Eric answers “Okay, so this is the same guy who wrote...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about East of Eden:

Okay, so this is the same guy who wrote Grapes of Wrath, which I've heard was extremely dry and I quote, "1,000 pages of just. . . dust." So is East of Eden also dry and boring? Or. . . does it just depend upon the tastes of the reader? I don't want to start a book and feel like I just wasted several precious moments of my life.

Eric Steinbeck's writing is poetic. If you don't respect poetry, you probably will find it boring. He uses a technique of intersecting long-winded descript…moreSteinbeck's writing is poetic. If you don't respect poetry, you probably will find it boring. He uses a technique of intersecting long-winded descriptions of life during the particular period in both Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Personally I find the writing beautiful, and there is a coherent and interesting story to follow in both as well. The message is not always clear, and it will probably leave you to think for a while about what it means to you.

Your personal experience is a part of the process of reading, so if you are younger, you may want to leave it a while until you are a parent as I think you may be able to connect with more of the experiences then. It definitely dwells on the theme of what we pass on to our children. If you read it and find the story too simple/dry/boring or the message too naïve, you probably haven't made a connection. It's not that you don't "get it", just that it doesn't make you feel connected to the story. That's OK, try another book until you find one that does.

To me it is this feeling of connection that proper literary-type books are all about. We want to feel that the author understands and has put into words something in us that we struggle to articulate ourselves. We want to find other people that feel as we do to increase the sense of connection.(less)

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