The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition)

by John Steinbeck
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
date added
12-06-06



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 25093)



Emily
Emily rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
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
Jeff rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
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
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Ririenz
Ririenz rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
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
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Carl
Carl rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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
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Matt
Matt rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
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
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Malcolm
Malcolm rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
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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  1 comments

Len
Len rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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
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Hillary
Hillary rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
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
StephanieJ rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
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
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Sanfranannie
Sanfranannie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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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  1 comments

Jennifer
Jennifer rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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
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Dave
Dave rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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
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Amy
Amy rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
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
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
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
Jonathan T rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
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
Teija rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars