East of Eden

I'm at a loss as how to review this so I'm going to try sentence fragments.

Silky smooth like mellow aged scotch with a bite. Honed, sharper than a knife's edge characterization. Archetypes. Lots of archetypes. Samuel and Lee especially as the wise ones dispensing wisdom, nosing into, and prodding

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others to be aware of choices. Mythology. Legend. Mixed in with some autobiography. Families as archetypes. Good vs. evil. Flawed humanity sinking into the depths and flawed humanity rising above the morass. Coming of age and dying of old age. Birth. Life. Death. Foundations. Belief. Duty. National roots. American. Epochal. Canonical.

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One of the things I love about Steinbeck is the way he weaves together his words. I knew I was in for something good when he starts describing the hills of California. "And mixed with these [flowers] were splashes of California poppies. These too are of a burning color - not orange, not gold, but

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if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies." Now, I know California poppies. I love California poppies. He uses words of poetry and yet he couldn't possibly be more accurate. Much of why I enjoyed this book was nostalgia for California (one of the few benefits of moving constantly). Steinbeck captures the landscape with an ardour no one else can.

But what of the story? This is an epic story which retells the fable of Cain and Abel through one family who settled California in the early years. It is intergenerational -- you see patterns repeated in the two sons that began with the father and his brother. What I found fascinating is that Steinbeck makes everything seem so human. The injustice of the Cain and Abel story is that there was no real reason why God should have preferred one offering to the other. He was playing favorites. Steinbeck makes it seem inevitable that there are favorites -- it's a weakness of the human condition -- but also shows that being favorite does not equate to happiness, success, or anything else. We are children of Cain, and the one you later identify with, the one you are meant to identify with, is the child who tries so hard to please, to do good, to overcome, even in the face of injustice, even while filled with jealousies.

I'm doing a terrible job of writing a review, but that's only because East of Eden is a massive epic and no half-page could possibly describe it. I didn't read it as fast as The Time Traveler's Wife and I also feel it wasn't a story that I had as much connection to personally, but there's no denying that it is a great work. Steinbeck has such complete characters, so intricately detailed, that in the end you feel you know them better than the people you spend your days with.

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I am amazed that I finished this tome in a month. I read this for the Great Books discussion group, and, yes, we spent the full 1.75 hours discussing it. The Cain and Abel story is a thematic device, and it's doubled in that it is used in the two generations of the family saga. The autobiographical

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bits serve as a loosely connected framing device. There are brilliant episodes which resonate: the Sam Hamilton-Lee conversation in the buckboard re: service, hiding, and attitudes towards the Chinese; John & Mary's conversation with Tom about her wanting to be a boy; John & Mary -- German-American children -- picking on the town's German immigrant; brilliant writing about place. These can easily be excerpted. Our discussion ranged about the large question of good & evil that Steinbeck says the novel is about: we took him at his word. The character of Cathy is a puzzle: is she just a plot device? Did Steinbeck think that some people really were born "monsters"? Is the real struggle not parent-child but sibling? Is the doubling of the story necessary? It's a long book. It's a rich book. Steinbeck deserved the Nobel. He remains one of my favorite writers. So glad to have read this: I would have avoided it because of its size.

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Classic retelling of the story of Cain and Abel. It actually retells the story twice, in two different generations, with several other subplots thrown in, so it's not a novel for those with a short attention span.

