The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition)

published	January 8th 2002 by Penguin (Non-Classics)
first published	1939
binding	Paperback
isbn	0142000663 (isbn13: 9780142000663)
pages	464
description	When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face with itself in a startli...more [close] When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered the country's recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children, the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family. Then he set them down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the world to acknowledge. For this marvel of observation and perception, he won the Pulitzer in 1940. The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency." The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat battle-scarred, and this, as much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies," is a part of American history. When the California of their dreams proves to be less than edenic, Ma tells Tom: "You got to have patience. Why, Tom--us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people--we go on." It's almost as if she's talking about the very novel she inhabits, for Steinbeck's characters, more than most literary creations, do go on. They continue, now as much as ever, to illuminate and humanize an era for generations of readers who, thankfully, have no experiential point of reference for understanding the depression. The book's final, haunting image of Rose of Sharon--Rosasharn, as they call her--the eldest Joad daughter, forcing the milk intended for her stillborn baby onto a starving stranger, is a lesson on the grandest scale. "'You got to,'" she says, simply. And so do we all. --Melanie Rehak [close]
date added	12-06-06 edit book

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Emily rated it:

07/18/08

bookshelves: 2008-journey-to-30, historical-fiction, i-own-it, the-classics, they-made-a-movie

Read in July, 2008

Once again, I've fallen into the line of classics, what right do I have to criticize?? But I press on, given that this book was a hell of a lot longer than Of Mice and Men, so I should probably say something.

So I just returned from a two week long road trip. We went from Seattle to Lexington, KY to Smithville TN, to Elmhurst, IL and back to Seattle. Via Yellowstone, Nebraska, and Mt Rushmore of course. Anyway ... in preparation for the trip, I took FOUR books. I only got through one, and I d...more

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Jeff rated it:

03/13/08

Read in March, 2008

This book was quite a read. It follows a fictional family, the Joads, through some of the darkest days of the depression. The Joads are a family of sharecroppers who have been in Oklahoma for three generations. But now the bank owns the land and due to years of dust storms which caused repeated crop failure the bank has taken possession of the land and the family now has no way to make a living or even a home. They decide to move to California following a handbill that has promised jobs and ...more This book was quite a read. It follows a fictional family, the Joads, through some of the darkest days of the depression. The Joads are a family of sharecroppers who have been in Oklahoma for three generations. But now the bank owns the land and due to years of dust storms which caused repeated crop failure the bank has taken possession of the land and the family now has no way to make a living or even a home. They decide to move to California following a handbill that has promised jobs and fortunes to all who come. The only problem is that they are not the only family heading to California. As they arrive in California they are met with extreme poverty and prejudice from the "native" Californians. Labeled "Oakies" and treated as a new generation of serfs, the migrant workers were treated as little more than animals. If you like endings that tie up all the loose strings and leave you with a sense of closure, you are not going to like this book. The ending is very open and you get a sense that you are only seeing a very short window into the family's life.

The main point of the book seemed to me, to be that problems on this scale can not be handled individually, we have to confront them as a society. Whenever the people in the story tried to act individually they were crushed by the powerful. In contrast to this was the experience of the family as they lived in the government camp. The camp was a mini society and despite no presence of "law and order", the camp was neat and orderly. They had their own rules and laws to govern the camp. Also the verses from Ecclesiastes that are quoted by Tom Joad to his mother, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

The humanity of the people depicted was very powerful. They were neither made out to be saints nor sinners. What they were shown to be was people. The desire to better their lives, the hope that they strained to maintain even as the world around them strove to crush it, the tenderness and sometimes the sternness of Ma Joad as she dealt with her children and her husband in striving to keep the family together. All this served to show that these people were no different than the people on the other side who sought to demonize and strip the migrants of their humanity.

