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The Wayward Bus
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- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
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The Pastures of Heaven
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Once There Was a War
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In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.
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This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism.
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The best story - ever ! Awesome narrator !!!!!!!!!
- By Inventing Mostly on 03-07-15
By: John Steinbeck
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To a God Unknown
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott - introduction
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in familiar Steinbeck territory, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God.
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My Favorite Steinbeck; Terrible and Beautiful
- By Michael on 04-28-13
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.
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Five stars with a Caveat
- By Bette on 04-23-12
By: John Steinbeck
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Beautiful Book
- By Stuart on 10-07-17
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Once There Was a War
- By: John Steinbeck, Mark Bowden - editor
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
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The greatest war story(ies) ever told
- By Robert Achenbach on 07-16-15
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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In Dubious Battle
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The best story - ever ! Awesome narrator !!!!!!!!!
- By Inventing Mostly on 03-07-15
By: John Steinbeck
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- By: John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott - introduction
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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My Favorite Steinbeck; Terrible and Beautiful
- By Michael on 04-28-13
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
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Overall
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Performance
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Five stars with a Caveat
- By Bette on 04-23-12
By: John Steinbeck
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The Grapes of Wrath
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 21 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Shocking and controversial when it was first published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic The Grapes of Wrath remains his undisputed masterpiece. Set against the background of Dust Bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of Tom Joad and his family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel west in search of the promised land. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires, and broken dreams, yet out of their suffering Steinbeck created a drama that is intensely human, yet majestic in its scale and moral vision.
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Wish I could give it 10 stars!
- By P. Minor on 07-18-14
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
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More than three decades after his death, John Steinbeck remains one of the nation's most beloved authors. Yet few know of his career as a journalist who covered world events from the Great Depression to Vietnam. Now, this original collection offers a portrait of the artist as citizen, deeply engaged in the world around him. In addition to the complete text of Steinbeck's last published book, America and Americans, this volume brings together for the first time more than 50 of Steinbeck's finest essays and journalistic pieces.
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Really good Steinbeck journalism.....no kidding!
- By Doug on 07-26-14
By: John Steinbeck
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East of Eden
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
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Why have I avoided this Beautiful Book???
- By Kelly on 03-25-17
By: John Steinbeck
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The Winter of Our Discontent
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers - a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis. A Penguin Classic In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American". Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned.
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Memorable characters, great narration, POOR AUDIO
- By Sam D. on 05-18-16
By: John Steinbeck
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Travels with Charley in Search of America
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Travels with Charley is animated by Steinbeck’s attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature—to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
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Gary Sinise is fantastic!
- By C. Wilson on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
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Tortilla Flat
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, Steinbeck created a Camelot on a shabby hillside above the town of Monterey, California, and peopled it with a colorful band of knights. At the center of the tale is Danny, whose house, like Arthur’s castle, becomes a gathering place for men looking for adventure, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging—men who fiercely resist the corrupting tide of honest toil and civil rectitude.
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A Good Book
- By LTCKEL on 09-06-14
By: John Steinbeck
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The Long Valley
- By: John Steinbeck, John H. Timmerman - introduction
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A Penguin Classic. First published in 1938, this volume of stories collected with the encouragement of his longtime editor Pascal Covici serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Set in the beautiful Salinas Valley of California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, these stories reflect Steinbeck’s characteristic interests: The tensions between town and country, laborers and owners, past and present.
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Generally Good Stories, Some are Great
- By Michael on 06-18-13
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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The Pearl
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Hector Elizondo
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In this short book illuminated by a deep understanding and love of humanity, John Steinbeck retells an old Mexican folk tale: the story of the great pearl, how it was found, and how it was lost. For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to the tragedy. For Steinbeck, Kino and his wife illustrate the fall from innocence of people who believe that wealth erases all problems.
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Stay poor
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-31-11
By: John Steinbeck
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Cup of Gold
- A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History
- By: John Steinbeck, Susan F. Beegel - introduction
- Narrated by: Ronan Vibert
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the "cup of gold".
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Not your usual Steinbeck novel
- By Andrew on 06-03-15
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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A Russian Journal
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune.
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Extremely Interesting
- By Jean on 12-04-14
By: John Steinbeck
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The Moon Is Down
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat." This compelling, dignified and moving novel was inspired by and based upon the Nazi invasion of neutral Norway. Set in an imaginary European mining town, it shows what happens when a ruthless totalitarian power is up against an occupied democracy with an overwhelming desire to be free.
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A beautiful piece of propaganda!
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck
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The Red Pony
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, the hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.
