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?