John Steinbeck: East Of Eden

There may be other threads about this book. I'm pretty certain there are. In that case a moderator will squelch this post and relegate it to the end of some forgotten thread out there, where it will languish in obscurity.
But before he does, I want to make a point.
This could be the best book ever written - or at least, one of them. One of the best 10 maybe.
You know, you can listen to some great music - James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, ELton John. No doubt, these guys are all great. Then you might happen to hear some Chopin or Beethoven or Bach, and realize, My GOD! If the first guys are great, well, these guys are close to GODS. IT's not because they are "classical". It's because they are just THAT MUCH better than everyone else. And so it is with John Steinbeck. He is such an awesome genius, he makes merely "great" writers seem average or mediocre. I've been reading a slew of books this year, and some very good ones too. Forget it. They're trash by comparison. I get choked up trying to talk about how great this book is. I can't explain it at all. I'm simply overwhelmed at the quality of his writing. How the span of time really feels like years. How the characters are alive in your mind. How complex they are. How every scene is crystal clear. How frequently a sentence stops you in your tracks and you read it again and again and think about it for hours - days. I do. I love Steinbeck. I want to meet him, Chopin, Beethoven, and Bach in heaven (if there is one which I doubt, but who knows?) where if there is one they are in the same room together with the greatest artistic geniuses in history.

When I first read Hemingway I felt just what you did when you read Steinbeck. And like Hemingway, Steinbeck was just an incredible talent.

I have The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, East of Eden, and The Winter of Our Discontent on my to-read list.

Aqua-
I've yet to "discover" Hemmingway. I'll be sure to read him soon.
For now, Grapes of Wrath is the only other book I can put up there with East Of Eden. Hey, how about that - Steinbeck again.
The best short book ever? Of Mice and Men.
Whoops, Steinbeck again.
Of course, this is all my opinion, but do I really have to say that?
Literature, art, philosophy, the meaning of life - they're are all about opinion.
I haven't read The Winter of Our Discontent, and a few of his other books yet.

Libre-
I have to agree with you about Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath is probably by far the best book I've ever read. He is a genius. East of Eden was good as well. He's such a fine descriptive writer. No wonder his books are classics. I guess now I'll be reading Of Mice and Men.

East of Eden

Steinbeck’s theme was the most basic, rudimentary theme of all. A theme that was talked about since creation. Good and evil. His use of Cain and Abel and the word Timshel brought about ideas of sin. Cathy in this book could be seen as soaked with evil. No good. But good did seem to penetrate through her cold heart near the end of the book. Is man responsible for his actions or not? This was a question Lee pondered and pondered. He fought for the answer which was Timshel. The correct translation was not thou must which is a command from God, or thou shalt which would imply that you didn’t have to worry about sin, you would eventually conquer it, but it was thou mayest. You are responsible for your action. If you want to be good you can and if you want to be evil you can.

This small group of characters was a microcosm of the real world. There discussion of Cain and Abel was part of a much larger question, a yearning for the truth. It was a discussion of Heaven and Hell, right and wrong, truth and lie. This group of people represented good, the bad, and the gullible. Anything you want to do you can do. Thou mayest, BUT you are responsible.

This is one of my favorite books EVER!

Just remember everyone: "Thou Mayest"

Well, I just have to participate in this thread!
Check out my current avatar. Mr. Steinbeck himself!

In East of Eden, it is truly amazing to see how he reveals our deep, darkness of our inner hearts. Cause havoc. Then at the end, he gives us hope that the vile beast within us can be beaten. He puts all that in a book with such a grace, it is a true treasure.

The best Christmas gift I've ever gotten was a mint condition 1st edition copy of this book from my wife. It's one of my most treasured items. I will hand this one down to the readers in my family!

I agree, EOE is a classic. It's a shame they read "The Pearl" in so many high schools...it's quite pedestrian and wooden compared to this and many other Steinbeck texts. Took me years to get back into him after that.

One of my absoulte favourites; I read it one summer and by the end I wasn't wanting to put it down! I plan to reread the book for a book club selection with my friends this coming winter.

I read the book and tried to watch the movie (James Dean), and I just couldn't get five minutes into it. I did hear that Ron Howard is going to make another movie (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0419717/).

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing.

Everyone ought to read part 1 of chapter 13. It's a beautifu little sidestep from the plot in which the author meditates on the importance of the individual human being, rising to its defence.

East of Eden is in my top 3 books of all time. I have yet to read Grapes of Wrath, but it is definitely in the pile of books to be read. I would have to say that my second best John Steinbeck book is Cannery Row ~ anyone else enjoy this book? His characters are legend... I prefer this book to Of Mice and Men. I have the movie Cannery Row taped, all ready to watch, but I think it might fall flat. Has anyone here watched the movie?

Downs_in_love said:

I agree, EOE is a classic. It's a shame they read "The Pearl" in so many high schools...it's quite pedestrian and wooden compared to this and many other Steinbeck texts. Took me years to get back into him after that.

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It would probably take the classrooms forever to read EOE; it is a thick book. Unless it was required to read during the summer (although I think there would be lots of protests if that happened). Probably why schools stick to his shorter novellas.

I picked up East of Eden because, being an English major, I felt that I was inadequate to my major for not having read any of the classics. I thought about reading Of Mice and Men, but it was so short I felt like I would be cheating. So I read East of Eden. That is truly a phenomenal book, and I'm glad I picked it up. I even did an English paper on the book.

I am currently reading EOE and I think it is totally awesome!

I remember reading the screenplay and watching the movie in my junior year of high school. I'm not religious, but the allusions that Steinbeck makes to the Bible were interesting. The use of language throughout the book is beautiful (especially in the beginning when he describes the Salinas Valley). John Steinbeck's writing ability really shines.

My favorite book.

I found myself nodding in agreement as I read this book. Reading Steinbeck is like having a nice gentle walk in the park with a good trusted friend!!