I feel that this book with its subject and handling of such an issue is relevant today especially considering the debate surrounding the migrant workers of today. We need to consider, no matter which side of the argument we fall on, that these are people, neither saints nor sinners, just people, with hopes and dreams for a better future for themselves and their families. In this they are no different than us. Also this book serves as a warning that the more we strive to crush a particular group of people, the more we separate ourselves from the humanity in which we so often feel superior....less

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Ririenz rated it:

11/20/07

bookshelves: sastra-klasik

Read in January, 2005

Novel bertema sosial budaya atau kemasyarakatan karya John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath ini di alih bahasakan oleh Sapardi Djoko Damono dengan judul Amarah. Dalam edisi bahasa Indonesia Amarah di bagi dalam 2 jilid buku menjadi Amarah I & Amarah II . Amarah merupakan novel yang berisi kritik sosial kemasyarakatan yang naturalistik dan realistik mengenai budaya dan stuktur sosial kaum marginal Amerika pada tahun 1930an. Melalui novel ini Steinbeck menegaskan keyakinan spiritualnya bahwa kes...more Novel bertema sosial budaya atau kemasyarakatan karya John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath ini di alih bahasakan oleh Sapardi Djoko Damono dengan judul Amarah. Dalam edisi bahasa Indonesia Amarah di bagi dalam 2 jilid buku menjadi Amarah I & Amarah II . Amarah merupakan novel yang berisi kritik sosial kemasyarakatan yang naturalistik dan realistik mengenai budaya dan stuktur sosial kaum marginal Amerika pada tahun 1930an. Melalui novel ini Steinbeck menegaskan keyakinan spiritualnya bahwa keseluruhan hidup ini adalah suci, tidak peduli siapapun yang menjalaninya. Novel ini menceritakan tentang emigrasi sekelompok orang ke California yang diwakili oleh keluarga petani Joad akibat dari depresi ekonomi, system pemerintahan yang buruk dan lebih mengedepankan kepentingan dari pihak-pihak yang memberikan banyak keuntungan dan penyalahgunaan kekuasaan dari para pemilik tanah dan pertanian.

Pada Amarah I Steinbeck menceritakan tentang kembalinya Tom Joad dari penjara Mc Allister karena dia telah melakukan pembunuhan. Tom Joad seharusnya dihukum selama 7 tahun, tetapi karena selama di penjara berkelakuan baik akhirnya hukumannya diperpendek menjadi 4 tahun dan bebas bersyarat dengan tidak boleh melalukan perjalanan ke luar kota dan dia juga dikenakan wajib lapor. Ketika Tom Joad sampai di kampung halamannya dia mendapati keluarga, rumah, tanah dan tetangganya dalam kesulitan yang sangat besar. Keluarga Joad dan para tetangganya tak kuasa menghadapi kekuatan abstrak yang diwakili oleh pihak bank serta kekuatan konkret yang diwakili oleh mesin trator. Kondisi tanah pedesaan yang tandus dan gersang membuat para petani tidak bisa memanfaatkan hartanya untuk penghidupan keluarganya sehingga pada akhirnya pihak bank-lah yang membelinya. Selain itu kekuatan traktor yang menggantikan peranan manusia di ladang membuat nasib para petani itu semakin terpuruk. Karena masa depan yang serba tidak jelas itu membuat para petani memutuskan untuk mengungsi ke daerah yang membuat mereka bisa memperoleh penghidupannya kembali. Berbekal selebaran yang diperoleh dari kota mereka mencoba mengais peruntungan nasib di California.

