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aristarcodisamo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Violence and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
corvusthore's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Car accident, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content
sundayfever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Racial slurs
menomica's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
We can’t depend on it. The bank—the monster has to have profits all the time. It can’t wait. It’ll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can’t stay one size.
Reading this book made me fall out of love with reading. It made me give up my no dnf goal for the year. It’s not a bad story, and John Steinbeck is a good storyteller in his own right, but he definitely is not a good writer. I do like the way he portrays events effecting the Joads as effecting the rest of the migrants into California; the only problem is he is just really bad at prose and syntax.
Also, in the words of femkereindeer, I never want to read this man talk about a woman’s body ever again, thank you very much. Like my god, this is so creepily horny for all the female characters in this book, or very weirdly sexualizes them.
I think it’s weird how this book got flack for being communist propaganda when it was literally just like «poor ppl got fuck over domestically because of capitalist practices that denied ppl access to basic needs like food and shelter, not because of lack of access but because of lack of capital» which is, exactly what happened!
Tom was kinda funny cause he really would just say whatever and not give a fuck. Love that for him.
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Vomit
mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racial slurs
the_annia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Police brutality, and Classism
Minor: Blood and Murder
larseneiii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Genocide, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
thecriticalreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
The Grapes of Wrath contains several instances of sexism and racism (including the occasional use of the n-word). The racism is restricted to a handful of off-hand remarks made by the characters, while the sexism shows up more frequently. However, these instances serve mainly to accurately reflect the attitudes of the people it follows, and I personally did not get the feeling that the author was championing such views. The story itself contains several strong, capable, well-written female characters and the book’s overall message champions human dignity. However, every reader will have their own interpretation of these aspects of the book, and it is important to keep in mind if you are sensitive to these topics in literature.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident
calamityin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Slavery and Murder
Minor: Kidnapping
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
🍇 The plot: When Tom Joad is released from prison and returns to his family's farm in Oklahoma, it is to find them packing up to move west. The 1930s Dust Bowl crisis has decimated their land and the corporate farmers who own it are driving them out, toward the too-good-to-be-true promise of prosperity in California. The trials and tribulations of the Joads' journey mirrors the broader story of workers at this point in the development of modern capitalism.
If you'd have told me when I'd just started this book and read a whole chapter about corn that this would turn out to be a five star read, I wouldn't have believed you. There are significant caveats to those five stars, but overall, this one really surprised me!
With chapters alternating between the Joad family's story and the broader plight of migrant workers, the scope of this novel is incredible. I think a lot about how separated I am from the production of most of the things I need to live, and this book charts the rise of this separation in America, as machines enable corporate farmers to put profits before people. The chapter in which an angry farmer has it explained to him that a company is not a person, and there is nowhere he can go and no person he can reason with to change its doing, is a perfect illustration of how capitalism works to alienate and disempower workers.
The novel highlights the solidarity and humanity found in migrant camps, as well as the deep corruption of the US police. If you think the Defund movement is only a few years old/ only relevant to Black Americans/ that one of the key functions of policing isn't to protect property of the rich, read this book.
On that note however, as I said before, there are caveats to my praise for this novel. Firstly, it focuses solely on the white migrant experience, so its depiction is by no means comprehensive. You'd also think from this book that there were 10 men for every one woman in America. And finally there's some evidence Steinbeck plagiarised a lot of it from a woman whose notes he read without her knowledge. So definitely let that inform your reading!
🍇 Read it if you like books that deal with how individual stories fit into overarching historical trends, particularly capitalism.
🚫 Avoid it if you're avoiding stories featuring police violence or stillbirth, if you don't like novels that read a bit like fables, or if you'd rather invest your energy researching an intersectional history of the Dust Bowl crisis (very fair if so, this is a big book)
Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Racism