East of Eden (Steinbeck Centennial Edition)

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East of Eden (Steinbeck Centennial Edition)

4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 · rating details · 165,517 ratings · 8,675 reviews

In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and t...more

Paperback, John Steinbeck Centennial Edition (1902-2002), 601 pages

Published June 18th 2002 by Penguin Books (first published 1952)

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Sep 13, 2010 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, overrated

I hate this book. Hate. Ponderous, pretentious, melodramatic, self-satisfied, patronizing to its readers, with ultimately nothing to say. Can be summarized thus: a bunch of people with no formal education whatsoever sit around discussing the time they read the Old Testament in Hebrew. They then tell us all how to live. Uh...right. I knew we were in trouble with the unbelievably lame introduction -- some forced, self-congratulatory metaphor about a box, if memory serves -- but it's hard to believ...more

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Jun 20, 2009 The Chaotic Reader rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, literary-fiction, classics

My review of East of Eden is posted on The Chaotic Reader.

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Apr 18, 2007 Frank rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: any American lit fan

Shelves: to-reread

This book is mind blowing. It is John Steinbeck at his sharpest. He said that every author really only has one "book," and that all of his books leading up to East of Eden were just practice--Eden would be his book.

I could write a summary of the book, but it would be more trouble than it's worth. You will often hear it referred to as a "modern retelling of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel" but that is too simplistic. Steinbeck takes the story of Cain and Abel and makes Cain (in the form of Ca...more This book is mind blowing. It is John Steinbeck at his sharpest. He said that every author really only has one "book," and that all of his books leading up to East of Eden were just practice--Eden would be his book.

I could write a summary of the book, but it would be more trouble than it's worth. You will often hear it referred to as a "modern retelling of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel" but that is too simplistic. Steinbeck takes the story of Cain and Abel and makes Cain (in the form of Cal Trask) the sympathetic character. Cal Trask does not act destructively for the sake of destruction, but he is desperately clawing for approval and love from his father, Adam, who prefers Cal's twin brother, Aron. The story isn't that pat, though--Cal and Aron really don't make their entrances as major characters until the last quarter of the 600 page novel. So, to say that this book is simply the retelling of Cain and Abel is to oversimplify the book. The main theme of the book is the desire within everyone for love, and how this desire can make people turn to destructive behavior.

This book has been criticized for being too verbose, meandering, inconsistently paced, and heavy handed in its parallel with the story of Cain and Abel. Yes, it is verbose and meandering, but that's Steinbeck. It gives a full picture of the Salinas valley. It gives you insights and perspectives you might not otherwise have. If anything, Steinbeck's constant forays into unrelated sidebars give the reader a break in pace, a rest that makes the more important parts of the books feel as though they flow more smoothly. As for the parallel with Cain and Abel, it is heavy-handed. That being said, the heavy-handedness didn't bother me. Going in to the novel with the expectation of it being a retelling of Cain and Abel (at least for some of the narrative) is enough to make the obvious references to Cain and Abel seem natural. If Steinbeck had given the impression that he was trying to hide the parallel, it would have been insulting. But Steinbeck isn't trying to hide it--he makes it clear that the story of Cain and Abel are an integral part of his story.

East of Eden is an amazing novel. Its strong points more than compensate for the very few shortcomings. Steinbeck is such a tremendous writer that his shortcomings become strengths. I highly recommend it.(less)

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May 23, 2013 Henry Avila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Adam Trask was a weak but kindly boy .And later man.His father treated him badly.His half brother, younger but stronger.Had hit him repeatedly .Barely surviving one brutal fight.Born in the middle of the American Civil War.In a Connecticut farm..He and his brother Charles. Are turned into good little soldiers at a very tender age.Cyrus their father lost a leg in the war.Boasting of being in every major battle(which is physically impossible).In fact the private was only in a blue uniform six mont...more Adam Trask was a weak but kindly boy .And later man.His father treated him badly.His half brother, younger but stronger.Had hit him repeatedly .Barely surviving one brutal fight.Born in the middle of the American Civil War.In a Connecticut farm..He and his brother Charles. Are turned into good little soldiers at a very tender age.Cyrus their father lost a leg in the war.Boasting of being in every major battle(which is physically impossible).In fact the private was only in a blue uniform six months.Getting his appendage shot off, during the first day. Of his first battle.But Cyrus becomes such a good liar. That people begin to actually believe him ,as he, does as well! .Even writing marvelous, but fictional war articles, in the major American newspapers.Consequently he receives a job with the Grand Army of the Republic. An influential veterans group of Union soldiers,in Washington.His first wife commits suicide.The second dies of illness.Let's say Cyrus was not a very lovable person.Adam is forced at sixteen to join the army.To make him a man.And save his hide from Charles.Running down the few scattered renegade Indians,in the plain states.Adam hates his job.When the father dies.Both boys inherit a vast sum of money.Was their father not only a liar but also a thief ? Out of the military ,good Adam marries a woman of ill repute, Cathy.A lady so evil, that Satan would be ashamed to be associated with her.Adam buys a farm in northern California's rugged Salinas Valley.Cathy gives birth to twin boys,non identical, Caleb(Cal),and Aaron(Aron).Shoots Adam and abandons the newborns.Not mother of the year material.The wife's manners could also be improved.Cathy takes up residence in a home that you can guess what kind it is.But Adam lives and goes into a deep funk...Lee, the much loved Chinese servant takes over and raises the kids.Better than the moody.Distant father could ever.Thoughts:This story ,is an allegory of the Bible's ,Adam and Eve .Being thrown out of The Garden of Eden.But also Cain and Abel.Steinbeck was born in the frontier town of Salinas.The Old West was still alive.The few settlers struggled to make a living in the harsh land.But the world changed.As the book says when the year 1900 arrived."Ladies were not ladies anymore, and you couldn't trust a gentleman's word". Sam Hamilton a neighbor of Adam and soon friend.Was different.Like a Patriarch in the Bible with his nine children.Wise and tough but not practical.Thus always poor..But these people are needed as Steinbeck believes.To give guidance,to others,which is very lacking today.The author's most ambitious ,and his favorite work.Love and lots of hate,much conflict and a little peace.All there.Sam Hamilton was the writer's grandfather. (less)

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Apr 04, 2008 Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone!!

I am on a golden roll of amazingly fantastic books!! East of Eden by John Steinbeck was our book club pick for this month. I almost didn't read it. You see, it's an old friend...and I ALMOST didn't re-read it... and that would have been tragic.

East of Eden is an epic story about good and evil. It tells the story of two families: the Trasks and the Hamiltons. It spans 3 generations and retells the Biblical story of Cain and Abel set in the Salinas Valley of Northern California.

Perspective...life...more

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Dec 04, 2007 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone!

I finished this last night and afterwards, I lay back on my pillow extremely satisfied just thinking about it. It's so rare that I read something that delights me from beginning to end. While there were a few turns on the journey that confused me and seemed to take the book in a different direction, his connecting all the characters, the stories and do it with profound meaning is nothing short of brilliant. And to do it through his own person history, and one of the oldest stories of the Bible o...more I finished this last night and afterwards, I lay back on my pillow extremely satisfied just thinking about it. It's so rare that I read something that delights me from beginning to end. While there were a few turns on the journey that confused me and seemed to take the book in a different direction, his connecting all the characters, the stories and do it with profound meaning is nothing short of brilliant. And to do it through his own person history, and one of the oldest stories of the Bible only adds to his brilliance.

I'm always surprised when I love a classic. Perhaps because there are a lot that I haven't liked, or merely tolerated, but this was a joy to read. The characters are so multi-dimensional and interesting that their stories and development become almost personal. Adam, Samuel, Lee, Abra, Cal, Aron, Kate/Cathy and even Liza were real for me. Their homes were real. Their towns were real. Best of all, the consequences to their actions were real.

How do you summaraize East of Eden? It's a story about good and evil. But most of all, it's a story about choice. For me, the central part of the book was the realization made by Lee, Adam and Samuel when they were dissecting the story of Cain and Able and their offerings. In one translation, the Lord rebukes Cain's offering by saying, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."

It was while reading a different translation that Lee, a Chinese servant, noticed a difference. In it, rather than saying "thou shalt rule over him" it said "do thou rule over him" They noticed that it wasn't a promise, it was an order. Such a difference got Lee wondering what original word different translations came from.

After years of studying with Chinese philosophers and a rabbi, the consensus was that the original Hebrew word, Timshel, actually means "Thou mayest". Therefore, the bible does not order that man triumph over sin or promises that it will. It says that the way is open. For if thou mayest...that mayest not.

Brilliant! Because that's what I think! Agency is so important to Heavenly Father that he allowed 1/3 of His children to leave him permanently. Of course we have a choice over sin.

Steinbeck leaves the story briefly in Chapter 34 when he writes a short essay about the one story that exists. He says,

Humans are caught - in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too - in a net of good and evil....A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well -- or ill? In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influences and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world. We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.

This is what his book is about it. Man's struggle over good and evil. In a completely human story, Steinbeck captured THE story with his characters and storylines. This is a book I happily recommend to anyone and will buy for my all-time greatest books library.(less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Chrissie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hf, usa, bio, audio, downpour, alt

Although I do like Steinbeck’s strong, simple style of writing, this book let me down. With this book Steinbeck is delivering a message to his readers. I do agree with the message imparted, but I dislike that it is pounded into us. It isn’t enough to draw the story of Cain and Abel in one generation of a family, but Steinbeck repeats the story in the next generation of the family too. The message becomes a rant. God blessed Cain with freewill. That is the message, and it is up to us to choose wh...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mary by: Kata S.

Shelves: fiction, 2012

I want to marry this book and have it's babies. I can't remember the last time I felt such a deep sense of satisfaction after finishing a book. Every part of it was a delicious page turning delight. This was pretty close to perfection and it's up there as one of my top ten favorite books.

Steinbeck weaves his tale amongst gorgeously saturated descriptions of the Salinas valley, a truly beautiful part of the country. It's such a sweepingly epic and engrossing read which has everything a wonderful...more I want to marry this book and have it's babies. I can't remember the last time I felt such a deep sense of satisfaction after finishing a book. Every part of it was a delicious page turning delight. This was pretty close to perfection and it's up there as one of my top ten favorite books.

Steinbeck weaves his tale amongst gorgeously saturated descriptions of the Salinas valley, a truly beautiful part of the country. It's such a sweepingly epic and engrossing read which has everything a wonderful novel should have. Humor, tragedy, shock value, suspense, beauty, conflict, regret... This book is complex and layered with a multi-generational plot and fully realized characters - some of which are enchanting, others downright horrid.

I may be one of the few who was not familiar with the "Cain and Abel" story (never opened a bible in my life) - so I did a few minutes of googling to see what the book description was talking about. I'm glad I did as it added a richer dimension, but had I not, it still would have been as good. So in essence I experienced the story of Adam and Charles and then Aron and Caleb with naive eyes - and it was wonderful.

The thing I took away most of all is that we all want to be loved. Steinbeck's characters live their lives with their aching voids taking the wheel, clouding their judgement and saddening their souls. The love and comfort of a mother, the love of a spouse, the love and acceptance of a father - we all want these and when we don't have them some of us wither and self destruct, some of us lash out, some of us just can't take it.

I adored Samuel and Lee. Their balance and wisdom were there to teach us what we should strive to be. Adam and Charles, Aron and Caleb - they're the rest of us. They're our insecurities and our bad decisions and betrayals. They're our pain. They're so human. So alive and flawed and conflicted. What will your life amount to? Will you flounder your years away forever tortured? Will your final days be poisoned with bitterness?

And Cathy. Rumored to be based on an exaggerated (ha!) ex of Steinbeck's, she was a puzzle. Evil to Adam's good, certainly, but again, she was human, she was tortured and so utterly believable even when her actions were outrageously unbelievable. When Samuel saw that certain something (or was it nothingness?) in her eyes, I think we are supposed to believe she is a bad seed, a rotten apple, born soulless and distorted. I wondered if she was not a symbol in some way of early feminism, rejecting monogamy and motherhood and domesticity and clearly Steinbeck's take on this was that alternative choices in a woman equate to being unnatural and evil and greedy.

The magnificence of this book will remain with me for a long time I think. I didn't want it to end but now that it has I feel lusciously sated. (less)

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Jul 31, 2012 gillian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i been lovin' on this book REAL hard. don't know how else to put it, really. too many different directions for praise. i adore the characters in this story, even the chillingly evil ones. and i love the short little chapters that steinbeck just shoved in every once in a while in order to assert his musings on the state of america. or writers. or war. or life. here's probably my favorite chapter in the whole book--it's one of the few random times Steinbeck writes in second person:

"You can see how...more

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Aug 04, 2008 Greg Heaney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It is difficult to describe a story as heartfelt as East of Eden. It is utterly absorbing and completely breathtaking, in depth and scope. Steinbeck has a divine gift for finding the beautiful within the simple; perhaps matched only by his ability to make the complexity of human emotions easily accessible. It would be a cold and cruel reader to finish East of Eden without shying away from mirrors for weeks afterward.

Although critics will say that East of Eden is modeled after the Book of Genesis...more It is difficult to describe a story as heartfelt as East of Eden. It is utterly absorbing and completely breathtaking, in depth and scope. Steinbeck has a divine gift for finding the beautiful within the simple; perhaps matched only by his ability to make the complexity of human emotions easily accessible. It would be a cold and cruel reader to finish East of Eden without shying away from mirrors for weeks afterward.

Although critics will say that East of Eden is modeled after the Book of Genesis, it is not completely so. To say it is an allegory and leave it at that is far too naïve. No one character fills any single role (not in the same way, for example, Aslan is Christ, in Lewis’s Chronicles of Narina.) Rather, Steinbeck focuses on the recurrence of the story of Cain and Able. Inheritance, sin, redemption and corruption are all themes prominently displayed in any given character; often all at once. Never do we see archetypal characters: paragons of goodness, manifestations of justice, or unforgiveable demons. Each character can be glorified for their goodness only moments before committing reprehensible crimes.

In my opinion, modern Christianity is very much a religion of black and white. Being a Catholic myself, I find it difficult to ignore the “us and them” mentality often shared by members of the Christian community. There seem to be only two modes of humanity; a “Sin Switch” if you will. The switch is flipped on at birth, and turned off at Baptism, only to be reversed back and forth again countless times throughout life. The sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist are opportunities to again wipe the slate clean. And yet, days later, the Sin Switch is again in the “On” position. Sin is a wall which we must scale, an obstacle that we must conquer. And we must either conquer it, or not.

This is not the way Steinbeck sees the world. Rather than only two states of humanity, Sin and Salvation, he sees life as a very slippery slope. Even those at the top may be muddy from the journey, and the clean may be so because they have not tried to rise up. In Steinbeck’s view, humans are born in Sin, at the bottom, and strive to reach Salvation at the top.

This process of Redemption is one that nearly every author has, at some point, attempted to convey. I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this novel encapsulates this idea more beautifully, painfully and realistically than any other I have encountered. In my experience, most characters struggle upwards, undergo some sort of life-altering event, and achieve Redemption, looking back lovingly upon the trials that made them who they are. These are but pictures drawn in crayon by young children. The difficulty of the Redemption process is far more harrowing than such broad strokes of the brush suggest.

Cal, the novel’s most complexly anguished character, is the prime example of this process. His childhood thoughts match him much more closely with his devil of a mother, Cathy than his kind-hearted father, Adam. The second half of the novel is very much the tale of Cal’s attempt to rise above the Sin innate within him. And, much to his (and our) dismay, he fails much more than he succeeds. His best intentions, repaying his father in the only way he knows how, are shunned. Cal strikes back with a cruelty worthy of the most villainous of villains. With only a few short chapters to go (a place where the typical novel would have the protagonist finally conquer Sin,) Cal causes the death of his innocent brother. The novel ends, however, on a note of hope. Cal refuses to be overcome by the despair that would affect most men in his place, and continues to gaze out of that pit, still striving to reach the top.

Cal has but a grain of hope amidst a world of darkness, and the reader is left to his or her own conclusions about the path Cal’s life will take. I, and most readers, I am sure, believe that Cal will eventually Redeem himself. However, Steinbeck offers little more than that tiny grain. The path has been phenomenally difficult for Cal, and it will be no easier as time goes on. He knows this, and offers no cliché statements regarding his own fate. He knows that Sin may envelop him, that he may fall to the bottom of the pit, that all of his strength may be for naught, and he has no reason to believe that he will ever reach Salvation. It is this level of difficult, this utter darkness that makes East of Eden so realistic. There is no sugar-coating, there are no heroes. Only normal, simple men striving to overcome their complex problems with no certainty of success. That is why I feel so drawn to Cal, and the other characters of East of Eden: because they are not special, they are not heroic; they are real humans in every sense of the word. They are exactly like us.

Steinbeck offers a point of view that, till now, I would have vehemently opposed. Reading between the lines, he rejects the idea of moral evolution. Americans in Salinas California in the early 20th century fight and often fail against the same foes as the first children born on this earth. It is that idea that makes this novel timeless. If Steinbeck is correct in this idea, then every human ever born will be faced with the same dilemma as the Trask family. That is why I can stare into these pages and see myself looking back out. These characters are vastly different from myself, but we are held together by a common condition. This struggle is in all of us.