Keluarga Joad yang turun temurun hanya mengenal kehidupan pedesaan akhirnya juga memutuskan untuk meninggalkan desanya menuju tanah harapan, California yang subur untuk bekerja sebagai buruh pemetik buah. Sebenarnya dalam hati keluarga Joad juga tidak yakin bagaimana peruntungan mereka nantinya di California tetapi sepertinya mereka juga tidak mau berpangku tangan saja dan pasrah menghadapi nasib buruk yang menimpa keluarga mereka. Dengan segala keterbatasannya keluarga Joad akhirnya bisa mengusahakan perjalanan ke tanah harapan tersebut. Meskipun perjalanan ke tanah harapan sangat jauh dan berbuah resiko yang tidak kecil ditambah dengan kondisi kendaraan di bawah standar keselamatan, tidaklah menggoyahkan nyali keluarga Joad untuk merubah nasib mereka. Perjalanan mereka ke California dibayang-bayangi oleh berbagai hambatan dan tragedi namun keluarga Joad masih bisa survive dan melanjutkan pengharapan mereka. Kematian kakek Tom Joad yang di dahului dengan kematian anjing mereka karena tertabrak mobil tidaklah menimbulkan kesan spiritual yang dalam bagi keluarga Joad karena mereka menganggapnya sebagai takdir yang harus dijalani oleh setiap manusia.

Perwatakan para tokoh Okies yang diciptakan oleh Steinbeck mengalami perkembangan jiwa sejalan dengan tekanan hidup yang mereka hadapi.

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Carl rated it:

12/21/07

bookshelves: best_of_all, lost

Read in March, 2008

damn.

Chapter 14

The Western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western states, nervous as horses before a thunderstorm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply — the causes ...more damn.

Chapter 14

The Western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western states, nervous as horses before a thunderstorm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply — the causes are hunger in the stomach, multiplied one million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied one million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied one million times. The last clear definite function of men — muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need — this is man. To build the wall, to build a house, the dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take heart muscles from the lifting, to take the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you say is man — when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the marketplace, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, and the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live — for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live — for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. In this you can know — fear the time when manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of man self, in this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.

The Western states, nervous under the beginning change. Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas in Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California. A single family moved from the land. Pa borrowed money from the bank, and now the bank wants the land. The land company — that's the bank when it has land — wants tractors, not families on the land. Is a tractor bad? Is the power that turns the long furrows wrong? If this tractor were ours it would be good — not mine, but ours. If our tractor turned the long furrows of our land, it would be good. Not my land, but ours. We could love that tractor then as we have loved this land when it was ours. But this tractor does two things — it turns land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people are driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this.
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Matt rated it:

01/15/08

recommends it for: any student of the novel

john steinbeck belongs to that small group of american writers able to capture a wide array of emotions and issues within a novel. 'the grapes of wrath' is certainly no exception. some readers may be put off by the book's length, or its decidedly 'okie' dialect. sure, it can be a bit tough to follow sometimes, but a couple dozen pages into the novel it's not too difficult to pick up on the dialect. and the book is quite simple to read and follow. it takes a master to keep is simple, yet profound...more john steinbeck belongs to that small group of american writers able to capture a wide array of emotions and issues within a novel. 'the grapes of wrath' is certainly no exception. some readers may be put off by the book's length, or its decidedly 'okie' dialect. sure, it can be a bit tough to follow sometimes, but a couple dozen pages into the novel it's not too difficult to pick up on the dialect. and the book is quite simple to read and follow. it takes a master to keep is simple, yet profound.

in 'the grapes of wrath' steinbeck once again proves he's the master of the moral dilemma--yet he doesn't dare presume to offer any answers. he puts his characters in situations and lets them succeed or fail (and they often do fail). it's one of the beauties of steinbeck's writing. while we tend to pull for his characters, we know they're as deeply flawed as they are--and perhaps that's why do we care as much as we do.

the novel opens with tom joad jr's release from prison for homicide, continues through the joad's departure to california and their ultimate arrival in california and all the accompanying trouble. steinbeck, perhaps better than anyone before or since, captures the essence of america. what does it mean to be an american? what did it mean to be an american during the depression? how do we, as americans, treat our fellow citizens? what are our rights and obligations as citizens of this great country? as i mentioned earlier, steinbeck offers no answers--but eloquently poses the questions (as any good literature worth its salt will do). in many ways the joads are the quintessential american family, warts and all.

