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Summary: A 20th Century Masterpiece
Review: Steinbeck's ability to capture time, place, and character of the common man in the written word is unsurpassed. The Grapes of Wrath masterfully tells a compeling story of the Joad family during the Depression and Dust Bowl era. However, it is not until one digests this story that the metaphors, and contaversial themes surely erupt in the conscientious reader. The final scene in this book shows that even when driven to the most dire circumstances, good will still exists. While many see the work as an historic piece about the Depression era, I believe Steinbeck's themes in the Grapes of Wrath could have been played out in any era about social turmoil and economic ruin. But I am glad he chose the Depression era, and I am sure other readers will be too. Inasmuch as some people will see this book as a snapshot of the Depression, I think many have found it to be a study in the human condition that is timeless. It is also one of those books that is hard to put down, once started.
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Summary: It was great if you are interested in American History
Review: Unlike the other review who was written by an idiot who doesn't know anything this book is great. It focuses on an Oklahoma family in the 1930's who were kicked out of their homes during the Dust Bowl. It shows a lot of nativism and racial attributes.
Rating: 
Summary: "Two Thumbs Up"-A Must Read For the Serious Reader!
Review: I thought the ending was brillant! You knew that the Joads would make it. This was a gut wretching story that will always be with me. It changed my soul and to John Steinbeck I am forever grateful!
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Summary: I enjoyed it
Review: Hi, I am not going to tell you my name, But I will tell you that I am 11 Years old and in the 6th grade, I read this book for an advanced English project ( When tested i was found to read 400 words a minute) and I absolutely devoured it. it was a very very discriptive, detailed book. If I were asked to read more of Mr. Stienbecks books, I would definitely exept READILY. In fact, although I hav'nt been asked to yet, the next time i go to the library I think i will see about getting some more of his books. P.S. Just for the record, I started this book on the evening of Sunday, October 25th and finished on Wednesday, October 28th
Rating:
Summary: this book was great
Review: I really liked this book. I was forced into reading it by my AP English teacher. I'm glad she did, because I really enjoyed it. The gruesomness of the animal killing wasn't great, but I overlooke that. I like his style, and it's amazing that an older book can create an effect like it did to me.
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Summary: A soul wrenching search for a diminshed humanity
Review: I have not quiet finished this book yet and I am wishing this book would never end. The Joads symbolize more than just their era. They are paradigms for persecuted people everywhere. There search for simple decency is one that is brilliantly written by Steinbeck. His commentary between chapters is outstanding and gives us poignant scenarios of the time that echo today. Please take the time to indulge this book. I thought it would take me a long time to finish it, instead it has taken me by storm and 12 days into it I have 110 pps left. Which is the only reason I have yet to give it 5 stars.
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Summary: Humanity at its most painful and beautiful
Review: This has to be the most real and emotional American novel ever written. It's a book that intimately describes people to whom you'd never give a second glance, showing them as intelligent, stupid, loving, hateful, hopeful, and familiar.
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Summary: A portrait of American duplicity
Review: I must have read Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" a half dozen times since I first picked it up as a high school student. The story of the ongoing hope and determination of the displaced migrants, pitted against the disdainful land-owners, highlights a 20th century conflict between traditional values of inherent virtue and the interests of business, economic efficiency, and the profit-seeking wealthy. The first few times I read this story, I saw only a tract that promotes centralized state authority and socialist constructs as a solution to injustice and poverty, as also appears in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". In my later years, however, I have seen Steinbeck's prophecy against the hypocrisy of those who would call themselves "Christian" and "righteous", then ignore the essential tenets of their faith to serve their own interests, the minute they've left church on Sunday. The book continues to speak to our own age, when the well-to-do in the "winner-take-all" competition of the modern marketplace find it all too convenient to neglect the poor that remain. Although history has since proven the value of a free-market economy, its "winners" are just as human as its "losers", and cannot in good conscience brush them aside, discounting them as products of their own failings.
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Summary: The Grape of Wrath is truely one the greatest works written.
Review: John Steinbeck beautifully protrays the plight of the Joad family in this most heartfelt novel. His real life experience with the hardships that were common at the time gives this incredible novel its awesome detail and realistic humanity. Like Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," he creates a microcosm in which society is represented in all aspects. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a book about love and hate, betrayal and truth, hardship and sacrafice.
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Summary: This is an extremely moralistic and elaborate novel!
Review: I am a junior in high school, and our class just read this novel. I was appalled at some of the reviews given by other people. They must not have grasped the concept of the novel. Steinbeck's purpose was not to criticize or complain, but to inform by creating a fictional family in a real-life scenario from the past. He uses detailed diction, colloquialism, and an extended syntax full of methaphors to add vivacity and keep the reader interested! This is a great novel and an important lesson about the past for people in society.
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