Even the most casual reader must dispute me though. For all this talk of shades of grey, success and failure, the yin and yang that define us as humans, some characters are rather one sided. And to this, I must partly agree. Lee and George come to mind. And yet, I must think to myself, Lee was born in horrid conditions, and had to struggle in a world where his family was undefined. George is guilty of loving his eldest daughter more than the others.

But, of course, the real deal-breaker for everything I’ve said so far is Cathy. She is as close as Steinbeck gets to an absolute. Really, she is as close as most authors get to placing the Devil on earth. Even I called her a devil earlier. She is sadistic, wretched, horrifying, evil, evil, evil. And yet, I cannot help but see through that darkness. I do not know if calling it a light would be appropriate, but there is a part of Cathy that is still surprised by the events that take place. Her reactions to the confrontations with Adam’s indefatigable goodness and her conversations with Cal made me believe that there are a few seeds of doubt in her mind. Must of it was reading between the lines, and I regret that I cannot give any examples directly from memory, but I often felt Steinbeck’s tone with Cathy was more confused than evil. This tone seemed to increase as she aged. As her own death approached, I found that Cathy ignored the existence of goodness, rather than being unable to see it. That same grain of hope in Cal, I believe, can be found in Cathy. Both stand near the bottom of the pit, looking up at the tiny pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. Cal climbs toward it, while Cathy remains static out of fear. And on that downward slope, to remain static is to fall backwards. The mere fact that Cathy can see the goodness in the world proves that she knows she can attain it. That tiny difference is all it takes. She may be a dark grey, but she is not thoroughly blackened by Sin.

A final thought on the book as a whole. I often say that a book is my favorite after I finish it. In a little time, however, I remember my old favorites and return to them. With East of Eden, I knew five pages in that it would be my favorite, and it still is. I have never read a more compelling book. Sure, The DaVinci Code was a page-turner, and I waited in line for the final Harry Potter book for six hours, only to finish reading it at 7:30 that morning. Never in all my days have I found anything that has drawn me in more quickly or thoroughly. Yes, I hungered to know what would happen to Robert Langdon, or whether or not Harry Potter would live, but I never truly cared about them. Steinbeck made me care. I heard once, loosely paraphrasing, “When you leave the theater discussing the play, that is a good play. When you leave the theater discussing your life, that is art.” Yes, it was hard to put East of Eden down, but that is hardly the point. I could stop reading any time I wanted, but I could not stop thinking about it. I cared for every single character from start to finish. Their lives and struggles engrossed my own. I have laid this novel down a changed man. I cannot recommend it highly enough. There are novels that fill your head, and then there are novels that fill your soul. I am not a smarter person for having read East of Eden, but I feel there is something in my gut that has changed. Those cracks in the foundation have been repaired and a gaping hole in my heart I never knew was there has been filled.

I give East of Eden my highest praise.
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Jun 29, 2012 Kata S. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You can't take it with you when you go. That's how the saying goes. Whether you do or do not believe in an afterlife it doesn't matter, I just want you to mull on something for a moment. Some religions and cultures believe you can and must have things in the after life (money, food, protection from evil spirits, etc.) If I could take objects with me when I go, books would be my singular necessity. East of Eden being a must-have to nourish my eternal soul.

East of Eden is a classic, dense in quot...more You can't take it with you when you go. That's how the saying goes. Whether you do or do not believe in an afterlife it doesn't matter, I just want you to mull on something for a moment. Some religions and cultures believe you can and must have things in the after life (money, food, protection from evil spirits, etc.) If I could take objects with me when I go, books would be my singular necessity. East of Eden being a must-have to nourish my eternal soul.

East of Eden is a classic, dense in quotes, family saga, historical citations, character analysis, and biblical parallels. It is a book which deserves the utmost respect of the reader. With all highly respectable works (in my literary mind's eye) I have a very hard time writing a review different from others and yet I want to prostrate before Steinbeck and give an offering of sorts. Perhaps my own plea, "Come with me into the afterlife!" I'm being silly. You can laugh. I'm not a total eccentric! Just semi-eccentric.

The lead character is Adam Trask who carries the reader from his childhood well into the last days of his life. He is Steinbeck's draftsman compass, more specially that sharp point on the device which is driven deep into the novel and remains still while other characters pivot and circle about in a spherical motion using the lead pencil part of the device. The lead pencil portion of the story leads us around to other opulent characters such as Charles (his brother), Samuel (his neighbor) and Samuel's entire familial clan, Lee (his servant and friend), Kate (Adam's wife), Aron and Caleb (Adam's children).

It is an epic novel that develops lightness and darkness in the souls of its characters. The actions of each whether good or evil effect extraordinary consequences. You may want to rush through this book at a sprinting pace because it is delicious, but it's no good that way. Steinbeck's intention is for you to slowly dwell on the actions of each character. Steinbeck is giving you, the reader, an offering of complex but realistic characters and circumstances. Then he leaves you to your own devices to draw conclusions. He leaves judgment in your hands. You are the deity who declares heaven or hell for each character so to speak. In an act of reciprocity, you should work slowly through East of Eden in order to pull away your own interpretations and cast your judgment fairly. If you sprint, nothing will cling to you and your judgment of each character would most likely be poorly derived.

If I can take it with me when I go, East of Eden is a necessity because Steinbeck makes the reader feel irrevocably drawn in as judicious soul declaring "yay" or "neah" for each beautifully complex character and their actions. And his charismatic and subtle ability to do so is rather marvelous. It could very well be the only book in which a reader plays god once in their mortal life. If I can take it with me when I go, I want Steinbeck.

If you have read this book already well then you know all of this already, don't you? Did you quietly say "yay" or "neah" for Steinbeck's sinners and saints?

