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Completed	25 April 2009
Title	The Red Pony
Author	John Steinbeck
Published	1933
Quote	"Jody leapt forward and plunged down the hill. The wet ground muffled his steps and the brush hid him. When he arrived, it was all over. The first buzzard sat on the pony's head and its beak had just risen dripping with dark eye fluid. Jody plunged into the circle like a cat. The black brotherhood arose in a cloud, but the big one on the pony's head was too late. As it hopped along to take off, Jody caught its wing tip and pulled it down. It was nearly as big as he was. The free wing crashed into his face with the force of a club, but he hung on. The claws fastened on his leg and the wing elbows battered his head on either side. Jody groped blindly with his free hand. His fingers found the neck of the struggling bird. The red eyes looked into his face, calm and fearless and fierce; the naked head turned from side to side. Then the beak opened and vomited a stream of putrefied fluid. Jody brought up his knee and fell on the great bird. He held the neck to the ground with one hand while his other found a piece of sharp white quartz. The first blow broke the beak sideways and black blood spurted from the twisted, leathery mouth corners. He struck again and missed. The red fearless eyes still looked at him, impersonal and unafraid and detached. He struck again and again, until the buzzard lay dead, until its head was a red pulp. He was still beating the dead bird when Billy Buck pulled him off and held him tightly to calm his shaking."
Review	I was under the mistaken impression that this was a kid's book. I thought it'd be an easy and enjoyable read. But gosh, it's quite heavy, and certainly depressing. It's typical Steinbeck, through and through. Why does Steinbeck always have to do this? For him, a story is nothing without loss or isolation or just plain being at the end of your rope. The Red Pony is no different. It's the story of a ten-year-old boy, Jody, who gets a pony and is thrilled with the responsibility. Of course, the pony falls ill, time after time, and this teaches Jody a hard life lesson or two, poor boy. This was an interesting book, with a few additional short stories to the title one, but don't be reading this book to your kids. It's all quite graphic and unsuitable for the little ones.

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