East of Eden - John Steinbeck

Having an imminent OU essay deadline looming my need for displacement activity is greatly enhanced and I find myself looking for things that will prevent me from actually having to sit down and write the thing (my house has never looked so clean!). So when my hand lighted on this satisfyingly bulky book on my bookshelves I sat down at once to fill my mind with something other than the development of the categorical self. Disappointingly this is an excellent book and I managed to finish it in only two days, leaving me plenty of time to work on my assignment. ***The author*** Born in the Salinas Valley in California (also the setting for this book), ...  Read the complete review

East of Eden, like The Grapes of Wrath before it, looks at first glance like a mammoth read. Dont' be put off though. Steinbeck has an easy writing style that's a pleasure to read, in fact it sounds very good read out loud. East of Eden is basically the story of a pair of twin boys in what is transparently a Cain and Abel tale. Cal is the tormented son who wants only the love and approval of his apparently distant father but who always seems to make their relationship worse. Anyone who has seen the James Dean movie of the same name will be familiar with the tale, of Cal and Arron, of their father and mother, Kate, who runs a local brothel! The book ...  Read the complete review

The novel takes on the life and times of our protagonist Adam, is relationship is drawn between him and the biblical Adam by Steinbeck; he is fair and just in his nature but is often lead to misjudgements by exterior influences. In retrospect he is God's Son, God's Pride and God's Test. Steinbeck creates almost a documentary of Adam's life. Questions and predicaments are raised but Steinbeck's main intention is the explanation of Adam's journey from the east to the west. Adam meets his sons, his companions and other significant peoples to him. I believe that this not only Steinbeck's most intricate but intimate ...  Read the complete review

Weighing in at a rather hefty 600+ pages, this is obviously not going to be a book to last just an afternoon, but having been a fan of both Steinbeck's "classics" - 'Of Mice and Men' and 'The Grapes of Wrath' - I was very much looking forward to getting into this book, and it certainly doesn't disappoint. Thanks to Steinbeck's supreme style of writing and his ability to set a glorious picture of the settings and characters, it doesn't take long at all to become immersed in the world of early twentieth-century America, especially that of the Salinas Valley in California where much of the story plays out. The book successfully explores the biblical themes of the ...  Read the complete review