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Aug 08, 2007 Meghan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 16 years of age or older

So, I'm going to take a stab at this...before I get too busy and before I forget what I've read -- and thought. (I've already moved on to another book...;-)

Overall, I thought this was a masterful piece of work - and realized this on the first page. I've glimpsed around a little bit on the internet and know that J.S. has received some criticism for this book (along with praise, too), but I didn't look too closely because I wanted my thoughts to be my own. I definitely saw/heard some pretty laudat...more So, I'm going to take a stab at this...before I get too busy and before I forget what I've read -- and thought. (I've already moved on to another book...;-)

Overall, I thought this was a masterful piece of work - and realized this on the first page. I've glimpsed around a little bit on the internet and know that J.S. has received some criticism for this book (along with praise, too), but I didn't look too closely because I wanted my thoughts to be my own. I definitely saw/heard some pretty laudatory reviews though, and therefore I had pretty high expectations for this book. Needless to say, it didn't let me down.

Don't get me wrong, there were points when I wondered, "Why is this book considered to be great?" and "Where is this going?" and "What does this mean?" But as I went along with it, I fell in love with it. I guess partly because it did make me think those things, and those things - and the way they were written - made me want to keep reading. (As simple as it may sound, this is always a basic sign of a good book, in my opinion, as there have been many that I have started and not gone back to.) I will admit it was not always an easy book to read; not a fluffy book that you could pick up here and there. I felt like I had to really prepare myself and focus for when I was going to read this, which is largely what kept me from getting it read on time.

So what did I like about it? J.S.'s keen insight into characters, people, families and their motivations. The people were very real, and developed, and flawed, and multi-dimensional. Cathy/Kate is probably the best evil character that I have ever encountered who was human (yet inhuman?). And how could anyone not be sad when the great Sam Hamilton died? You mourned him along with the other characters who mourned him. And then of course, the writing. Very accessible writing, and for the most part, it kept things moving along (although I know some feel/felt it was bit bogged down with description in some places). However, as things would be moving along, there would be a profound observation dropped into an ordinary paragraph, seamlessly and poetically, and yet without seeming overbearing. For example, on page 530: "One thing late or early can disrupt everything around it, and the disturbance runs outward in bands like the waves from a dropped stone in a quiet pool." These gems were all over the place - you could mine the book for them and be rich.

So overall, here is my summary: amazing, scary, powerful, direct. It reaches to the core of what people are really like.

P. S. Thought the historical background info was educational, too. ;-)

P.P.S. Even though I thought this book was really great, I'm getting into my old fashioned teacher / critical mode: I am reserving 5 stars for excellence beyond compare. If I could give this book a decimal rating, it would probably be about a 4.5, or on a letter grade scale, perhaps a A-. A+ and 5 stars is heaven at this point - attaining the unattainable. Looking back at my earlier reviews, and the my distribution of 5 star accolades, this seems unfair. Perhaps I'm getting stauncher in my reviews? Perhaps, it's because there was such truthful telling of real evil that exists in most of us in this book that it taints my scoring of it? Hmmmm. Another good sign of a good, perplexing book. But my vote remains. For whatever reason, it feels right.(less)

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May 16, 2013 Morgan F rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, school-required, 1950s, oprah, own, need-to-re-read, favorites, ginormo

This book completely took me by surprise. I had to read it over the summer for my English class, and I put it off. This procrastination was due to the fact that I absolutely detested The Grapes of Wrath and was not looking forward to a novel that looked even longer and more boring. I finally was pressed to read it due to an impending test, and I was disappointed in myself that I had "judged a book by its cover". This novel was amazing. I never got bored, it was engrossing and the characters were...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, all-time-favourites

Before he started writing this novel, Steinbeck conceived of it as a gift for his sons. He wrote:

They are little boys now and they will never know what they came from through me, unless I tell them. It is not written for them to read now but when they are grown and the pains and joys have tousled them a little. And if the book is addressed to them, it is for good reason. I want them to know how it was, I want to tell them directly, and perhaps by speaking to them directly I shall speak directly

...more
Before he started writing this novel, Steinbeck conceived of it as a gift for his sons. He wrote:

They are little boys now and they will never know what they came from through me, unless I tell them. It is not written for them to read now but when they are grown and the pains and joys have tousled them a little. And if the book is addressed to them, it is for good reason. I want them to know how it was, I want to tell them directly, and perhaps by speaking to them directly I shall speak directly to other people.

Steinbeck wrote that he planned to tell his sons “one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest story of all – the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness, of love and hate, of beauty and weakness” and that he wanted to demonstrate “how these doubles are inseparable – how neither can exist without the other and how out of their groupings creativeness is born”.

The extent to which Steinbeck succeeded or failed in this endeavour is one of the fascinating aspects of this novel. Inserting himself into the narrative as both the narrator and as a minor character, Steinbeck wrote about the Salinas Valley and about his mother’s family, the Hamiltons, with tenderness and love. The other part of the narrative, the account of three generations of the (fictional) Trask family and the re-telling of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, overshadows the history of the Hamiltons and pulls the novel in lots of different directions. However, the resulting work, while flawed, is powerful and compelling.

There’s so much I love about the novel. I find Steinbeck’s use of language breathtaking. While very accessible, it demonstrates a powerful ability to observe and describe what is being observed in a manner which conveys both images and emotions. In this novel, Steinbeck did not strive for a natural style of dialogue. His characters do not always speak in the way real people speak, but the way they speak is part of the power of the work. I love the characters as much as I love the language. Lee’s insight, Sam Hamilton’s wisdom, Cal’s desperate longing for approval and even Cathy’s psychopathy will haunt me for a long time. I also love the setting, with its carefully detailed evocation of Salinas in the early years of the 20th century.