what surprised me most, however, about 'the grapes of wrath' is that it's very much a story about matriarchy and the power of women. ma joad is one of the strongest women i've read about in literature. her's are the most heartbreaking scenes (when they're stopped at the border; when rose of sharon gives birth; when tom jr repeats his crime), yet she always comes out stronger and wiser. it's ma joad who herds the family. it's ma joad who looks after the men in her family. it's ma joad who understands why her husband and children behave the way they do. she's literally the glue that keeps the family together. i applaud steinbeck for writing such a profoundly wonderful, complex, and postive female character during a time when a lot of writers seemed to treat women as afterthoughts (hemingway?).

there's much to admire in steinbeck's writing. as a writer, he's nearly unmatched. as a social commentator, he's peerless. as an advocate for the underpriviledged, displanced, and desperate, he's the master. ...less

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Malcolm rated it:

12/15/07

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: people over the age of 30

Whenever I revisit a classic I'm struck by how much more I get out of it now than I did when I was 24 or 19 or, God forbid, 15. Giving a book like the Grapes of Wrath to a 15 year old serves largely to put them off fine literature for the rest of their lives. The depth of understanding and compassion for the human condition as communicated by a book like this is simply unfathomable to those who haven't lived much life yet, but after you've gotten a healthy dose of living, it comes across like ...more

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Len rated it:

02/08/08

Read in February, 2008

I completed The Grapes of Wrath last night and no, I had never read it before. I know, how is that possible? I chose to read The Grapes of Wrath for my English 685 class (Graduate Research) at NAU this semester and for the class we had to keep a journal while we read. So, it took me twice as long to read it as it might have otherwise, but it was worth the effort given the amount of insight I gleaned from the novel.

In particular, Steinbeck wrote the book in a very unique form. Several critics...more I completed The Grapes of Wrath last night and no, I had never read it before. I know, how is that possible? I chose to read The Grapes of Wrath for my English 685 class (Graduate Research) at NAU this semester and for the class we had to keep a journal while we read. So, it took me twice as long to read it as it might have otherwise, but it was worth the effort given the amount of insight I gleaned from the novel.

In particular, Steinbeck wrote the book in a very unique form. Several critics point to the form of the novel as an entirely new method of writing fiction, focusing on how Steinbeck alternated chapters between the tale of the Joad family and poetic discussions of the migrant experience in America. Critic Robert DeMott writes in the introduction that “the novel demonstrates how form itself is a kind of magic lantern, a shifting lens for magnifying and viewing multiple perspectives of reality.” For me the short “in-between” chapters were powerful and poetic and gave me an even sharper understanding of the story of the migrants – which was then reinforced in the story of the Joad family.

DeMott describes these short chapters as “jazzy, rapid-fire interchapters” and expresses this power eloquently when he writes: “Steinbeck historicizes the Joad narrative by embedding his fiction in its contemporary milieu; conversely, he demonstrates the fluidity of history by re-creating it in fiction.”

The other amazing thing about the novel for me is the way Steinbeck used the character of the preacher Casy to share his views on religion and politics. Casy is a "fallen" preacher who has lost religion but found the religion of helping people. Many of Casy's views are pure communist, but in the context of the treatment of the migrant worker this view is easy to relate to. Casy's discoveries about people, labor, the environment and more make him a powerful left-wing literary character (which of course I love) and also turns out to be what turns Tom Joad around from a selfish ex-con to an empathetic person of the people.

I'm always going to love a story that is socially conscious and anti religion so mark down The Grapes of Wrath among my new favorite books. I still like East of Eden better, but Steinbeck has now secured his place in my mind as one of the greatest writers of all time and one of my literary heroes....less

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Hillary rated it:

10/14/07

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: High school and up

Hillary Straub

Ms. Kuhn

English 3

15 October 2007

Timeline:

1. The main character, Tom Joad, is released from the McAlester State Penitentiary, where he served four years on a manslaughter conviction.

2. On his way home, Joad runs into Jim Casy, the old preacher. They talk for a while and then both head for the Joad farm. When they get there they find it deserted.

