Travels with Charley in Search of America

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 9,418 ratings

Price: 13.78

Last update: 01-11-2025


About this item

A stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade—and a moving elegy for more innocent times.

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.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Sarah Kelly
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book by a Great Writer!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2024
    It's the story of writer John Steinbeck traveling around the United States with his dog Charlie. (sp?)

    It's was written in the late 50's or early 60's, so it is fascinating to read of people in different parts of the country during that time period.

    Steinbeck is one of America's greatest writers, and this is the book that introduced me to his writing, so it has great significance to me.
  • J V
    5.0 out of 5 stars none fiction and Fiction that revealed John’s travels and a time in Monterey
    Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2024
    I enjoyed this collection of stories, nonfiction and fiction. Interesting exploration of his travels with Charley and the fiction that revealed the antics of an earlier day in Monterey. It might have revealed life as it was before commercialization and tourism overcame the Monterey peninsula.
    A mostly thoughtful and hilarious read that overcomes Steinbeck’s darker side.
    An easy, almost enjoyably lazy read with an occasional splatter of impressive vocabulary.
  • Jessica McCann
    4.0 out of 5 stars New perspective of Steinbeck as a man and of the era in which he lived.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021
    Steinbeck’s ability to create a sense of place and tell an entertaining story has always impressed me. This nonfiction account of his cross-country road trip in 1960 did not disappoint in that respect.

    He was 58 when he and his dog, Charley, set out in a modern, fully-stocked camper truck for a months’ long journey. Steinbeck’s goal was to rediscover the America and the people he’d spent decades portraying in his novels. He took the trip in late fall and early winter, specifically to avoid tourists and engage in conversation with the average woman and man. His description of driving isolated back-roads and eating in small-town diners, of laundering clothes on the road and cooking beans on a camp stove were transporting and evocative. It alternated between poignant and funny.

    Like many of his works, Travels with Charley, provided an intimate view and insightful interpretation of human nature. Here’s one example. Midway through their travels, Charley became ill and Steinbeck took him to the nearest veterinarian. The author quickly assessed the doctor was likely an alcoholic with a serious hangover. When the vet touched the dog with “his unsteady, inept hand,” Steinbeck wrote, “I saw the look of veiled contempt in Charley’s eyes. He knew about the man, I thought, and perhaps the doctor knew he knew. And maybe that was the man’s trouble. It would be very painful to know that your patients had no faith in you.”

    Though Steinbeck was unhappy with the doctor’s gruff bedside manner in the moment, he later reflected on the experience with some empathy, even a touch of compassion. “It wasn’t that this veterinary didn’t like animals. I think he didn’t like himself, and when that is so the subject usually must find an area for dislike outside himself. Else he would have to admit his self-contempt.”

    The book also gave me a new perspective of Steinbeck himself and of the era during which he lived. Critical reviewers of the time lauded his searing interpretation of our nation’s shortcomings in “political apathy, environmental degradation, and strident racism.” Yet, reading many passages through today’s lens, I was struck by the irony of such praise and by a renewed sense of pride in how far we have come the past 50 years.
    Steinbeck believed in racial equality. He railed against segregation. His words sang with a sincerity I believed. At the same time, some of his expressions made me wince when measuring them against today’s standards of racism.
    With regard to the environment, Steinbeck’s prose reflected a man who loved nature and wild places, who championed the preservation of forests and wildlife. Indeed, he was. On the other hand, he viewed those places through the narrow view of a mid-20th century outdoorsman. He didn’t see them as ecosystems vital to mankind’s survival, but rather as playgrounds vital to man’s amusement.

    In one passage, he extolled “modern designs for easy living” that made his forays into nature more convenient and enjoyable. “On my boat I had discovered aluminum, disposable cooking utensils, frying pans and deep dishes. You fry a fish and throw the pan overboard.” In another passage, he described camping in the Mohave Desert and setting two coyotes in his rifle sights. “Coyotes are vermin. They steal chickens. They must be killed. They are the enemy,” he wrote. It broke my heart, even though I know that was common, accepted belief in his day.

    This memoir smashed the rose-colored glasses through which I viewed my literary hero. That doesn’t mean I no longer admire Steinbeck’s writing and storytelling talents. In fact, it may have deepened my appreciation of his work now that I have a deeper understanding for the real-life man behind the author persona.
  • A. B. Harmon
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great book
    Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2024
    This is a book every American should read. I found the description of his time in New Orleans so harrowing that I threw up. Steinbeck is a great writer, and his description of the white women shouting insults at the little black child entering a newly desegregated school is something I will never forget.
    In today’s climate, this book might be banned, which would be awful. We should never forget.
  • Brian D. Fitzpatrick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Courage,Curiousity,and a Loving and loyal wife
    Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2007
    Steinbeck at his most brilliant.What a marvellous and delightful read.
    Charley,his travelling buddy,a french poodle,reminded me alot of E.B. White's affection for the anthropomorphic qualities of animals.
    The kindness of Stuart Little,Charlotte,and poor old Wilbur!Charley is a nice fellow.I won't spoil the book for you with any details,but one.Steibeck was getting on,feeling old,and decided to travel the US in his re-outfitted camper with his pal Charley.Of course,with his dear wife's consent.
    I consider this to be one of the great passages in modern fiction.

    THE GIST OF LIFE:
    "...In long range planning for a trip,I think there is a private conviction that it won't happen.As the day approached,my warm bed and comfortable house grew increasingly desirable and my dear wife incalculably precious.To give these up for 3 months for the terrors of the uncomfortable and unknown seemed crazy.I didn't want to go.Something had to happen to forbid my going,but it didn't.I could get sick,of course,but that was one of my main but secrets reasons for going at all.During the previous winter I had become rather seriously ill with one of those carefully named difficulties which are the whispers of approaching age.When I came out of it I recieved the usual lecture about slowing up,losing wieght,limiting the cholesteral intake.It happens to many men,and I think doctors have memorized the litany.It had happened to so many of my friends.The lecture ends "Slow down.You're not as young as you once where".And I had seen so many begin to pack their lives in cotton wool,smother their impulses,hood their passions,and gradually retire from their manhood into a kind of spiritual and physical semi-invalidism.In this they are encouraged by wives and relatives,and it's such a sweet trap.Who doesn't like to be the center for concern?A kind of second childhood falls on so many men.They trade their violence for the promise for a small increase of life span.In effect,the head of house becomes the youngest child.And I have searched myself for this possibility with a kind of horror.For I have alway lived violently,drunk hugely,eaten too much,or not at all,slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping,worked too long and hard in glory,or slobbed for a time in utter laziness.I've lifted,chopped,climbed,made love with joy,and taken my hangovers as a consequence,not a punishment.I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage.My wife married a man;I saw no reason why should inherit a baby.I knew that ten or twelve thousand miles driving a truck,alone and unattended,over every kind of road would be hard work,but to me it represented the antidote for the poison of the professional sick man.And in my own life I am not willing to trade quality for quantity.If this projected journey should prove too much than it was time to go anyway.I see too many men delay their exits with a sickly,slow reluctance to leave the stage.It's bad theatre,as well as bad living.I am very fortunate of having a wife who likes being a women,which means she likes men,not elderly babies.Although this last foundation for the trip was never discussed,I am sure she understood it..."
    (Penquin Books-1962 from 'travels with charley' pgs 19-20)
    Enjoy folks.Health and Happiness
  • Annie Flack
    5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2024
    John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie is an as mazing combination of auto biography, travel and dog story. There is a reason it is a Classic. Plain great writing. Funny. Adventurous. Unforgettable.

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