Most of all, though, I love the passion that Steinbeck put into this novel, the work that meant most to him personally. I’m glad that I listened to the audiobook (very capably narrated by Richard Poe) immediately after reading Jay Parini’s excellent biography of Steinbeck. It’s given me a greater understanding of not just the extent to which East of Eden is Steinbeck’s family history, but also how much of it relates to his complicated personal circumstances at the time he was writing the novel.

As noted above, the novel has flaws. The structure is unwieldy and the narrative is often melodramatic. However, Steinbeck’s passion and warmth, his beautiful prose and the way in which he builds his central themes make this a complete winner for me. It’s one of those novels which I know I will want to read again. Probably very soon.
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Sep 04, 2007 Nathan Rostron rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A friend recommended this book to me as Steinbeck's best, and as a somewhat reluctant Steinbeck reader in the first place (I'd read Of Mice and Men in high school), I wasn't ecstatic to begin reading it--as I did at said friend's insistence. I will admit to a certain prideful stoicism in doing so--I felt like I was doing something supposedly "good for me," like avoiding trans fat or reading Beckett. But as I read I discovered that I liked it--Steinbeck had written an expansive, multigenerational...more A friend recommended this book to me as Steinbeck's best, and as a somewhat reluctant Steinbeck reader in the first place (I'd read Of Mice and Men in high school), I wasn't ecstatic to begin reading it--as I did at said friend's insistence. I will admit to a certain prideful stoicism in doing so--I felt like I was doing something supposedly "good for me," like avoiding trans fat or reading Beckett. But as I read I discovered that I liked it--Steinbeck had written an expansive, multigenerational novel in which he himself was a character, and he'd done so without the slightest apology or self-consciousness. Any meta-narrative about how the narrator (John Steinbeck) came to know all the intricate details about the private and inner lives of other characters, any wry concession to embellishment or (well) fiction, is refreshingly absent. He simply tells the story.

Which, for the most part, seems like it could have been written in the Victorian period that the novel takes as its prehistory. Specifically, it might as well be a great big old Russian novel that happens to take place entirely in America. There's family drama, deceit, struggle, and momentary triumph over despair. Here the notions of Good and Evil are bandied about in a serious way, and while in my own heretical post-modern viewpoint the old dialectic is sort of silly, I found myself taking it seriously as framed in Steinbeck's story. He succeeds because even the evil characters are given real, human complexity. There was never a point, for me, that I lost all sympathy for Catherine, who as a girl kills her own parents just because she can. My main quibble with Steinbeck--and one that I think is problematic for his whole outlook on the world, for all its good and evil--is that over and over Catherine is described as somehow lacking some fundamental thing; Steinbeck never says it so directly, but basically Catherine is drawn to do evil because there is something lacking in her that otherwise might be able to understand good in others. Crudely, she hates because she can't love. But do "evil" people really lack something fundamental? Would it not have been more affecting for Steinbeck to have drawn a character without the excuse of incompleteness, who nevertheless commits heinous acts? Or are the complete people incapable of absolute evil?

Such is the trouble with Evil. It's an easy out, its own excuse. For the sake of argument, you could paint an entire culture, or even an axis of countries, say, as Evil, and it would save you from having to seriously analyze their human complexities and motivations. Steinbeck has the excuse of being dead and, I think, a Victorian writer somehow trapped in the future. Our only excuse is laziness.(less)

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Feb 15, 2010 umang rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: christians

Shelves: loathsome

This is a long, long sermon masquerading as a novel. Its aim seems clear- to be the great American novel. In spite of, or maybe because of this overreach, it is completely unsatisfying. The characters are mere symbols. Most of the themes pertain to the characters’ moral dilemmas, but it is difficult to be drawn into these since the characters lack any real complexity. The men are various superlatives (greatest, kindest, wisest). There are two women characters, one evil and exaggerated to the poi...more

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Dec 10, 2008 ScottK rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 07, 2012 David Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oddly, I recently read East of Eden while running a medical clinic in the mountains of Guatemala. Without other electronic distractions and inhibited by my abysmal Spanish, the evenings were free to consume this “massive” tome in large chunks. A novel consumed over a short time is a rare treat indeed in these harried multi-tasking times. I confess to burning through the pages until the wee hours of the night; John Steinbeck’s self-proclaimed attempt at an “American classic” simply took me in.

I m...more Oddly, I recently read East of Eden while running a medical clinic in the mountains of Guatemala. Without other electronic distractions and inhibited by my abysmal Spanish, the evenings were free to consume this “massive” tome in large chunks. A novel consumed over a short time is a rare treat indeed in these harried multi-tasking times. I confess to burning through the pages until the wee hours of the night; John Steinbeck’s self-proclaimed attempt at an “American classic” simply took me in.

I mention my reader’s context because evaluating this family saga requires a sense of when it was written. Produced in the era preceding widespread TV (published in the 1950’s) and within a film world ripe with John Wayne’s particular cowboy myths, East of Eden provided readers a far more nuanced viewpoint concerning the post civil war American West.

After watching nearly fifty years of TV mini-series from Rawhide to Bonanza to Lonesome Dove I found some of Steinbeck’s characters in East of Eden were cliches. The wise Chinese cook with a tragic past, the evil woman of the night, the two brothers with different career paths, the avaricious entrepreneur, and big-hearted bar keep were all too familiar stereotypes. But, who copied whom? Of course, in a larger sense, Steinbeck’s novel simply recasts the family dramas first found in the pages of the Bible. As Picasso once said of great painters (The French painter never able, it would seem, to comment without at least a touch of arrogance.) “We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before.”

I found myself not so much taken in by Steinbeck’s grand narrative arc but by his character’s struggles choosing between and living within the no-man’s land that exists between good and evil, better and best, desire and possible, hope and despair. Far from a simple morality tale, East of Eden presents individuals and communities in less than perfect circumstances producing more realistic outcomes, outcomes that contain measures of good and evil.