A terrific novel. One of the very best. It is a saga scoped out across two parts of the US but involving other locations with the last half of the novel set in Steinbeck's belovered Salinas Valley. It's period is between the Civil War and the time of the US's late entry in the dying days of the 1st

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World War. It is the story of the good and evil that the US's civilisation has imbibed from their heavy reliance on protestant christian faith and the old testament creation story. But there is a difference here and Steinbeck pulls it around the simple and trite interpretation of that story. On the surface the story is about Adam Trask as the wet but essentially good person and his incarnately evil love interest Cathy Ames. All the way through the novel we have characters set off against each other whose name starts with C or A thus invoking the biblical Cain and Able myth. However, the two most telling characters - most wonderful characters through whom the interpretative moral tale of these people (and protestant US generally) should be read - are Samuel Hamilton and Lee the Chinese cook and friend of Adam and defact parent to his sons. It is in the discussions, in groups of three or different pairs, that the story should be read. Central to the interpretation is the tale Lee tells of Chinese sages, acquaintances of his, who, pusseled with the english translation of the Genesis book of the bible, learn hebrew to read that story in its oldest transcription and before any Greek or Latin and English transcription. Here they suggest a mid way between the simplistic good and evil interpretation. This is what I see is the import of this novel.

I watched the James Dean film with this title just after I read the book and what a mess that made of the story. Innovative though the film making might be, it is not true to Steinbeck, misses the point of the novel and leaves out one of the most important characters - Lee the Chinese cook, parent and philosopher.

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Reams have been written on this epic, powerful novel, so I will not attempt a pithy little summary or analysis here. But what a revelation—that a classic work of literature can be read and enjoyed entirely outside of an academic setting, and that the reader can spend hours of pleasant reflection

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on the book’s meaning and themes without having to produce a paper on them. Perhaps it is time to rediscover literature outside of the glass jar lowered over it by academia.

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I was completely absorbed, mesmerized and fascinated by this book. Steinbeck has such a genius for realism. I was very impressed with Steinback's "Grapes of Wrath" when I read it for the first time last year. And "East of Eden" surpassed my expectations as well. It is tragic, moving, inspiring and

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philosophical. It is sincere without being sentimental. I would almost call it transcendent but the core of the book is so no-nonsense and so utterly American that I hesitate to use that term. Steinbeck imbues these characters with all of the contradictions and opposites found in life. The outcomes of the lives of some of the characters often surprised me. Whether they were good or evil--I was able to relate, identify and feel compassion for most of its carefully delineated characters. Steinbeck elucidated the gray area of their inner lives with meticulous detail. The people of this book are thinking people. They ponder, they wonder, they ruminate. They are always questioning. They struggle to maintain a balance between good and evil within themselves; they struggle with the torment of their souls. And most of them try to love each other as best as they can.

The saga starts in the era of the Civil War, continues through the time of the robber barons and the adventurous pioneers who have come out to the Wild West to make their fortunes, resolving itself in the era of World War I. Kate Trask (Cathy Ames) is the undeniable "villainesse" of the book--At first I viewed her character as an outright psychopath. She is completely amoral; definitely a hustler; a gangster from a film noir picture; a criminal genius who manages to commit atrocious deeds, all the while evading prison or punishment. Though ultimately she can't evade the conscience that she tries in vain to deny that she has. The corrupting influence of money is a major theme of this book. Kate Trask deserts her husband to become the madame of a whorehouse. Out of guilt, Kate leaves her fortune to her son Aron Trask. who is traumatized upon being introduced to her by his brother Caleb (Cal) for the first time as a seventeen year old [to escape it's ugliness, Aron Trask imagines the world as being very pure]. Cyrus Trask makes a fortune whose legality is questionable. Cyrus leaves this fortune to his son Adam who essentially becomes a "fine upstanding citizen". Cal Trask earns $15,000 selling beans, to make up for his father Adam's losing "lettuce venture", and then burns the money when his father won't accept it--He tries to buy his father's love and fails. However--Adam's refusal of Cal's generous offer is also a tragic mistake that leads to this novel's dénouement.

