katrienvancalster's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
heartland_hermit427983's review against another edition
Stopped at part 4. Great book but ive grown sick and tired of adam trask . This book is wistful and melancholic and somewhat plodding. Of course theres great prose and i wolfed down parts 1 and 2 but now im tired and need to recharge until im ready for the final push to the end.
Spoiler
and im not excited to see the likely tragedy of his sons play outlaineyg's review against another edition
5.0
Thou mayest.
I can't imagine ever reading another book that affects me like this. At least, not for a very long time. A story that made me look in the mirror and at the world around me with disgust, hope, terror, love, confusion, anger, and the fullest heart imaginable, one right after the other. And then it turned around and forgave me for all of it. My heart was broken so many times, and Steinbeck kept picking up the needle to sew it back together. I will never be the same.
The characters are all drawn out with immense thought and care. Even the most morally corrupt person is, on occasion, interrupted by the narrator with something that almost feels like a warning: You're about to feel terrified at the capacity for evil shown here. Show them grace anyway.
No one is perfect. Even the characters who are described by their peers as the best and brightest are given reprieve from their perfection. They are given humanity in the form of selfishness, despair, hubris, envy, and any number of other common sins. Their desires are thoughtless and arrogant. Their egos are skyscraping. They treat each other with contempt and neglect. Show them grace anyway.
This is in no way a fast-paced book, but it is never tedious. Steinbeck crafts a careful, meandering road through the lives of the Trasks and Hamiltons, and has intentional pitstops where you're meant to stop and look around for a moment. An entire decade will pass in the span of a few pages and then the next twenty will be spent on one poignant dinner table conversation. None of this ever feels jarring, it's just the way it goes.
One thing I picked up on that might not be everyone's cup of tea is that Steinbeck does not shy away from long philosophical & theological ramblings. There were times when I stopped and thought: do real people ever talk like this? And even if they don't, I found I didn't mind at all. So many of these ramblings touched my soul in ways I wouldn't dream of trading in for something as trivial as more realistic dialogue. Many of the reflections also feel intensely personal on the part of the author— it was no surprise to find out that Steinbeck considered this the story he was born to write: "Always I had this book waiting to be written."
On that note, the language here walks a difficult line teetering between easily readable descriptions of everyday life and the aforementioned intricate ramblings. Maybe that plays into something the book is trying to tell us— a person can simultaneously be living the most mundane possible life, but look inside their mind and you'll find they, like all of us, contain vast complexities we can't hope to understand. Sometimes East of Eden is a brutally intimate retelling of the Book of Genesis. Sometimes it's about Adam and Lee making coffee in the morning. These things coexist; they are one and the same.
Through all of this, Steinbeck tries to tell the reader a simple yet seemingly impossible truth: we are all capable of goodness. We are not all capable of beauty, success, admiration, popularity, or contentment. But we are capable of goodness through acknowledgment of the same in others. To have faith in humanity is to have faith in oneself.
I've been thinking of Cal a lot. The image of a young boy praying to God for a pardon as he looks upon his sleeping brother. I don't want to be mean. I don't want to be lonely. For Jesus' sake, Amen. I thought I was going to leave this book haunted by Cal and everything he never allowed himself to have, to be. I worried that the grace I was asked to give these characters was not going to be shown to them by the story; I suppose I've grown used to unrelenting narratives that only focus on the ugliness of the world. Without giving too much away, I feel such relief with what Steinbeck chose to do instead. I feel forgiven.
All this to say, I loved East of Eden with every last piece of my heart. It seems no small miracle that it exists, and that I got to read it.
I can't imagine ever reading another book that affects me like this. At least, not for a very long time. A story that made me look in the mirror and at the world around me with disgust, hope, terror, love, confusion, anger, and the fullest heart imaginable, one right after the other. And then it turned around and forgave me for all of it. My heart was broken so many times, and Steinbeck kept picking up the needle to sew it back together. I will never be the same.