So, if I was so “taken in” why did I only award 4 stars?

With this reading East of Eden I realized I had become less tolerant of standard novels with omniscient narrators. W.G. Sebald, speaking to critic James Wood, nicely framed my misgivings, “I think that fiction writing which does not acknowledge the uncertainty of the narrator himself is a form of imposture which I find difficult to take.”

But, it was my reading context that provoked my deepest misgivings about Steinbeck’s “classic.” I read his novel in one of the few places in the world that reproduces the American post Civil war era. Not only was I reading in an empty mountainous expanse untouched by modernity and immersed in poverty produced by a century of raw evil, but also bathed in the silence of a fearful people who were, until a few years ago, fighting a civil war. In this context, I found East of Eden wanting.

Steinbeck’s novel is better than most, a novel I will read again for benefit and will teach in the Fall. But, I found the author's evil too pale and the energy necessary to occupy the raw world of America in the 1880's under played. An evil underplayed carries the significant risk of an undervalued redemption and inhibits compassion. When I read of choices made in the context of a pale evil I am tempted to view the process as simple or obvious and am often quick to judgment. To see evil fully, deeply, and in all its power should cause us to tremble and fear and to appreciate the difficulties of humanity choosing well. In this, I think Steinbeck falls short.
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Mar 09, 2010 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I don't know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?'

In the famed Biblical tale of Cain and Abel, the two brothers both make an offering to God. God likes Abel's offer, but not Cain's; out of jealousy, Cain slays Abel, and then is marked by God.

East of Eden is John Steinbeck's rather lengthy ode to that story. It follows two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons. It's the Trask family, though, that represents Cain and Abel, with two s...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Ann added it · review of another edition

Back in high school, I was required to read Grapes of Wrath for summer reading. You know what's NOT fun for a moody teen during a scorching August heatwave? A depressing story about dry, parched earth and poor farmers toiling endlessly but still getting screwed.

And then there was my encounter with Of Mice and Men. Not with the book... but with the OPERA. Yet again, courtesy of my high school, trying to inculcate culture into our gum-snapping brains.
Just imagine: George, the mildly-retarded Lenn...more

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Jeanmarie Except for the opera bit, this is exactly my experience as well. Loved it!
Jul 12, 2011 08:39pm

Nancy I guess age makes a moody teen. I 'ate up' all those books I was "forced" to read by well-meaning wonderful teachers. I guess in this age of watching...more
Oct 07, 2012 12:45pm

Jeanmarie After visiting the Salinas area I too gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the setting of Steinbeck novels. I wasn't assigned to read th...more
Oct 07, 2012 02:25pm

Jul 12, 2007 Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have read this book at least ten times. It is one of my favorties of all time. Steinbeck's tendency to digress with scrillosophical passages that are in no way (?) connected to the story being told is probably the most egotistical and easily critiqued feature of his style of writing. It also accounts for some of my favorite passages.

"The spring flowers in a wet year were unbelievable. The whole valley floor, and the foothills too, would be covered with lupin and poppies. Once a woman told me t...more I have read this book at least ten times. It is one of my favorties of all time. Steinbeck's tendency to digress with scrillosophical passages that are in no way (?) connected to the story being told is probably the most egotistical and easily critiqued feature of his style of writing. It also accounts for some of my favorite passages.

"The spring flowers in a wet year were unbelievable. The whole valley floor, and the foothills too, would be covered with lupin and poppies. Once a woman told me that colored flowers would seem more bright if you added a few white flowers to give the colors definition. Every petal of blue lupin is edged with white, so that a field of lupins is mre blue than you can imagine. And mixed with these were splashes of Calfornia poppies. These too are of a burning color--not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of those poppies."

...

"I remember clearly the deaths of three men. One was the richest man of the century, who, having clawed his way to wealth through the souls and bodies of men, spent many years trying to buy back the love he had forfeited and by that process performed great service to the world and, perhaps, had much more than balanced the evils of his rise. I was on a ship when he died. The news was posted on the bulletin board, and nearly everyone recieved the news with pleasure. Several said, 'Thank God that son of a bitch is dead.'

Then there was a man, smart as Satan, who lacking some perception of human dignity and knowing all too well every aspect of human weakness and wickedness, used his special knowledge to warp men, to buy men, to bribe and threaten and seduce until he found himself in a position of great power. He clothed his motives in the names of virtue, and I have wondered whether he ever knew that no gift will ever buy back a man's love when you remove his self-love. A bribed man can only hate his briber. When this man died the nation rang with praise and, just beneath, gladness that he was dead.

There was a thrid man, who perhaps made many errors in performance but whose effective life was devoted to making men brave and dignified and good in a time when ugly forces were loose in the world to utilize their fears. This man was hated by the few. When he died the people burst into tears in the streets and their minds wailed, 'What can we do now? How can we go on without him?'

In uncertainty I am certain...It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world."

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Apr 22, 2008 Mme. Bookling ~ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: well, everyone i have met in the last two years!

Recommended to Mme. Bookling by: Jessica Gomes

And i finally finished.
Another thing about the re-read, it takes quite a bit longer! But I am so immensely satisfied that I did it, and I will do it again!
2nd reading: Dec 2007-April 2008
I have been immensely enjoying that a re-read means I go way slower through the text - finding words with meaning, rather than simply being all-consumed by the plot (which is oh so fabulous, by the way)

I also found my favorite chapter this time around. Cal gets the very first taste of how much his father has end...more And i finally finished.
Another thing about the re-read, it takes quite a bit longer! But I am so immensely satisfied that I did it, and I will do it again!
2nd reading: Dec 2007-April 2008
I have been immensely enjoying that a re-read means I go way slower through the text - finding words with meaning, rather than simply being all-consumed by the plot (which is oh so fabulous, by the way)

I also found my favorite chapter this time around. Cal gets the very first taste of how much his father has endured and he loves him ferociously enough to sacrifice himself to build up his brother, Aron. In my fav chapter, Adam finally wakes up from his pain long enough to realize that he doesn't know his own son. The dialogue and gripping language that ensues moves deeply in my core. Daddy issues much? :)

And Steinbeck’s fascinating psychological motif, basically summed up to say that all humans have one need: love. If they are loved, they will be more willing to embrace the choice to overcome evil. If they have never been loved, they will be less able/willing to overcome their evil. In this way, Cal and his mother are set up as foils...and the reader's heart hopes so desperately for Cal. (BENJI, Steinbeck is also a hope whore!)

