These are the discussion questions the book club talked about regarding John Steinbeck's novel, The Pastures of Heaven. This was Steinbeck's second novel and it was fun to discuss together. Below are some of the main topics we covered during our discussion.

1. Format of the novel: Do you like that each chapter is almost self-contained? Or are they not self-contained?
2. Perspective in the novel: each story centers on an individual, their family and how they fare in the valley. At the same time we constantly see the pastures of heaven as a unit looked at from afar, or from above. For example, the Spanish conquistador in the beginning and the tourists at the end. It seems like for most who live there, life is hard, yet for those who imagine there, it really is a paradise.
3. Steinbeck’s characterization: any favorite passages that exemplify Steinbeck’s prose? How do you think Steinbeck develops characters and do you like his style?
4. Stories and characters: do you have a favorite story or character? a least favorite?
5. California and the role of location: what is the role of the city, San Francisco in the novel? What about the other places mentioned? ex: Monterrey, Salinas. Is Steinbeck forming an image of California for us? If so, what can we say about this California?
6. Mental illness: there are characters we come across in the novel who have mental or emotional illnesses which are never addressed and sometimes result in death. Is Steinbeck trying to tell us something?
7. Emotion: I think that emotion is sort of ignored and swallowed by the characters here, and it is only sometimes they are in touch with how they are really feeling. Example: the woman who only begins to feel peace in the pastures in her sitting room, Shark feeling “a holy emotion that ntohign else in his life approached” at the funeral, the guy who likes watching hangings. Is any one in this book happy?
8. God’s presence or absence and its implications
9. Existence of fate/destiny

An interesting theme to think about is the role of the Munroes, as Alicia so aptly noted. They moved into town into the "haunted" house and Bert claimed he must have chased the spirits out.... but trace the interactions of the Munroes with every other character in the book. Just try it. You will be surprised at all the negative consequences they bring on the other characters.

The format of the novel is like other books we have read- example, the 19th century Argentinian Jewish writer Alberto Gerchunoff that I studied so much for my thesis... all short stories that interconnected with another through similar characters but can still be more or less taken separately... he was really trying to invoke the image of a specific people in a specific time and place. Steinbeck doesn't really focus on a time period here...

Key question- is anyone happy in this book?