3. The Joad family moved in with Tom's uncle John because the family was unable to make a profit off of the f...more

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StephanieJ rated it:

06/05/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is an interesting and confusing book. The main characters name is Tom Joad. He is a man that just came out of jail after four years because he killed a man. Joad was drunk at a dance and had gotten into a fight with a man that he knew, for a reason he does not remember. The man stabbed him and was going to stab him again when Joad saw a shovel and in defense picked it up and hit the man in the head. The man ended up dying and Joad was sentenced seven years ...more The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is an interesting and confusing book. The main characters name is Tom Joad. He is a man that just came out of jail after four years because he killed a man. Joad was drunk at a dance and had gotten into a fight with a man that he knew, for a reason he does not remember. The man stabbed him and was going to stab him again when Joad saw a shovel and in defense picked it up and hit the man in the head. The man ended up dying and Joad was sentenced seven years in prison. He was let out early for good behavior on parole and can't leave the state. When he is on his way home he runs into his old preacher Casy and they walk together to Joad's house. Casy tells Joad how he isn't a preacher anymore and Joad tells Casy about going to jail. When the two men get to Joad's house they see that everyone is gone. A man named Muley was walking by the house and Joad asked him what happened to the family and asked where everyone was. Muley tells them the whole story, and that the family is at his Uncle John's house. He also tells Joad that everyone around there got kicked off their land and moved to California. The next morning Joad and Casy walk to Joad's uncle John's house to find his family. When they get their everyone is packing up and selling all their things they can't take with them to California. Joad also finds out that everyone has changed, but they were all excited to see that he was back from jail.
I am not finished reading this book, but so far it has been pretty good to read. This book is very descriptive, there will be a whole page of the author describing one thing. It gets a little annoying but it does help you understand the book a little more. Some chapters describe a scene but don't really say the names of people in them. So it's kind of confusing because you will read a chapter and the next chapter is short but has a scene that is a little random, but still has to do with the book. One chapter is all about a turtle crossing a road. Another is about a car dealership, so I thought that was a little odd. But other than that I think its a good book and I can't wait to finish reading it!...less

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Sanfranannie rated it:

01/13/08

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Sanfranannie by: Deborah Valentine

This book deserves all the praise it's been given.
My mom, a former english teacher, discovered that I hadn't read it and mailed me a copy. Let me say that I'm SO thankful I didn't read it in high school as many have. I can't imagine that I would've appreciated it half as much back then and it's too bad that so many folks have experienced it from that adolescent standpoint (although I do think it should be required reading when learning about the history of the U.S.).

The writing is beauti...more

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Jennifer rated it:

06/12/08

Read in June, 2008

*Review contains a partial spoiler*

If you read enough reviews, you'll notice that most of the people who gave this book 1 or 2 stars had to read the book for a high school class. Most of the 4 and 5 star ratings came from those who read it as adults. I recommend listening to those who read it as adults.

Many people hate the ending, but I thought it was great. Creepy? Yes, but there was an immense amount of beauty and generosity in that creepy little ending. At one point in the story...more *Review contains a partial spoiler*

If you read enough reviews, you'll notice that most of the people who gave this book 1 or 2 stars had to read the book for a high school class. Most of the 4 and 5 star ratings came from those who read it as adults. I recommend listening to those who read it as adults.

Many people hate the ending, but I thought it was great. Creepy? Yes, but there was an immense amount of beauty and generosity in that creepy little ending. At one point in the story, Ma tol' Rosasharn that it ain't all about her (most high school kids think everything is all about them, which is probably one reason they couldn't enjoy this book or most other classics they are forced to read). Realizing this at the very end made Rosasharn crack her first smile in ages (at least that's my take on the mysterious smile). I wasn't disappointed in the lack of closure at the end, because the closure came in the middle when Ma said, "Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people." So you know they will be fine whether life continues to be a struggle or not. They will be better off than the rich man with the million acres they talked about - "If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do'll make him feel rich." Another good quote is "I'm learnin' one thing good...If you're in trouble or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones." I saw a special on 20/20 around Christmas time about how the lower class are more generous overall than the middle and upper class, so this still applies today. Would anyone like my savings account? I think I'm going to give poverty a shot : )...less

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Dave rated it:

11/19/07

Read in November, 2007

An American classic re-read for the third time as part of an American Literature course. Even better now than with the first two readings.

