The Wayward Bus (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

John Steinbeck (Author), Gary Scharnhorst (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2006 | Series: Penguin Classics

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America’s greatest writers and cultural figures. Over the next year, his many works, beginning with the six shown here, will be published as black-spine Penguin Classics for the first time and will feature eye-catching, newly commissioned art.

Of this initial group of six titles, The Wayward Bus is in a new edition. An imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California’s back roads. This allegorical novel of pilgrimage includes a new introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.

Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOHN STEINBECK (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Robert DeMott is the Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor at Ohio University and the author of Steinbeck’s Typewriter, an award-winning book of critical essays.
Gary Scharnhorst is professor of English at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of books by Bret Harte and John De Forest for Penguin Classics.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142437875
• ISBN-13: 978-0142437872
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raising more than eyebrows in the 1940's!!!, November 26, 2001

By 

Janice M. Hansen (California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wayward Bus (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) (Mass Market Paperback)

For many readers, it is natural to review the current releases, waiting for that gripping novel with brilliant social interpretations and charactors that are unforgettable. Well, I have one for you!

Take a small corner cafe, dependent on the intersection of two highways, one of which leads south to Los Angeles. It is post war, and times have not been easy with rationing, economic and personal stresses on everyone. The wayward bus links small town with big town, and therein lies the stage for a group of passengers, bus drivers, waitresses and mechanics that move the story forward with insightful urgency that only Steinbeck can pull off. The current paperback book cover portrays Joan Collins in the late 1950's as Alice, slumped forward over a glass of whiskey in the cafe table booth, despising herself and her life. On the bus are a group of people that are together only by chance and the luck of the draw. The story reveals what happens when this incompatible group of people are confronted with a broken down bus in a rain storm. They lust and hate each other. The use and abuse each other. They love and forget each other, but will they ever forgive what happens when fatigue and compromise break down all their defenses and expose themselves for the true persons they are?
The uniqueness of _The Wayward Bus_ is that this story reveals an intriguing denotation of the 1940's post war attitude and social beliefs from a cast of characters that will keep the pages turning. Amazingly, I found these characters to be just as relevant today as Steinbeck portrayed them in the 1940's. Not only can this author grasp the soul of characters and depict them for the reader, he has an ability to unite land and story.
I have been drawn to Steinbeck for years, and recently I have made efforts to read most of his work. This book was not really known to me, unlike many of his novels which are discussed frequently in reader's circles. This novel seemed so fresh to me, and with some imagination I can wonder of it's reception upon the initial publication. This is a novel that certainly raised more than a few eyebrows!

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take A Trip on The Wayward Bus and Rediscover Steinbeck, January 15, 2003

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wayward Bus (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) (Mass Market Paperback)

If "The Grapes of Wrath" is the only Steinbeck you've ever read, you are in for a more entertaining read with "The Wayward Bus." Although it doesn't have the epic sweep of his more famous work, this is a riveting character study of as diverse a group of people as ever assembled. They converge at a diner in the middle of nowhere and board a rickety bus to San Juan de la Cruz. Each has his or her own good points and bad points, secret shame and hopeful dream. Steinbeck bring each to life and has you empathize with them, hate them, love them, and most likely long remember them. Why? Because these people are universal. Their problems, hopes, and realities are just as prevalent in 2003 as they were when Steinbeck penned this one. From the sexually-charged Juan Chicoy to the acne-scarred Kit, from the promiscuous Camille to the dysfunctional Pritchard family, from the mean-spirited Van Brunt to the insecure waitress Norma and the soldier-turned-salesman Horton, these passengers will lead you on a most introspective trip into a world where everything and nothing changes.

I found it interesting that in his 1962 Nobel Prize acceptance speech Steinbeck said, "The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement." Certainly, he lived up to this commission completely with "The Wayward Bus."

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only stopped reading long enough to make coffee..., December 30, 2000

By 

"ohlefty" (Silver Spring, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wayward Bus (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) (Mass Market Paperback)

Once I began reading this book, I didn't stop until I was finished...it took me the day, but I was sucked in so immediately that I had no desire to do anything but get it finished, and I was sorry when it ended. I have loved John Steinbeck for a long time, but "The Wayward Bus" is probably one of my favorites. It is a perfect illustration of his amazing ability to craft characters so complete that they don't need to do anything daring or extreme to augment their existences. The novel does have a plot, although there aren't too many adventurous twists of fate. They're not necessary. Steinbeck proves once again that day-to-day life and the emotional dilemmas that everyday people deal with all the time ARE interesting- once we really get know the affected people. There is no doubt in my mind that each character in "The Wayward Bus" is one that we can each identify with, and by the end it's almost as though they are close friends or family members. It takes a rare talent to write like this. Read this one.