The characters are all drawn out with immense thought and care. Even the most morally corrupt person is, on occasion, interrupted by the narrator with something that almost feels like a warning: You're about to feel terrified at the capacity for evil shown here. Show them grace anyway.
No one is perfect. Even the characters who are described by their peers as the best and brightest are given reprieve from their perfection. They are given humanity in the form of selfishness, despair, hubris, envy, and any number of other common sins. Their desires are thoughtless and arrogant. Their egos are skyscraping. They treat each other with contempt and neglect. Show them grace anyway.
"P.S. Charles, I never hated you no matter what. I always loved you because you were my brother."
This is in no way a fast-paced book, but it is never tedious. Steinbeck crafts a careful, meandering road through the lives of the Trasks and Hamiltons, and has intentional pitstops where you're meant to stop and look around for a moment. An entire decade will pass in the span of a few pages and then the next twenty will be spent on one poignant dinner table conversation. None of this ever feels jarring, it's just the way it goes.
One thing I picked up on that might not be everyone's cup of tea is that Steinbeck does not shy away from long philosophical & theological ramblings. There were times when I stopped and thought: do real people ever talk like this? And even if they don't, I found I didn't mind at all. So many of these ramblings touched my soul in ways I wouldn't dream of trading in for something as trivial as more realistic dialogue. Many of the reflections also feel intensely personal on the part of the author— it was no surprise to find out that Steinbeck considered this the story he was born to write: "Always I had this book waiting to be written."
On that note, the language here walks a difficult line teetering between easily readable descriptions of everyday life and the aforementioned intricate ramblings. Maybe that plays into something the book is trying to tell us— a person can simultaneously be living the most mundane possible life, but look inside their mind and you'll find they, like all of us, contain vast complexities we can't hope to understand. Sometimes East of Eden is a brutally intimate retelling of the Book of Genesis. Sometimes it's about Adam and Lee making coffee in the morning. These things coexist; they are one and the same.
Through all of this, Steinbeck tries to tell the reader a simple yet seemingly impossible truth: we are all capable of goodness. We are not all capable of beauty, success, admiration, popularity, or contentment. But we are capable of goodness through acknowledgment of the same in others. To have faith in humanity is to have faith in oneself.
"Now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
I've been thinking of Cal a lot. The image of a young boy praying to God for a pardon as he looks upon his sleeping brother. I don't want to be mean. I don't want to be lonely. For Jesus' sake, Amen. I thought I was going to leave this book haunted by Cal and everything he never allowed himself to have, to be. I worried that the grace I was asked to give these characters was not going to be shown to them by the story; I suppose I've grown used to unrelenting narratives that only focus on the ugliness of the world. Without giving too much away, I feel such relief with what Steinbeck chose to do instead. I feel forgiven.
All this to say, I loved East of Eden with every last piece of my heart. It seems no small miracle that it exists, and that I got to read it.
"It was your two-word translation, Lee— 'Thou mayest.' It took me by the throat and shook me. And when the dizziness was over, a path was open, new and bright. And my life which is ending seems to be going on to an ending wonderful. And my music has a new last melody like a bird song in the night."
brymo's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
shayliebird's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
florela's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emir_ertorer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cblanc3666's review against another edition
5.0
I love a good story, and my goodness, this is one. This book left me thinking differently about how I live my life, about forgiveness and inheritance and purity and the intangible qualities that only become noticeable in a person when they lack them or have them in excess. That is the mark of a powerful story.
And the characters are as clear in my mind as if I were regularly running into them in town - they are real people and they are flawed and complicated and wonderfully human.
Anyway, it’s 5am. This book was hard to put down! I like Steinbeck’s writing style, I like the people he writes about, and I love the stories he has to tell.
And the characters are as clear in my mind as if I were regularly running into them in town - they are real people and they are flawed and complicated and wonderfully human.
Anyway, it’s 5am. This book was hard to put down! I like Steinbeck’s writing style, I like the people he writes about, and I love the stories he has to tell.