Tortilla Flat (Steinbeck)

Tortilla Flat 
John Steinbeck, 1935
Penguin Group USA
224 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780140042405


In Brief 
Adopting the structure and themes of Arthurian legend, John Steinbeck creates a "Camelot" on a shabby hillside above Monterey on the California coast and peoples it with a colorful band of knights. As he chronicles the thoughts and emotions, temptations and lusts of the "knights", Steinbeck spins a tale as compelling as the famous legends of the Round Table

The story surrounds a group of young jobless men of Mexican descent living on a hilltop in Monterey, California. Kind natured and loyal to one another, they disregard convention, revelling in their idyllic world of poverty. With the advent of World War I, they enlist in a fevor of drunken patriotism, though none of them find their way into combat. They return to Monterey to learn that Danny has been left two houses by his grandfather, which he shares with the group. Thus begin the "adventures," most of which center around acquiring money.

Eventually, Danny, now the leader, becomes disenchanted, and the story takes on darker tones as he attempts to recapture the pleasures of his youth and freedom from responsibility of ownership. (From the publisher.)