Rating: 
Summary: my favorite book ever
Review: I recently did a term paper on Steinbeck's East of Eden. At first, the sheer length of the work seemed daunting, however once I delved into it, the text captivated me. This is my favorite book EVER. Steinbeck is a genius. read this book.
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Summary: You just can't beat the classics
Review: If you love California and literature, this book is for you! "Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands." This is a book that will get all over your face and hands and you will love it.
Steinbeck has innovative, articulate and beautiful ways of describing his family - their strength of character as well as his love for them.
"Her faith is a mountain, and you, my son, haven't even got a shovel yet."
"She had no love of places. A place was only a resting stage on the way to heaven."
"I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is almost indestructible."
"Dessie was not beautiful. Perhaps she wasn't even pretty, but she had the glow that makes men follow a woman in the hope of reflecting a little of it."
John makes you think, internalize and reflect on who we are and what we stand for.
"You can boast about anything if it's all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast."
"It would be absurd if we did not undertsnad both angels and devils, since we invented them."
"There are no ugly questions except those clothed in condescension."
"Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk."
Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Timeless
Review: In "East of Eden," Steinbeck catches the subtlety of life that consistently eludes us. Steinbeck constructs unique and brittle characters out of thread--each with its own particular color--and seamlessly weaves them into a beautiful fabric of experience and life. The exhibits of fear and joy draw the reader in simply because the reader is reading about himself. The character Lee--commenting on Genesis--says that a reader only enjoys a story in as much as they see themselves in it, and the ultimate story is one that everyone experiences as their own. Steinbeck strived to create such a story, and "East of Eden" is the result.
The parallels to Genesis are not as blatant as one would suspect. The 600-page novel breezes by and a majority of it can be spent forgetting its metaphorical nature. Steinbeck masterly navigates the storyline through straits of drama, introspective commentary, philosophy, theology, and simple beauty. Many of the conclusions are figurative and implied, and much of the meaning is in what is not said rather than what is. It is only when Steinbeck has let you forget the story he mimics, that he will quickly remind you, giving you an entire new context to contemplate.
The novel is dark at times. Every character is severely flawed, and Steinbeck is relentless in his portrayal of weakness, vulnerability, and sorrow. Yet, every character is dripping with realism and humanity; the result is a depth and beauty to the characters that is rarely experienced. Every character is so real it feels as if you could get up, walk next door, and talk to them as an old acquaintence.
The novel imitates the Genesis story in an American setting, but "East of Eden" is simultaneously a commentary and reinterpretation of the same story. It ignores the plot specifics, morals, and instead grasps the essence, the heart, that makes the myth timeless and applicable to anyone with a beating heart. "East of Eden" is more than a biblical metaphor, more than good and evil; it's the story of the birth of man: the marriage of good and evil, and their residual struggle within man. Ultimately, it's the celibration of the free will that makes us human, and the simple joy of existence.
This is a beautiful peace of literature. The writing is simplistic and a pleasure to read. Steinbeck's narration is well-crafted, and the plot trods along at a lofty and steady pace. Definitely the best piece of fiction I have read in a long, long time.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: It is often for someone to come across great reads that actually changes the person's life. Reading Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" and John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" had a profound influence on me. There was so much to learn from those stories since they were so complete in treating humanity. In fact, these are deep, insightful and inspirational books that one can not easily throw aside after one has finished. These major classics are books to ponder about, books for us to think and reflect over and over. If you haven't read this great piece of American literature, then I suggest that you do so.I also recommend: Anna Karenina and Disciples of Fortune-these are two other classic works.
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Summary: Come and see for yourself
Review: It was gewtting towards the end of my senior year in high school. My teacher assighed this very thick book to read.Her reason, she said, was this is the only book that a student with senioritis would take to the beach. I quickly agreed with her. I just always wanted to know what the dominatrix Cathy/Kate was going to do next. But the other characters are just as fascinating. Cal and Aron are as different as night and day. Tom and Dessie Hamilton are brother and sister who are toucingly close. To make a long story short, this is a book that I would definitely recommend to anyone
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Summary: Love's Absence
Review: Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. Canada: Viking, 1952. 602 pages.
East of Eden is one of Steinbeck's greatest works of literature. It is a book about the good and evil of the world and how the human race has the freedom of choice between the two. The story takes place from the end of the civil war to the end of World War 1. The setting ranges from a small Connecticut town to the Salinas valley in California. One of the most interesting things about this book is the author incorporates his on family history into the story line and characters. East of Eden has a straight forward theme on the fact that " All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me (the author) that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is." This is one of my most favorite books to date, and I highly recommend it too anyone who enjoys Steinbeck books or is new to him.
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Summary: A Biblical retelling worthy of its inspiration
Review: The blurb on the back of this book says that it is a Biblical story, a modern retelling of the Cain and Able story. But it is more than just a clever satire. It is the story of humanity as Steinbeck perceives it, told as an allegory through two generations of two families in the Salinas Valley of California. John Steinbeck reached very far into himself to write this book. He has an incredble insight into human emotions - as I was reading his simple and beautiful prose I felt that he must have known me intimately to write to me so succintly and so personally. As it was written fairly late in his life and his career, one gets the impression that he wanted to tell one final, ultimate story that would last forever. This may be as close to that story as one man can get. The last book I read was Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
The next book I plan to read is Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
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Summary: Meaningful insight into human relations
Review: These book is one of the greatest clasics you can come across. It is a serene insight in relationship on man-women and brotherhood issues. Though is not very crystal on answering the question why the main character is so sentimentaly naive and as such against all odds, but still the situation, the consequences of it are colorfuly depicted. It's a book how Good can survive against the Evil but still it gets the shorter end of it. There is no ideal or divine realization that good will win overall. Being truly and naivly good doesn't mean that you will be awerded for it and that a true love can win at the end. It can be farse to itself.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but powerful
Review: This is a harsh, clear, brilliant book. There are flaws - it isn't a perfect book - but the arid setting and brutal beauty of the land and people are fiercely and wonderfully drawn. It is the characters that drive the passions of the book - characters that are so deeply written you come back to many modern bestsellers with a sense of something missing - where are the PEOPLE? This is an intense, haunting read that will stay with you.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: This is a novel that successfuly weaves strands of fact with threads of fiction to create a stunning tapestry of American life that is timeless. The novel is based in the early part of the 1900's and despite it's massive length (over 600 pages) Steinbeck manages to draw you in and make you think. His characters are richly drawn so that you almost know them. I believe this is because we can find a little of each character with in ourselves. This book is the very best book I have ever read and that says a lot because I am constantly reading. Pick up East of Eden today and take the journey to the Salinas Valley. You will not regret it!
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