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East of Eden

John Steinbeck

Start date: April 1, 2015

Finish date: April 30, 2015

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* The System
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What Members Thought

Dec 30, 2014 Booksdigger S rated it really liked it

This book is intense, not a fluffy read by any means. It requires a lot of focus. I felt it has a very profound story with memorable characters.

It's a story about two families, unfolding through three generations. It's a story of rejection, craving for love, the absence of love etc. The story of good verses evil .

It was a long read (600 pages) but WAS a good read and I totally enjoyed to read the profound writings of Steinbeck.

My favorite charter was Samuel Hamilton and Lee. However I could n ...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Madge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorite-authors

This isn't a review, just my rambling thoughts immediately after finishing this book.

Finishing this book feels like An Accomplishment, if you know what I mean. I don't know what it is about Steinbeck's writing--which I love, or at least I've loved his writing in The Pearl, this one, and The Grapes of Wrath--but it seems like it always takes me about a third of the book to really find a rhythm and become invested. I'm not uninterested before that point, but around there I usually go from casually This isn't a review, just my rambling thoughts immediately after finishing this book.

Finishing this book feels like An Accomplishment, if you know what I mean. I don't know what it is about Steinbeck's writing--which I love, or at least I've loved his writing in The Pearl, this one, and The Grapes of Wrath--but it seems like it always takes me about a third of the book to really find a rhythm and become invested. I'm not uninterested before that point, but around there I usually go from casually reading a bit here and there to devouring the remainder as quickly as possible.

Steinbeck's writing is, in my opinion, beautifully evocative. I sometimes become frustrated with wordy writers, but his always brushes against that line without actually crossing it. I enjoy "seeing" everything, and really getting inside the characters while reading his work, even when I dislike the character. He had a way with really painting a picture of the world in which his stories are set that makes me feel like I could smell, touch, hear, and taste everything.

I feel like I shouldn't have enjoyed this or The Grapes of Wrath nearly as much as I did, because I have not generally been a fan of family sagas. Having read both of these, I'm starting to reconsider that opinion and might seek them out intentionally to see if my tastes have changed.

This is a family saga, following the Trask family, but with many other fairly major characters tangled up with them. I loved Samuel, Lee, and Caleb, I think, most of all. With Adam, I sometimes wanted to protect him, and other times I wanted to give him a good smack to the head to knock some sense into him. (view spoiler) Kate was...well, she was interesting. (view spoiler) I'm still not sure how I feel about Aron. A bit sorry for him, maybe. I do wish Abra had a bigger part, because I was just starting to like her when the book ended. (Not that I disliked her at first, she just got more "on screen" time toward the end, so I was just beginning to get to know her.)

I think I don't enjoy books like this often because the characters start to blur together for me, and I can't keep them straight. That wasn't a problem for me with this one, though. All the characters were so distinct I only found myself a little unsure of who was who a few times with characters that were only around for a few moments.

I could babble about this for quite a while, I think, but I'll wrap up by saying that I'm glad I waited so long to read it. I think younger me, even just a couple of years younger me, wouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did. ...more

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