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? A lot of sprawling, multi-generational family novels tend to collapse under their own weight, but Steinbeck is able to ground his so thoroughly in the regional sensibilities and culture of turn of the century California that you never loose a sense of what's happening or why it matters. Forget the Joads and forget George and Lennie, this is the Steinbeck book everyone should read.