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About the narration
- By Elle on 05-03-12
By: John Steinbeck
Publisher's summary
In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
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Miss Lonelyhearts is an unnamed male newspaper columnist writing an advice column, which is viewed by the newspaper as a joke. As "Miss Lonelyhearts" reads letters from desperate New Yorkers, he feels terribly burdened and falls into a cycle of deep depression, accompanied by heavy drinking and occasional barfights. The novel is essentially a black comedy and is characterized by an extremely dark but clever sense of humor and irony.
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The profoundly original and wildly entertaining short stories of a legendary Twilight Zone writer. It is only natural that Charles Beaumont would make a name for himself crafting scripts for The Twilight Zone - for his was an imagination so limitless it must have emerged from some other dimension. Perchance to Dream contains a selection of Beaumont's finest stories, including five that he later adapted for Twilight Zone episodes.
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- By Ralph Freaster on 06-22-16
By: Charles Beaumont
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Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
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This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
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A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
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Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story and instantly became both the recognized master of the form and one of our best-loved fiction writers. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
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Humanity at the Breaking Point
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver
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Wise Blood
- By: Flannery O’Connor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Flannery O’Connor’s astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of 20th-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a 22-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a “blind” street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel founds The Church of God Without Christ but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God.
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Grotesque Southern Gothic Masterpiece
- By Darwin8u on 10-18-12
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A Death in Kitchawank, and Other Stories
- By: T. C. Boyle
- Narrated by: T. C. Boyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Few authors write with such sheer love of story and language as T. C. Boyle, and that is nowhere more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and always entertaining short stories. Here are 14 new tales previously unpublished in book form. By turns mythic and realistic, farcical and tragic, ironic and moving, Boyle's stories have mapped a wide range of human emotions. The stories here reflect his maturing themes.
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Mixed Bag
- By AuntGert on 09-22-20
By: T. C. Boyle
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Today, nearly 40 years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as Penguin Classics. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat.
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In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.
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The greatest war story(ies) ever told
- By Robert Achenbach on 07-16-15
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To a God Unknown
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Set in familiar Steinbeck territory, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God.
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My Favorite Steinbeck; Terrible and Beautiful
- By Michael on 04-28-13
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The Winter of Our Discontent
- By: John Steinbeck
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The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers - a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis. A Penguin Classic In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American". Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned.
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Memorable characters, great narration, POOR AUDIO
- By Sam D. on 05-18-16
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the exciting day-by-day account of Steinbeck's trip to the Gulf of California with biologist Ed Ricketts. Drawn from the longer Sea of Cortez, it is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure.
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Beautiful Book
- By Stuart on 10-07-17
By: John Steinbeck
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In Dubious Battle
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism.
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The best story - ever ! Awesome narrator !!!!!!!!!
- By Inventing Mostly on 03-07-15
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- By: John Steinbeck
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- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
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Golden, mythical America
- By Dan Harlow on 07-07-13
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Once There Was a War
- By: John Steinbeck, Mark Bowden - editor
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- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.
-
-
The greatest war story(ies) ever told
- By Robert Achenbach on 07-16-15
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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To a God Unknown
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott - introduction
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Set in familiar Steinbeck territory, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God.
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My Favorite Steinbeck; Terrible and Beautiful
- By Michael on 04-28-13
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers - a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis. A Penguin Classic In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American". Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned.
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Memorable characters, great narration, POOR AUDIO
- By Sam D. on 05-18-16
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the exciting day-by-day account of Steinbeck's trip to the Gulf of California with biologist Ed Ricketts. Drawn from the longer Sea of Cortez, it is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure.
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Beautiful Book
- By Stuart on 10-07-17
By: John Steinbeck
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Tortilla Flat
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, Steinbeck created a Camelot on a shabby hillside above the town of Monterey, California, and peopled it with a colorful band of knights. At the center of the tale is Danny, whose house, like Arthur’s castle, becomes a gathering place for men looking for adventure, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging—men who fiercely resist the corrupting tide of honest toil and civil rectitude.
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A Good Book
- By LTCKEL on 09-06-14
By: John Steinbeck
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A Russian Journal
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune.
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Extremely Interesting
- By Jean on 12-04-14
By: John Steinbeck
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The Long Valley
- By: John Steinbeck, John H. Timmerman - introduction
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- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
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A Penguin Classic. First published in 1938, this volume of stories collected with the encouragement of his longtime editor Pascal Covici serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Set in the beautiful Salinas Valley of California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, these stories reflect Steinbeck’s characteristic interests: The tensions between town and country, laborers and owners, past and present.
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Generally Good Stories, Some are Great
- By Michael on 06-18-13
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
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- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.
