East of Eden | John Steinbeck | Knocked For A Loop

East of Eden | John Steinbeck | Fantastic!

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East of Eden

	East of Eden John Steinbeck Penguin (Non-Classics), 2002 - 601 pages average customer review:based on 268 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden the first book, and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness. First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis."

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Knocked For A Loop

When I bought this book, Steinbeck could not have been further off my radar. I suppose I expected a solid, picaresque novel that was good in a musty "literature" sort of way. I could not have been more wrong. I don't think that I have ever been punched in the gut more times by a work of art. The mixture of mythology and gritty realism never felt forced, in fact it made the story even more fluid and vicious. It is a wonderfully sad, dark, violent and oddly hopeful chronical of human frailty, loyalty and weakness. It is one of the supreme achievements of the art (all forms, not just literary) of the 20th century. After I read this, I bought everything by Steinbeck that I could get my hands on and buried myself in eleven more of his works before coming up for air.

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Fantastic!

On first picking up East of Eden, I wondered if I would or could like such a book. After having read Steinbeck's other work, The Pearl, I thought that East of Eden might end up being a long, overly drawn-out description of some vines running along a white wall. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this masterpiece, a great retelling of two classic biblical tales. The characters, if anything else, make this a fantastic read.

Like a good 90% or more of Steinbeck works, East of Eden takes place primarily in the Salinas Valley of northern California. It details the lives of the Trask and Hamilton families, particularly of Adam and Charles Trask--the first generation, and Aron and Cal Trask--the second. Between each set of brothers stands the unequal love of a father, a darkness within a man's heart, and the recurring scar which comes to mark those who are "darker." From Adam and Charles to Aron and Cal, both sets of brothers face trials in their relationships, between the dichotomy of love and hate. This varying dynamic, polar in its nature, is touching in its realism. The depth of the characters, from their good sides to their bad, their joys and sorrows and triumphs and jealousies, make each pitiable and sympathetic in their own way. Cal, who is somewhat of a protagonist in the second half, strives to find a balance between the good he wants to see in himself and the bad he knows is there. This battle, in his soul, is easily relatable to--a young boy who wants to be loved, doesn't know who he is, and wants to be more.

Aside from the male figures, one of the other main characters, Cathy Ames, is considered the Eve of the story. While conventionally seen as a figure of pure evil, the bringer of sin into the world and upon men, I find her the most intriguing--and the most inspiring, of all. While she is depicted to commit evil after evil, senselessly drawing men into their dooms, feeling no remorse whatsoever, there lies the greatest hope in Cathy, who like Cal, seems aligned to the dark side in her nature. But for all of her evil, for every terrible act she makes, the hope of something good within her stirred more hope than any other element of the story. Cal, while inspiring in his struggles, is different from the tragically alone Cathy, whose seeming fall into the darkness draws me in more than anyone else. For her, I truly hoped some light would shed.

All in all, I am delighted to have been able to read this novel. Though it was a rather long read, and for academic purposes, it was so enthralling that it drew me in from the get-go. A good two days into it and I was possessed, unable to put it down until I had finished. I would truly have to recommend this novel to anyone who has the time to sit down and plow through 600 pages--it's well worth it.

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Very Interesting

once i got the shippment from amazon, i open the book to check it, and i start read the first page, by the time i recognise that i should contenue what i was busy with, i found that i reach to page 50, and i am still reading, very reach with variables and .... what can i say here, "Drawing With Words"

A book that stays with you

I wasn't sure what to expect when I read East of Eden. I certainly wasn't expecting to be swept away in Steinbeck's eloquent prose or on the edge of my seat, barely able to wait for the ending and yet not really wanting the book to end. At times this was difficult to read--Steinbeck is a master of showing the depravity of humanity--and at other moments you're blown away by his understanding of the good in all of us as well. He shows us that life is about the choices that we make, and not about the blood in us. Genetics have nothing to do with what our life can become, and Steinbeck works this into the novel beautifully. This book grips you and doesn't let you go even after you finish it. It tears away at your pre-conceived notions about life--and takes your breath away with the truth of humanity and what we are capable of--both for good and for evil.

Hauntingly, painfully beautiful in places, and just plain painful to read in spots, East of Eden is truly a masterpiece. It's not always easy to read, but even when you're disturbed beyond reason at what is happening, you can't stop reading. It's hypnotizing. Definitely one of my favorite books of all time.

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East Of Eden Work Of Genius

John Steinbeck is recognized as a literary genius and he won the nobel prize for literature and rightly so. This book is the literary equivalent of a nuclear detonation. It is brilliant beyond belief. It makes the works of many other authors pale in comparison. If your a reader of the
great classics of 20th Century Literature then you must read this book.

John

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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