Steinbeck eden5/24/2023 ![]() That intermittent ""little"" was enough for Nancy, however: ""you just plain loved him because he had guts. ![]() ![]() ![]() Nancy's story, perhaps the more dominant and message-driven, is all too familiar: loyal and enraged wife of an intelligent, creative addict who promises everything and delivers little. With the exception of the last two years of his life, his periods of sobriety didn't last, though his tumultuous marriage to Nancy, against all odds, did. The son, a lost soul who never fully developed his own identity apart from his father's fame, tells of a childhood of ""Promethean intensity,"" characterized ""by shameless, alcoholic abuse and neglect."" After being sent to Vietnam at age 20, John became a journalist (winning an Emmy), Buddhist monk, father, social activist and drug addict. Nancy's introduction explains that Steinbeck IV commenced his autobiography in 1990, and after his untimely death in 1991, she ""needed to finish his manuscript for family."" The book is in short sections, some by John, some by Nancy (a few are coauthored) they both tell sad tales of dysfunction and abuse. The title conveys the dual focus of this memoir: ""life with John Steinbeck"" refers both to the famous American novelist as seen by his son, and to Nancy Steinbeck's life with the son, her late husband, John Steinbeck IV. ![]()
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