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Five stars with a Caveat
- By Bette on 04-23-12
By: John Steinbeck
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The Moon Is Down
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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"Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat." This compelling, dignified and moving novel was inspired by and based upon the Nazi invasion of neutral Norway. Set in an imaginary European mining town, it shows what happens when a ruthless totalitarian power is up against an occupied democracy with an overwhelming desire to be free.
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A beautiful piece of propaganda!
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck
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America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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More than three decades after his death, John Steinbeck remains one of the nation's most beloved authors. Yet few know of his career as a journalist who covered world events from the Great Depression to Vietnam. Now, this original collection offers a portrait of the artist as citizen, deeply engaged in the world around him. In addition to the complete text of Steinbeck's last published book, America and Americans, this volume brings together for the first time more than 50 of Steinbeck's finest essays and journalistic pieces.
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Really good Steinbeck journalism.....no kidding!
- By Doug on 07-26-14
By: John Steinbeck
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Cup of Gold
- A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History
- By: John Steinbeck, Susan F. Beegel - introduction
- Narrated by: Ronan Vibert
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the "cup of gold".
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Not your usual Steinbeck novel
- By Andrew on 06-03-15
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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Travels with Charley in Search of America
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Travels with Charley is animated by Steinbeck’s attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature—to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
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Gary Sinise is fantastic!
- By C. Wilson on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
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The Red Pony
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, the hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.
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About the narration
- By Elle on 05-03-12
By: John Steinbeck
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Bombs Away
- The Story of a Bomber Team
- By: John Steinbeck, James H. Meredith - introduction
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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On the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath, and at the height of the American war effort, John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific and influential literary figures of his generation, wrote Bombs Away, a nonfiction account of his experiences with US Army Air Force bomber crews during World War II. Now, for the first time since its original publication in 1942, Penguin Classics presents this exclusive edition of Steinbeck's introduction to the then-nascent US Army Air Force and its bomber crew.
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A great book
- By John A. on 12-26-22
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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The Short Reign of Pippin IV
- A Fabrication
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert E. Morsberger - introduction, Katherine Morsberger - introduction
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In his only work of political satire, The Short Reign of Pippin IV, John Steinbeck turns the French Revolution upside down as amateur astronomer Pippin Héristal is drafted to rule the unruly French. Steinbeck creates around the infamous Pippin the most hilarious royal court ever: Pippin's wife, Queen Marie, who "might have taken her place at the bar of a very good restaurant"; his uncle, a man of dubious virtue; and his glamour-struck daughter and her beau, the son of the so-called "egg king" of Petaluma, California.
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Political Satire at its Best!
- By Matthew G. Lara on 03-01-20
By: John Steinbeck, and others
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The Pearl
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Hector Elizondo
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In this short book illuminated by a deep understanding and love of humanity, John Steinbeck retells an old Mexican folk tale: the story of the great pearl, how it was found, and how it was lost. For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to the tragedy. For Steinbeck, Kino and his wife illustrate the fall from innocence of people who believe that wealth erases all problems.
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Stay poor
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-31-11
By: John Steinbeck
What listeners say about The Wayward Bus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kelly
- 05-08-17
Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
I am at a complete loss trying to explain John Steinbeck to people; trying to explain why exactly I LOVE him so much! His books are astoundingly beautiful pieces of work written with a quiet simplicity that confuses me. I do know one reason -- and maybe that is the whole of it -- that I love his books. He writes about people who are real, and he writes about them with so much detail and reverence. He gives you the hardest aspects of life, settings that are quiet, storylines that are slow and rich, and people who you know. He tells their stories, which are OUR stories. He loves people and allows them to be angry, to grieve, to love. He allows them to be flawed, and to delve into the things that make them unlikable at times. John Steinbeck takes the worst in people and makes you love them for it. So what is it that he does better than almost anyone else? He makes you feel all the feels.
I saw another reviewer say that he had a "heart-seeking missile" and that phrase blew me away because I feel exactly the same.
This book a bit different than some of his better known works, and yet it is also the same. It doesn't really have much of a beginning or an ending. It is a story of the journey, and not the journey on the bus, but the journey of life.
One other thought I have: Often the books that best tell the tale of the journey of life with all its messiness are sweeping, epic tales, which follow the characters throughout life and sometimes follow generations of characters throughout their lives. But Steinbeck accomplishes the same in stories that often occur in tiny moments of time. This book occurs in a day.