Samuel Hamilton and Trask family housekeeper / confidant Lee act as this novel's philosophers. They are both great thinkers; yet both are down to earth and lacking in ego. The supporting characters / minor players of the novel are compelling as well. Tom Hamilton has the capability for greatness and yet struggles with self-doubt over his intellectual and creative worth. Dessie Hamilton is a warm, laughing character who brings happiness to the lives of everyone around her. But after selling her business and moving back to the ranch that was her childhood home -- She is suddenly afflicted by sharp, shooting pains and shortly thereafter dies of an unnamed terminal illness. As happens in real life -- Fate determines how much time these characters will be allotted for their respective existences. In 'East of Eden" -- Too much good in life is usually followed by too much bad. In the same way that the drought years follow the wet years of the Salinas Valley ..... In closing -- The 1955 film version of "East of Eden" pales in comparison to this novel. In fact the film "East of Eden" only manages to cover about the last 200 pages of the novel. I would not recommend the film; it is pastel, cardboard stand-in, supremely abridged and modified version of this book. The film also makes major compromises to the conservative mores of the 1950s. It would probably take 3 films, lasting at least 2 hours each, to do justice to the brilliance of the novel.

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This novel is so complex and epic in scale that it is hard to describe. The majority of the novel takes place in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley during the early 1900s and follows the tragic and intertwined lives of members of the Trask and Hamilton families. Many have described

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the novel as the reenactment of the Biblical fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. I found it to be more of families trying to do the best they can despite some brutal situations and seriously dysfunctional relationships, including marriage with a sociopath.

Plot points of the story were wonderfully intertwined, but there were also some offshoots to further develop some ancillary characters, like the loyal “servant” Lee and Will Hamilton, or to add some flavor of the times, like how to start a car or the hostility a German-American encountered when America entered World War I. I felt the novel was a little preachy at times, but a solid read overall.

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I first read this book 25 years ago, when I was in high school. I had a gold-colored paperback, with very thin pages, almost like onionskin. When it was time to go to church -- we went to church three times a week -- I couldn't bear to put it down, so I sneaked into the sanctuary and hid it behind

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my hymnal. I suppose this was appropriate given all the Cain and Abel parallels in this novel, although at the time it seemed quite scandalous.

This time around I read it on my Kindle, sneaking in a few chapters at a time as I updated our website and nagged my children to do their homework.

I loved this sweeping epic of a novel then and I love it now, although its worldview is bleak. No one can overcome their true nature in this book, no matter how much they want to, no matter how much they dread the damage that will ensue. And the Abels of the world cause as much pain and wreak as much havoc as do the Cains.

The characters, I think, come across a bit thinly because they are designed to be archetypes; the book doesn't traffic in realism, but in allegory. This does not bother me -- I don't think every novel has to be written from a realist perspective -- but I know it would bother some.

What does bother me a bit is the author's handling of Cathy/Kate, and to a lesser extent his handling of Abra later in the book. Steinbeck at one point straight-up refers to Cathy as a "monster"; I think she is supposed to function as a combination of Eve and the serpent. I found myself with more sympathy for Cathy this time than I did twenty-five years ago. She is restless because she is trapped; she does not desire the life that her loving, well-meaning parents and husband have designed for her, and she does not have a good way out. Steinbeck treats her frustrations as evidence of her pure malevolence when in fact she has plenty of reason to be frustrated. This does not, of course, excuse Cathy's actions, but it does make her more complicated and less sheerly evil.

And Abra? Well, given that she is the only other female character of any note, she is awfully dull. And she tells Cal repeatedly that she isn't "good," but we see very little evidence of this so she just comes across as strangely self-hating.

These caveats aside, it is such a pleasure to reread a book that you loved in high school and discover that it holds up to your memory of it and still speaks to you.

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As much as I love Steinbeck I wasn't impressed with his self claimed masterpiece. There was just something about it that never grasped my interest. To me the irony is that Steinbeck supposedly wrote East of Eden for his children whom at the time were 4 and 6 describing the details of the Salinas

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Valley. There were a few interesting details about the Salinas Valley thrown in here and there, but for the most part this tale was focused on his appreciation of brothels and the social workings of mankind.

