Product Description: 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. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity; the inexplicability of love; and the murderous consequences of love's absence.
This Novel Is What Great Writing Is All About!! I recently finished reading this novel and fell in love with the characters, the story itself and the message of both good and evil, as well as the concept of "Timshel" or "Thou Mayest".
John Steinbeck is without a doubt a superb storyteller. "East of Eden" has many facet and dimensions within it. Somehow or another Steinbeck is able to write a multi-dimensional story with phenomenal characters and keep the entire novel cohesive from start to finish.
I had a difficult to wanting to do anything but read this novel once I started reading it. The writing is fantastic and entertaining... The characters are fabulous and there was always so much going on in this novel that you eagerly want to find out what is going to happen next!
This is a must read novel. Steinbeck is such a wonderful writer that I can see why he won the Nobel Prize for Literature!
My Brother's Keeper If the phrase "Great American Novel" implies a work of scope and substance, dealing with what is unique in American life, rooted in a deep knowledge of time and place, filled with characters who might well be our own forefathers, and infused with a strong moral purpose, EAST OF EDEN certainly fills the bill. At 600 pages, it is a much longer book than OF MICE AND MEN (103 pages) or even THE GRAPES OF WRATH (416), but it is filled with all kinds of light: the bright simplicity of Steinbeck's language, the spark of his humor, his shining song of the land, and the rich glow that comes from his deep understanding of human beings, especially imperfect ones.
Steinbeck himself appears in the novel as a young boy, and one of the threads in the story is the tale of his maternal grandfather, Samuel Hamilton, who emigrated from Northern Ireland in the middle of the 19th century and came to the Salinas Valley in California. There he raised a large family more on the proceeds of his work as a well-driller and handyman than through much success on his hardscrabble farm. The stories of Steinbeck's older relatives are scattered through the book as a touchstone of basic American values of faith, hard work, and the capacity to dream. One becomes rich when the automobile comes to Salinas, another dies in poverty, but most simply marry and raise families of their own.
But the central character in the book is a New Englander, Adam Trask. We see him as a boy, in a complex relationship with his half-brother Charles. Sent by his father, a Civil War veteran, into the army, he knocks around the country for years before unexpectedly coming into some money and settling in the Salinas Valley. The main part of the book follows the growth of Adam's sons Caleb and Aron to young adulthood, and it is clear that some of the old history of Charles and Adam is being repeated. Or of Cain and Abel. For that oldest of all stories about colonists in a new land -- farmer, hunter, man of action, man of dreams -- obviously has great resonance for Steinbeck. It becomes a symbol for American aspiration and American violence, a paradox of how two members of a family can be so alike and yet so different, and a challenge that goes to the heart of individual morality.
Steinbeck had used such resonances before, most notably in the final scene of THE GRAPES OF WRATH, but here he is constructing an entire novel around the exegesis of a biblical text. Some of his scaffolding is a little obvious, notably the prevalence of names beginning with A or C, and the numerous philosophical discussions. There is a serpent in this Eden, Cathy Ames, one of the great female psychopaths in literature, whom Steinbeck announces as a monster even before her birth. Goodness is represented first by Samuel Hamilton, and later by Adam's Chinese servant, Lee. But for all this polarization, Steinbeck's writing is so grounded in realism, and his treatment of good and evil so nuanced, that it is no longer a matter of how the old story repeats itself, but of how flawed human beings may claw back from the brink and be the masters of their own souls. This is a book to make you think -- but also one to make you laugh and cry, and above all to glory in this wondrous country and its people.
My Favorite Book Of All Time I won't offer up a long analysis of the characters or try to explain what makes this book so special. Of all the books I have read, this one has touched me the most. Read it, you won't regret it.
Lovely John Steinbeck's classic is a story about every family. It's a story about the first family. In a totally unoffensive nonreligious style his Cain and Able takeoff examines the cyclic nature of humanity. We frequently find ourselves eerily following in the footsteps of our parents. Or find ourselves with the ones most similar to those who have hurt us before. Ultimately, "East of Eden" gives an example of how to break the mold. Whatever holds us back, whatever our mistakes, Steinbeck shows how it is possible to break the cycle, how we can learn from the past, how the greatest endowment of humanity is choice.
an enjoyable classic My daughter sent this one to me, appalled that I'd never read it. I send her Evanovich, she sends me Steinbeck. If I were an astute kind of person, that might explain some things. Good thing I'm not astute.
I've been putting off writing something about this. I think I'm a little intimidated because it's A Classic.
What the heck. The point is just to say if I liked the book and why or why not. Zillions of people have reviewed and analyzed and dissected this book, and there's really no reason for me to do that. Whew.
So, on the off chance that I'm not the only cultural illiterate out there, East of Eden is the story of the Salinas Valley of California, and about two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks.
I had a little trouble following the connections between people at first, but it became clear later on. The Hamiltons are Steinbeck's family--in fact, he's in the second part of the story himself as a child, and my guess is they're there to make the story personal, and to contrast with the Trasks and provide a nudge to them once in a while.
Mostly, it's the story of two generations of brothers: Charles and Adam Trask, and Caleb and Aron Trask. Adam was his father's favorite, which caused a lot of problems between the brothers. He later marries and his wife gives birth to twins: Caleb and Aron, and the pattern threatens to repeat itself.
There's a bit of heavy-handed Cain and Abel imagery there, even down to the names, but the characters are so convincingly realistic that it never interfered with the story, and indeed was only apparent when I put the book down for a while. What I really enjoyed was the struggle between Caleb and Aron, trying not to repeat the pattern, and the realization that everything wasn't exactly as it seemed from the outside or on the surface.
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