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48 people found this helpful
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- Day A. Leary
- 09-28-16
A Steinbeck masterpiece below the radar
We are always encouraged to read more popular Steinbeck works. The Wayward Bus is an absolute masterpiece. John Steinbeck was brilliant in his telling of the intertwining human struggles. I felt like I was in the cafe and on the bus. Richard Poe is a narrator with very few peers.
Incredibly enjoyable!
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10 people found this helpful
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- omar
- 09-04-16
Beautifully written
A past era brought to life, narrated excellently... Loved it and I will recommend it.
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9 people found this helpful
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- John S.
- 04-24-19
Gave up on it
I tried, but found myself increasingly feeling forced to return to the book. A character is introduced who repeatedly refers to women as "pigs" as though the words were interchangable, whuch was my cue to bail. Great writing and narration, but the story was full of characters I disliked.
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6 people found this helpful
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- J.B.
- 05-12-18
A Study of Our Weak Inner Selfs
The Wayward Bus, a John Steinbeck novel, read by Richard Poe. John Steinbeck approached writing as a scientific experiment. Testing writing effects to see how to best communicate. This is Steinbeck, testing out a technique; the development of plot characters; by describing their inner thinking and interaction with other members of the novel’s cast. The situation is straight out of the late 1940s era. The book’s troupe are stuck together on a short but perilous bus ride across Monterrey County, California. This is not a novel with an enthralling story-line. This is a book to read only if you want to watch Steinbeck master his technique of revealing the inner nature of humanity. What he reveals ‘ain’t so good.’
Does this mean I am not recommending, The Wayward Bus? Absolutely not. Pick it up though, only if you want to study the developing John Steinbeck or want to delve into how to depict human inner emotions in writing. This book is more of a course in writing style. Yet, the story does keep one listening (or reading); above and beyond the writing lesson. That is because it tells individual stories of doubts, egos, and aspirations. We all want to understand ourselves. Yes, the best part of this book is how Steinbeck introduces each character’s aspirations and how and perhaps why they failed to achieve their wants in their lives.
The most difficult part of this novel was the misogyny. The beautiful women were abused with male lust and little care for their beings, and the less than beautiful women were depraved with hatred because they were no longer lusted after. I am very sorry for the manner in which this world has not equalized the humanity of males and females. This is a harsh reminder of where we should not be in the allocation of women to a sort of second class status.
A strange historical fact here is although this is not one of Steinbeck’s better works, because of its lack of a strong story thread, it was perhaps one of his most economically successful books. I am a great Steinbeck fan; but picked up this book because as a 10-year-old child I saw the movie and it had a profound effect upon me. Watching individual humans fail at their hopes is a weighty experience, particularly for a 10-year-old. I did not remember much of the specifics, but after this audible listening experience, I don’t care if this is not one of the more praised of Steinbeck’s books. It is definitely, a read that would hurt no one but make you understand much about our dreams and our realities that fall short.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Julie M.
- 03-17-17
masterpiece
I have read viturally everything Steinbeck has written and have always been amazed at his profound ability and insight into human nature. W B should be in every English lit class, because it highlights more than any other, Steinbeck's uncanny ability to understand people and how they think. The story is simple, but made to be amazingly complex once the reader gets to know everyone one on the bus and clearly sees what makes them tick. I know of no other author with equal skill as JS in his ability to understand humans
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- @vierrapate
- 02-26-20
Steinbeck Rules
I'm on a Steinbeck kick right now. he is just so good. and Poe is a marvelous narrator. Top Notch
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3 people found this helpful
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- Katie
- 03-27-19
Classic Steinbeck
Great narration. Great prose. Just not much of a plot but I knew that going in. Not my favorite of Steinbeck but still amazing writing. Shows the toil of people caught in translation.
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- jaye
- 08-31-15
WONDERFUL READ! GREAT CHARACTERS!
What did you love best about The Wayward Bus?
THE WAY STEINBECK DEVELOPED ALL THE CHARACTERS.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Wayward Bus?
I LOVED THE SCENE WHERE ALICE WAS GETTING LOADED IN THE DINER. ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT WAS WHEN MR. PRITCHARD LOST HIS BALANCE ON THE BUS IT WAS A HILARIOUS HAPLESS FALL.
What about Richard Poe’s performance did you like?
SUPERB!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
YES BUT I READ IT IN SEVERAL. MY SIG. OTHER MIKE LOVED THE BOOK TOO1
Any additional comments?
THE STORY COULD GO ON AND ON, I WOULD NOT BE TIRED OF READING IT. MR. STEINBECK KNOWS HUNAN NATURE.
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- Enrique
- 06-10-18
Great simple story about normal people
This was great. it is a very simple story, with very simple situations, the greatness of it comes through the profound development of the characters.
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2 people found this helpful