how to be a novelist: use 10^n words when 10^(n-1) will do.

I think there are authors where this definitely applies and I don’t think Steinbeck is one of them.

It feels analogous to complaining about how Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel on the ceiling instead of on a canvas where we wouldn’t have to crane our necks to see it.

Maybe he could have just replaced that whole section with a couple graphs showing average rainfall and crop yield for the Salinas Valley.

"yes, I would my steak well done and macerated into an easily digestible paste with no seasoning".

There's more to good prose than just conveying the bare nutrients, y'know?