The Red Pony

2019 Summer Reading Challenge
- Past love: Reread a book you loved when you were younger.
- Primary reading: Read a book with a number or color in the title.

Having reread Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath this year, I had a clear memory of Steinbeck's power to tell a story both in action and in feeling. And then I read The Red Pony. Wow. Can I say that I think Red Pony may be an even better book than Grapes? Hard to believe, I know, but true, I think. A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

“Then he saw what he was looking for. Below, in one of the little clearings in the brush lay the red pony. In the distance, Jody could see the legs moving slowly and convulsively. And in a circle around him stood the buzzards, waiting for the moment of death they knew so well.”“He saw a hawk flying so high that it caught the sun on its breast and shone like a spark. Two blackbirds were driving him down the sky, glittering as they attacked their enemy. In the west, the clouds were moving in to rain again.”Oh, how I love John Steinbeck. Even though Steinbeck's novels are all raw and bleak, they somehow amuse me every time. And at the end of every Steinbeck book, I'm always left fighting that lump in my throat!The Red Pony is no different. It stars with the story of a young boy named Jody who receives a red pony, Gabilan from his father Carl, as a gift. He loves his pony ardently, taking care of him with the help of rancher Billy Buck. The story moves on with Steinbeck's powerfully descriptive, simple and sparsely wonderful style of writing. As usual, Steinbeck manages to stir up your emotions and totally drags you inside his novel; inside the world of Jody Tiflin and his house near the might and beautiful Gabilan Mountains. Overall, it's a great book and set in the backdrop of Trifin Ranch and is sort of like a fictional sneak peek into John Steinbeck's childhood.I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would rate it a complete 5/5!