At the core of the argument about timshol I find that I disagree with Steinbeck. I really believe our lives are destined by a greater entity and our paths are chosen for us, even more than we are willing to admit. I do not feel controlled or manipulated by my destiny, in fact, I believe that the cosmos or god (pick your term) are mysterious enough, so entirely OTHER than my human understanding, that it can weave my choices into a pre-existing destiny. I will take issue with anyone (including my beloved John) who says that man always has the ability to simply pull himself up by the bootstraps and overcome his lot in life. Many are simply not equipped to deal with their own destiny, and this is the responsibility of god. But these are my theological thoughts...

That being said, Steinbeck sells his hope into the most gorgeous mini-pill of optimism and redemption that I cannot but swallow and flourish at the imbibing of his words.

First Reading: Jaunary 2006
I picked up East of Eden on a friend's recommendation. I remember being surprised that it read nothing like Grapes of Wrath--no unabashed socio/political themes or propaganda.

East of Eden was Steinbeck's favorite work; it also took him most of his life to complete. He takes a myriad of storylines and expertly weaves them into this novel. Steinbeck states about East of Eden: "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." He further claimed: "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."

I really resonated with the themes he masterfully explores throughout--depravity, beneficence, love, and the struggle for acceptance, greatness, and the capacity for self-destruction, and especially of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and many parallels with the biblical Book of Genesis.

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Nov 14, 2008 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

"It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is."

From th...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Flori rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Even after a BA in English, the only Steinbeck I'd ever read was "Of Mice and Men" and really didn't like it. I read this on a friend's recommendation and WOW! Let's hear it for a modern-day classic! Besides the increcibly beautiful writing, this book has given me a lot to think about, both during and after reading. I've mostly been thinking of how many times a day, all through the years, we choose between good and evil, even in its lesser forms. East of Eden was a powerful story of where those...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Jeremy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction

I literally could not put this down. Loose biblical parables have been around forever in literature, but what makes this so great is that it never just cops out by reducing down to one. Maybe the characters are fated or whatever, but they're also among the strongest characters he's written. Who wouldn't want to sit down for a beer with someone like Sam Hamilton or Lee? Who wouldn't want to claw out Cathy Ames's eyes? Who wouldn't want to offer some kind of reassurance to someone like Caleb Trask...more

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May 07, 2008 Scott rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I think that no literary character has ever so terrified me as Cathy Ames. This book troubled me while I was reading it, and it troubles me still now that I'm through.

I'd like to say that I liked the book, and in many ways I did--the plot, characters, narrational commentary, and general development were all compelling and fascinating to a very high degree. Yet I can't help but feel like reading this book and gazing into the soul (or lack thereof) of Cathy Ames ultimately had a net negative impa...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jennifer by: Oprah

I enjoyed the sections about the Hamilton family (Steinbeck's real ancestors) much more than the sections about the primary characters, all of whom are allegorical. Perhaps if there hadn't been the contrast between realism and allegory, I would have been able to enter into the allegorical world and enjoy it more. As it was, I simply wanted to read more about the Hamiltons. I did also enjoy the chapters that filled out the picture of life in Salinas at a particular time in history. The chapter in...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Jeniffer Almonte rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed

"East of Eden" has a pretty endless series of delights. There's the writing--lyrical and spare at the same time. The richness of the characters--even the background players that only get a handful of lines will manage to make an impression. The observations about human nature-- they ring so true you have to slow down and let them rattle around in your head for a little bit.

I absolutely loved this wonderful book. And I didn't want it to end. The last book I felt this way about was "Cannery Row",...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Marni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book for my Book club (meeting and discussion is tonight) and I am so glad that I did. I know I read Steinbeck in school--The Pearl, Of Mice and Men--you know, the shorter novels--and then of course Travels with Charlie, but there was a dog, what's not to love--but I have never read E of E, never even had a desire. This book is amazing! There is so much going on in it, it tries (and mostly succeeds)in describing an entire world--the people are believeable, and scary at times, there i...more

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Aug 12, 2012 wally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

i read this one years ago...navy, 32nd street naval station, library, on board either the john s mccain or the hepburn...probably the hepburn...
anyway, i wanted to read it again as i've read the grapes of wrath and of mice and men a number of times and i thought both of them to be great reads...of mice and men one of the best stories, ever...so, here i am again...a revisit to a story i first read in '78...even before i begin i begin to recall those times...

this story from 1952 begins:

the salinas...more

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Steinbeck fans: Steinbeck's Intent?	8	34	7 hours, 30 min ago
East of Eden taught in schools	14	71	May 09, 2013 07:57am
the deepest most insightful book on relationships Ive ever read.	18	162	May 09, 2013 05:53am
How is Adam's good nature and inability to see through Cathy a weakness? If Adam is an "A" character and therefore "good," is he also an admirable character? Do you like all he does?	5	26	May 08, 2013 08:53am
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About John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley...more John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Later he used real historical conditions and events in the first half of 20th century America, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter.

Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later body of work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology.

One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. He died in 1968 in New York of a heart attack and his ashes are interred in Salinas.

Seventeen of his works, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.(less)

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Quotes from East of Eden

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.” — 1,614 people liked it

“All great and precious things are lonely.” — 1,133 people liked it

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