a young man and unknown writer when he wrote and first published this book, but you wouldn't know it by the beautiful prose and the moving set of stories, all taking place in Pastures of Heaven, an idilic valley in early-20th-century Monterey County, California.

This is an accessible book, populated with a diverse group of memorable characters that reflect many aspects of human nature. Also very present is Steinbeck's love for the natural world and the places in the California Central Coast where he was born and grew up alongside the simple people. But this book transcends regionalisms and it is beautiful literature that can be enjoyed by anyone anywhere, decades after its conception.

While many people would recommend to read first Steinbeck's tougher books such as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men", I say "Pastures of Heaven", despite being a relatively obscure book in his career, would serve as a fine introduction to his art, particularly if the reader is not looking for the strong social themes of his best-known works. On the same vein, "The Long Valley", published years later and depicting a more mature writing style, is another terrific series of short-stories taking place in the same world of Salinas Valley/Monterey ("Steinbeck Country").

Steinbeck's book comes with this comment on the back cover: "Each of these self-contained stories is linked to the others by the presence of the Munroes, a family whose misguided behavior and lack of sensitivity precipitate disasters and tragedies." This opinion, which the author of the Introduction seems to endorse, strikes me as a very surface take on the deeper significance of these stories.

The Munroes do show up in all of them; but when they do, a bubble of fantasy is punctured. They are the Nemesis principle, the breath of reality, among people lost in delusions and deceptions. Because of it, a man nicknamed Shark loses his social mask and finds his backbone, a father is forced to give up custody of his wild son, another father realizes the wrongness of raising his son in isolated poverty, a woman lets go of the insane daughter she's emotionally dependent on and stands up for her own life, two sisters face a crucial choice about their future, a daughter is given the chance to face her long-lost father...

These are not tragedies so much as consequences that puncture the psychic insulation of people living in a kind of Californian Eden. Their stories are not Steinbeck's finest, but they reflect the lucid writing and psychological acumen that characterize his later work.

More a book of short stories than a real novel, The Pastures of Heaven is one of my favorite of Johnny Steinbeck's. The book consists of ten stories centered around the very different and very realistic groups of people living in the California valley. Bittersweet is a good way to describe most of the stories as most seem to end tragically and hit where it hurts.

Steinbeck, as always, tells the stories as a passive observer with a great eye for detail and leaves it to us to form our own opinions on the characters and events. Each story will have you debating the characters' motives and actions. Easy to read and hard to put down.

You needn't be familiar with Steinbeck's work to enjoy Pastures of Heaven. Indeed, he wasn't a well-known writer at the time of its publication. But you DO need to be familiar with the way books used to be read -- over and over and over, allowing the richness of a work to be revealed after multiple readings. So it is with Pastures of Heaven.

Certainly, a single reading of this work is rewarding and each story alone could serve as a great introduction to Steinbeck's style and grace. But these stories are interrelated in ways that appear only on the second and third and fourth readings. And...the book should probably be read slowly. (Hint: pay VERY close attention to the first story!)

Like other readers, I, too, was disappointed/puzzled after the first reading, but then I found certain images from the book would appear to me weeks and months later. I found the book again in my bags as I traveled cross-country and re-read it slowly, taking two nights to read each story. As I drove the next day, I'd let my mind wander over the textual terrain it had encountered the night before. The story grew in richness and complexity this way and has left me fully satisfied. It remains within close reach on my shelf.

While the book as written is a treasure -- one often neglected in discussions of Steinbeck's portfolio -- I have to say that time is changing its nature. As the book nears its 75th birthday, it gets only more true; the universality every good story has is here exemplified and magnified. Centuries from now, this book may be seen not so much as a portrait of its time, but rather a timeless tale, merely set conveniently in a place and era Steinbeck knew well; in this sense, the work reminds me of Shakespeare's work.

Final thought: the work also grows richer by the reader's extension of it. The reader will inevitably draw parallels with his or her own life; doing a little contemporary research to investigate side avenues also give the book more depth. I was distracted for a week comparing Steinbeck's Tularecito with Shakespeare's Caliban.

In short, if you are an inquisitive, thinking reader, one not afraid to give as much to Steinbeck's novel as he has given to you, then you will enjoy this book immensely.

Because I am such a fan of John Steinbeck's writing, I feel I am able to say that this is not among his best work. "The Pastures of Heaven" is centered around a beautiful valley in California. After its discovery by a Spanish Corporal, the book goes into the stories that happend on this land. While some of the characters recur, most of the characters are forgotten after their story is told. Steinbeck's character descriptions are the masterwork that is expected of him. However, since there is no running theme aside from the land itself, the reader may have difficulty maintaining interest. Without a main character, it is difficult to be drawn in to the story.

Each chapter in the book starts a separate story. Some of the stories are amusing. I found the story in Chapter IV to be the best. Other stories such as Chapter IX seem to lack any coherence with the rest of the stories, but serve only the purpose of forwarding an opinion on a social issue. In the case of Chapter IX, Steinbeck is discussing the ethics of the death penalty.

While fans of Steinbeck are certain to read this book, casual fans are unlikely to enjoy it. The Steinbeck fan who reads all of his work is likely to find some of the stories enjoyable.