Steinbeck's book is a timeless theme of cultural upheaval of people caught up in environmental and cultural change, change they didn't see coming and were not prepared to deal with. In this case the people were the tenant farmers of the "reconstructed" south dispossessed by drought and the rise of "machine age" farming. The result wa...more An American classic re-read for the third time as part of an American Literature course. Even better now than with the first two readings.

Steinbeck's book is a timeless theme of cultural upheaval of people caught up in environmental and cultural change, change they didn't see coming and were not prepared to deal with. In this case the people were the tenant farmers of the "reconstructed" south dispossessed by drought and the rise of "machine age" farming. The result was the great migration to California to find a new and better life. What they found was worse than what they left, a world they didn't understand and in which they had no future. Steinbeck uses this story to call for change in America, a new paradigm for social justice. Although it ignores the economic necessity for change it is a powerful reminder that human beings are caught up in the grinder of "economic progress", a fact just as powerful as change itself but usually ignored and dismissed by the advantaged; and it happens with frequency in these United States.

So, in a larger sense Steinbeck is speaking to us today for the United States is caught up in a new World order that the "average" American does not understand and is no more prepared to deal with than the tenant farmers of the dust bowl era, and there is no "West" to escape to. We are losing jobs to third world countries willing to work for less than we are; our automobile industry, once impregnable, is crumbling; the dollar is in freefall; the social problem of displaced tenant farmers in California has been replaced by migrating hispanics seeking a better life in California; our airline industry is stumbling from bankruptcy to bankruptcy driven by rising fuel prices it cannot control; global warming is raising the specter of environmental issues we haven't begun to understand. I could go on, but what is the difference between this and Steinbeck's world of The Grapes of Wrath? It is still a story of change and the need to adapt. That's why Steinbeck's story is timeless...and we'd better pay attention....less

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Amy rated it:

05/25/08

Read in May, 2008

wow. loved this book. I've read two of Steinbeck's books now and I feel like both books changed my life in some way. This one especially. The end was amazing. I wish all people were more like the Joads, including myself.

The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen:

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to th...more

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Melissa added it

03/22/08

Read in January, 2008

For such an iconic piece of American lit, I can't believe I haven't read Grapes of Wrath until now. After finishing it and being blown away by it, I read an article online debunking much of the book. It essentially said that Steinbeck grossly exaggerated the plight of the Okies and the extent of the Dustbowl itself. I'm not sure what to make of it. Regardless, I loved the story and its many unique characters. Steinbeck caught my fancy when I read Cannery Row, and this book has the same kind of i...more

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Colleen added it

03/24/08

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Colleen by: Steve
recommends it for: Anyone

Coincidentally, when I began reading this book, we had uprooted our lives so that Steve could take a better job with the NPS. We drove out west in a U-Haul, and until a couple of days ago, I couldn't find a good job to save my life! The Craigslist help wanted ads read much like the handbills in this story, falsely advertising good wages for workers available immediately.

Steinbeck's story is compelling and heartbreaking. He apparently under-politicized the hardships of the Okies who were...more

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Jonathan T rated it:

06/06/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: anyone interested in human behavior or history.

The novel Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a classic piece of American Literature, and wonderfully narrated the lives of thousands of desperate families in the 1930s. While it is a gripping and epic book, it is not read for its entertainment value.
Reading the Grapes of Wrath is similar to watching a history documentary. It is done for the information that it teaches, and any pleasure is obviously enjoyable, but secondary. The book sets out during the Great Depression, following the jo...more

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Teija rated it: