book discussion

This is the Grapes of Wrath. It needs a discuusion board. Somebody say something.

What do you want to talk about? How similar Grapes of Wrath is to Victor Hugo's Les Mes? (That is as much of the title that I can spell) or Is the turtle describe in one chapter the same turtle that Tom picks up?

Hell, I don't know. I just feel that such a timeless classic deserves to have its own message board...but yes, I always just assumed it was supposed to be the same turtle. And I can see that there are similarities between Grapes and Les Mis, but I don't think they are too similar. (of course I haven't read the book so I don't know the story too well).

of course it was the same turtle.
why would two turtles both be so determined to move West

secondly, does it even matter. The fact is the turtle represents all the tenants that were forced off their property.

please don't get me started i am VERY passionate about this book.

and JD thanks for the "timeless classic" line lol

RyRy*

I liked this book. Didn't have much of a conflict resolution, but that's ok. I liked the writing, the idea, the characters, and the message. What more can you want out of a book?

I have family members (now all dead) who lived through these times in Oklahoma and Texas. Reading this book, which I did not do until I was in my mid 30s, helped me to understand in some way things I remember about them. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression were powerful and destructive and The Grapes of Wrath captures both the horror and helplessness of people caught up in it - and how it ate away at their pride and dignity.
Things that struck me when I read the book that I still think about:
Descriptions of the times when People in the camps were starving and farmers plowed crops under and dumped food in the river to keep prices up. I think things like this still happen today. It's tragic that we've learned nothing from our history.

When the younger Joad brother (have forgotten his name) who has a gift for auto mechanics wants to take a job in a garage and Ma Joad insists he stay with the family and be a farm worker - this just drove me crazy, it was so sad. In the crisis situation the family is in, they cling so tightly to the life and ways they have known. Why don't they realize that this young man could help the family by following his gifts, even if they are different from what Ma and Pa have known? Eventually he runs away from the family - he strikes out on his own to save himself.

I loved this book. It was huge and meaty and altogether wonderful. The ending was perfect. There was no neat and tidy resolution to the Great Depression either. Ending on a moment that combined both tragedy and hope felt just right.

I cursed this book from page one and then closed it and said "That was great." I read it as a 9th grader in a 20th century novel class and was frustrated by the long, descriptive passages of place. I learned more about and the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression from this novel than from anything I read in a history class in high school, college, or beyond.

A fanastic book and an argument for continuing with something that is disquieting or just plain boring. The value of some books can't be known until completed. Thanks for this discussion.

One of the most memorable things about this book in my eyes is the "commercial chapter." Right smack dab in the middle of this heart-wrenching story is a chapter about a car dealership. Oddly enough, it worked. My stomach churned. What a way to paint more despair and confusion into a picture. As if the story in itself didn't make us say WTF enough.