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An epic, for sure. A tale of two brothers and their struggles. What I love about Steinbeck is that he truly dives into his characters and offers up their foibles, their strengths, their dirty tendencies and their cleanest urges.

Classic Steinbeck. I loved it for much the same reasons as I did 'Of Mice and Men'. The setting described is beautiful; its the image of California to me. His portrayal of the human condition is so sincere, with all of its vices and virtues. Timshel!

A child may ask, "What is the world's story about?" And a grown man or woman may wonder, "What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we're at it, what's the story about?" (p. 413)

In John Steinbeck's own words "there is only one book to a man". For him, this book is East of Eden. Set in

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the Salinas Valley in California, it follows the lives of a very intriguing set of characters and centers on the life of Adam Trask. The book starts out with Adam's childhood and explores the relationships to his father, Cyrus, and his brother, Charles. Cyrus Trask has served as a soldier in the American Civil War, but was injured early on so that he did not see much action. Yet, he always talks about the war and about important battles as if he had been part of them. Soon, his thoughts of what should have been done better reach Washington, D.C., and he becomes a high-ranking military adviser. As a father he treats his sons unequally and it seems to Adam that his brother Charles is the favored one. Cyrus, however, admits to Adam that he is actually his favorite son and that he wants him to explore a military career. Although Adam is not really excited by the idea, he enlists as a soldier, which takes him across the country. After his stint in the military he wanders around and is even arrested for vagrancy. In an effort to turn his life around, Adam returns to the family farm that has been managed by his brother. The brothers do not see much of their father and have many disputes about the farm and their different ways of life. Eventually, a former prostitute, Cathy, comes to the farm, heavily bruised and drenched in blood and Adam instantly takes a liking to her. Against his brother's advice, they marry and move out to California to live on their own farm. Right from the start, Cathy is portrayed as very evil character who only abuses Adam and his warm-heartedness. When she is pregnant, she attempts to abort the pregnancy, which does not work out, though. As soon as the kids are born, Cathy leaves them and her husband, shooting Adam in the shoulder on her way out. This is when Adam really struggles getting to grips with his life. The novel then turns to an exploration of the lives of Adam's sons, Caleb and Aron. There are striking similarities between the stories of Aron and Caleb and Adam and Charles, especially in that they are vying for their respective fathers' attention. A plot summary, while hardly possible in just a few words, would not be complete without the mention of Samuel Hamilton and his family and Lee, a Chinese-American, as their lives and destinies are intertwined. Samuel Hamilton also owns a farm in the Salinas Valley. There is no water on his land, though, which is why he works as a smith and an adviser to other farmers. Quite often, he does this not for money but rather for the company of other people. He is a very (self-)educated man who even helps with the births in the area. Helping Cathy with the birth of her children, Samuel, a kind and good-natured man to his very bone, sees something dark in Cathy that he cannot quite put a finger on. Lee, who helps Adam on the farm and does household chores, plays an important part in the upbringing of Adam's sons Aron and Caleb.

One cannot read the novel without taking a closer look at the obvious parallels to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Both, Adam and Charles as well as Aron and Caleb, relive that story in their exploration of their own identities and what it means to love and be loved. It is exactly this detailed depiction of the characters' lives and struggles and the fates of the Trask and the Hamilton families that makes this novel an outstanding read. In juxtaposing good and evil in his set of characters, Steinbeck tells a story that left me thinking about it long after each reading session. I almost despised Cathy, I loved Samuel and Lee from the very start and I came to love Adam. The way Steinbeck explores the characters' motives, their inner feelings and their actions, which are often the results of inner struggles and not always in accordance with their motives, is masterful. It almost goes without saying that Steinbeck's outstanding prose and vivid descriptions contribute to the overall quality of the novel: "Very gently he eased himself in on his side and turned slowly and laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the myriads of tiny colored dots that make up darkness." (p. 380)

For me, East of Eden is a five-star read if there ever was one. Will you like it? Timshel. - thou mayest.

