The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck, A Book Review by Rebecca Moll
Once again, Steinbeck captures the perfect snapshot of American life, the dream, the struggles, the inner war waged within our souls and with the vestiges of the very forefathers that delivered us to this land of opportunity.
Don’t like the classics? Find them too heavy? A bit boring? Not relevant to today?
Well, shelve your judgement for a moment and un-shelve that torn and worn paperback - no slugging through this one. Clever, witty, with a plot that turns pages. A quick read. A worthy read. Ethan Allen Hawley, Steinbeck’s classic founding-father-once-upon-a-time-a-rich-and-prominent-family-gone-complacent-gone-financial-ruin has a way with words and a way with the truth that will keep you on your toes and keep you wondering, right up to the very last page.
Don’t be surprised if you begin to see yourself on Elm Street in the early morning hours looking for Mr. Baker’s loyal companion, Red Baker, First National Bank and Joey Boy. New Baytown could be your town, Alfio Marullo’s store your grocery store and Ethan Allen your funniest neighbor and favorite clerk.
Light, funny as hell, and yet, bittersweet, it rings pitch perfect, blending harmoniously with Ethan’s morning serenade ritual to his shelved goods. The great American values, our country’s foundations and all our history books hail. And yet, there is always those rose-colored glasses, that gilded sepia that softens edges and sweetens regard for those years gone by. Somewhere in the corner stands the truth.
Are we that different from our ancestors? Those that hailed honesty, truth, and wisdom? Those that stood for righteousness and integrity? Take off your pretty pink glasses and perhaps we are not all that different. What is the price for mitigating morals? Do the ends justify the means? Where do you draw the line between what is right for your family and what is just right?
I surely don’t have the answers and neither did Ethan Allen Hawley, that is, until the end of the story. And oh, what a web did he weave.
Caught your interest? Happy reading.
Don’t like the classics? Find them too heavy? A bit boring? Not relevant to today?
Well, shelve your judgement for a moment and un-shelve that torn and worn paperback - no slugging through this one. Clever, witty, with a plot that turns pages. A quick read. A worthy read. Ethan Allen Hawley, Steinbeck’s classic founding-father-once-upon-a-time-a-rich-and-prominent-family-gone-complacent-gone-financial-ruin has a way with words and a way with the truth that will keep you on your toes and keep you wondering, right up to the very last page.
Don’t be surprised if you begin to see yourself on Elm Street in the early morning hours looking for Mr. Baker’s loyal companion, Red Baker, First National Bank and Joey Boy. New Baytown could be your town, Alfio Marullo’s store your grocery store and Ethan Allen your funniest neighbor and favorite clerk.
Light, funny as hell, and yet, bittersweet, it rings pitch perfect, blending harmoniously with Ethan’s morning serenade ritual to his shelved goods. The great American values, our country’s foundations and all our history books hail. And yet, there is always those rose-colored glasses, that gilded sepia that softens edges and sweetens regard for those years gone by. Somewhere in the corner stands the truth.
Are we that different from our ancestors? Those that hailed honesty, truth, and wisdom? Those that stood for righteousness and integrity? Take off your pretty pink glasses and perhaps we are not all that different. What is the price for mitigating morals? Do the ends justify the means? Where do you draw the line between what is right for your family and what is just right?
I surely don’t have the answers and neither did Ethan Allen Hawley, that is, until the end of the story. And oh, what a web did he weave.
Caught your interest? Happy reading.
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