Review By Jack Smith
People have long suggested John Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat” is a newer novel built around Arthurian legends. However, these characters are not latter-day Knights of The Round Table, but down-on-their-luck, good-natured drunks. These paisanos exist to find ingenious ways to acquire vast quantities of wine while avoiding any semblance of honest work. Adulterers, debauchers, bums – all are words used to describe this merry band of brothers. Like the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Tortilla Flat has its heroes, quests and holy grail – at least that was the original recipe, but then Steinbeck mixed in beans, paisanos, lively women, and a lot of wine for good measure. This blissful arrangement could’ve lasted forever except that Pablo’s aunt dies and leaves him her house. Their good fortune lasts until the guys realize that a house comes with responsibilities such as painting and grass mowing, (which Danny solves by stealing a goat). Like all of his novels, this Steinbeck novel shows that less is more and things like rules only complicate life. This book would have made Hunter S. Thompson weep.
