Finished: The Red Pony (John Steinbeck) Well, what did I really expect from a book by John Steinbeck about a red pony?? Did I think the pony was going to frolic and live happily ever after with his young boy owner? Or, did I think the pony was likely to go the way of many of the tortured, dust bowl characters of his bleak, The Grapes of Wrath? No matter what I expected, Steinbeck is still an amazing writer that just puts things good or bad, right there matter-of-factly in your face. The Red Pony is actually a book with four different parts. I think each of the parts may have been a separate short story, but they're all about a 9 year old farm boy named Jody, his parents, and their ranch hand, Buck. We just see the day to day workings of what was expected of a farm boy in the early 1900's, on a ranch in Salinas, California. His mother works her hands to the bone, and his father does the same. Both are no-nonsense, and the father is very strict. In the first chapter, Jody's father gets him a beautiful red pony. He tells Jody he must take care of him diligently, and at the same time do all his steady chores, and keep going to school. Since Buck is the horse expert, he will be there to guide Jody, but Jody will do the work. So, every day for almost a year Jody feeds, brushes, waters, lunges, etc., his red pony. Finally, about a month before Thanksgiving, Jody's proud father tells him that by Thanksgiving he'll be able to try riding the pony. Jody and Buck begin working on getting the pony used to a saddle. Jody, of course, grows to love the pony and the pony loves Jody. Naturally, a few days before Thanksgiving a storm is brewing. Jody is going to put the pony in the barn before he goes to school, but Buck tells him not to worry about it. He says he'll put him in if it starts storming, and besides, a little rain never hurt a horse. Sigh. Of course, it downpours and the pony is out in the rain all day. Buck is out working himself on some fence or something and never gets back to put the pony in. The next couple of weeks are spent trying to save the beautiful red pony who gets very, very sick. :-( Then, the red pony is near death and he breaks from the barn and goes to a field to die. Jody runs after the pony but when he gets there, a huge vulture is already sitting on his head eating his eye. The pony is dead. :-( So, that's where I almost stopped reading the book because why go on? Seriously, it was heartbreaking. The next three stories, though, were just more stories about Jody and his family. They didn't really go in order. The second one was about a visitor who came to the farm, an old man, who had lived near there in his childhood years and wanted to die near there. He steals one of their horses, who is also very, very old, and rides off into the mountains, presumably to die. The third story does take place after the red pony dies. It has been a few months and Jody's father tells him that if he takes responsibility for their mare, that he'll pay the $5 needed to breed her and then Jody can have and raise the colt! Jody is ecstatic, and again counts on Buck to help him out. It takes almost an entire year, but finally the mare is ready to give birth. But, of course, something is wrong. The colt is turned the wrong way and will kill both itself and the mare during the birth if Buck doesn't do something. Determined not to let this colt die, and more determined not to disappoint Jody again, Buck whacks the mare on the head with a shovel to kill her and cuts her open to get the colt out. Jody watches the whole thing in stunned silence until Buck puts the slimy baby colt in his arms. That's the end of that story, so we don't even get to see Jody raise the colt. The last story is about Jody's grandfather who comes to visit; his mother's father. His grandfather is famous for telling the same stories about how he and the other settlers went west to discover new territory and how they fought the Indians along the way. The grandfather overhears Jody's father complaining about how he always retells the same stories over and over and he ends up leaving sooner than he planned....but not before telling Jody that there wasn't anything else to discover anyway because the westward travelers got all the way to the ocean before they were forced to stop and make their lives there. So...that's it. Just a little bit of depressing Steinbeck, lol. The last story reminded me of my mom and how I would get impatient when she would tell the same stories over and over. Now I'd love for mom to be here to tell one of her stories. Hindsight is always such a cruel thing. ok, ready to read something more upbeat!!