---
product_id: 1962477
title: "Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics)"
brand: "john steinbeckthomas fensch"
price: "16.90 OMR"
currency: OMR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/1962477-tortilla-flat-penguin-twentieth-century-classics
store_origin: OM
region: Oman
---

# Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics)

**Brand:** john steinbeckthomas fensch
**Price:** 16.90 OMR
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics) by john steinbeckthomas fensch
- **How much does it cost?** 16.90 OMR with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.om](https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/1962477-tortilla-flat-penguin-twentieth-century-classics)

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## Description

Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics)

## Images

![Tortilla Flat (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qsBzvim8L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Awesome Read
  

*by J***Y on Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2023*

What a enjoyable read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Hail Knights of the Woeful Countenance
  

*by P***D on Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2013*

If as others have suggested John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flats is built around the Arthurian legends these are not latter-day noble Knights of the Round Table recast as down and out, hard luck, lower-class Californians. Rather these are the men who would have shared a tankard or three with likes of Don Quixote's Sancho Panza or Shakespeare's Falstaff.The story cycle in Tortilla Flats centers around a mostly hapless, selfish, drunken, thieving, and occasionally noble group of paisano's in the unpaved and occasionally patrolled outer reaches of Monterrey, California in the years after World War I. For those looking to charge racial stereotypes; the central characters include Danny, Pilon, Jesus Marie, Big Joe Portagee and the Pirate. No one is clearly identified with any one racial type and we are told these are a mix of Native Americans, Hispanics, Italians, Anglos and combinations thereof. Mostly what our main characters have in common is an over fondness for wine and a disinterest in work or anything that looks like achieving the American dream. The novel itself is early Steinbeck and may be considered as something of an experiment in storytelling that he will perfect in Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.In choosing to tell us the stories of this barely lovable group of schemers and drinkers, Steinbeck is working an aspect common in many cultures from the misdeeds of the Hopi Mud Head Kachinas to the antics of the Three Stooges. We can identify with this ignoble band of Brothers in part because they allow us to be naughty at one remove and because we can identify with people who are hapless without being evil.Tortilla Flats is not so much a novel as a cycle of short stories built around the misadventures, sacred superstitions, and wine based brotherhood of its central characters. Around the core characters we have a variety of equally comedic bumbler's including: women of flexible virtue, barter-based wine bootleggers and at least one jailer who qualifies for the job by being its most frequent prisoners - until her forgets he is the jailor and leads an escape. None of these people or events is meant to be taken seriously. Steinbeck has invited us to savor complex schemes as designed by simple folk whose only real loyalty is to each other and when pressed their immediate community.My initial reaction to Steinbeck's Tortilla Flats was negative. Initially I did not like any of the paisanos. Once I realized this was all intended as humor and that it was part of a larger literary tradition I came to enjoy the efforts of these characters to provide for each other without surrendering to their own weaknesses. My change of heart could not have happened except for the simple yet skillful use of language that ultimately seduced me and made me into being a fan of this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Wine, women, song and tears
  

*by J***H on Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2001*

I highly recommended this short novel but I would not do so for everyone.  First of all, you must appreciate the novel being written in 1935 and the language spoken by the characters reflect that time period, rightly so.  It only takes a short while to adapt and I found the story moving along at a nice pace as the personalities began to assume colorful portrayals.Steinbeck presents a group of men, or paisanos living in Monterey, California after the first World War.  These are poor men, not especially motivated to work for a living and have a thirsty, never ending longing for wine.  They circle around Danny, the fortunate one in the group, who inherited 2 small houses from his grandfather. Having no steady job, it makes sense to him to "rent" to his buddies.  His buddies don't have jobs or revenue, either, so the compensation that takes place is in the form of companionship and the collective sharing of all foods begged from the back doors of groceries and restaurants. The hawking of whatever goods they come upon that can be bartered for the prized gallon of wine serves to be their highest priority.  While seemingly desperate and pathetic, these men go to no end to rationalize their predicaments, twist truths and events to be self-serving and ultimately rewarding their endeavors by securing enough wine to satisfy them all.  This can be quite a challenge, and the lengths they go to to fulfill their thirsty desires are hilarious.  That the reader finds love and goodness in these fellows is reflected by the skill of John Steinbeck's writing.  The book is a quick read and it was not long before I became  fond and wiped away a few tears of sorrow and joy for each of them and  the circumstances these men find themselves. The practise of  their Catholic religion is random; they use it when they need it, commit small crimes in the name of it and dismiss the many restrictive "Thou shall not's" when seized in the throes of passion or inebriation. A greater sense of loyalty knits these men to each other.  While women acquaintances come and go, the paisanos rely on each other and faithfully commit to one another. In spite of the inevitable drunken fights and arguments, the following morning beckons another day. All the sins of the previous day are (literally) forgotten and forgiven.  In the dawn of the new day anything is possible, and the adventures these men get themselves into is pure comic entertainment.

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*Product available on Desertcart Oman*
*Store origin: OM*
*Last updated: 2026-02-21*