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East of Eden is an epic novel which tells the story of two interconnected families, and explores the themes of good and evil through a loose retelling of stories in the book of Genesis. It is set in Northern California in the early 1900s. Samuel Hamilton is an Irish immigrant who settled in the

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area and bore a large family; one of his daughters was Steinbeck's mother. Adam Trask grew up in Connecticut and, after the death of his father, moves west with his new wife Cathy. Cathy is the very embodiment of evil, yet Adam is blind to her manipulative ways. She bears twin sons, Caleb (Cal) and Aron, but leaves them as infants and goes to work in a brothel. Adam is left to raise the boys with the help of Lee, a Chinese housekeeper.

Throughout the novel, each character grapples with issues of good and evil. This is especially evident in Cal, who struggles to overcome the darker tendencies he inherited from his mother. The father-son relationships are sometimes strained and quite poignant. Steinbeck reveals the evil present in each person, while also showing the individual struggles and choices that can overcome evil.

This book was published in 1952, late in Steinbeck's career. Ten years later he was awarded the Nobel Prize, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." While this book did not have as much impact on me as Grapes of Wrath, I found the story captivating and thought-provoking.

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What a grand book! This modern day version of the Cain and Abel story examines the paradoxical nature of human beings. Each one of us is the sum of our parts with varying degrees of good and evil. Excellent examination of the complicated nature of mankind. Highly recommended!!

East of Eden
By: Cory Radley
East of Eden was perhaps the most depressing book I have ever read. It befuddles me how such a gloomy story could be considered great literature, while every person with whom I have discussed the book has only had negative things to say about it. Although its writing is

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descriptive and grammatically correct, I do not believe that these two characteristics alone constitute a great literary work.
An author, when writing, has the task of picking a message to convey to his reader. In East of Eden, Steinbeck chose to show the reader that innately evil people manipulate innately good people. Literature should be written to inform and help the reader as opposed to merely serving as an outlet for the author to express a warped view of humanity. Good literature leaves the readers with a message or moral that can be applied to their own lives. I can only imagine the adverse effects that would befall the person who tried applying East of Eden to his life. The belief that the world is a cold, dark place that has little to no happiness in it is no way to lead one’s life.
Another aspect of the book that I found displeasing was the spans of time it covered. Having started with Adam Trask and Cyrus Trask, born somewhere around the year of 1870, East of Eden includes the duration of their lives until their end during WWI. This is a time span far too long for the amount of detail within the book. Due to their combination, the book moved at a snail’s pace. I believe that if an author wishes to write a book of such length, he must create a world within the book that captivates the readers by showing them something foreign and interesting. The suspense holds the readers’ interest playing to their curiosity. Although the time span was not a major factor for me, it amplified the aforementioned message the author chose for his book.
East of Eden is simply too cumbersome and much too depressing for my taste. It was said to me while I was reading this book that this style of writing was refreshing to many because it was nice to read a book that was more grounded and lifelike. In my opinion, this is no reflection of real life. It is, instead, merely a fraction of it. Although sadness and hardship do comprise a part of human existence, there are many other parts of life that are not shown in East of Eden. If it were a true reflection, East of Eden would show joy, excitement, surprise, amazement, ecstasy, love, and so much more.
East of Eden is more of a reflection of the negative side of life than anything else. This part of each individual’s life is displeasing to the individual. As such, this novel was displeasing to me despite its appeal to others.

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This book completely took me by surprise. I had to read it over the summer for my English, and I put it off. This procrastination was due to the fact that I absolutely detested Grapes of Wrath and was not looking to a novel that looked even longer and boring. I finally was pressed to read it due to

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an impending test, and I was disappointed in myself that I had judged it before reading. This novel was amazing. I never got bored, it was engrossing and the characters were fantastically drawn and the writing was compelling. I read it in a single weekend, and my discussions about it later in class only enhanced my enjoyment of this book. I absolutely recommend this true classic.

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I just finished reading this masterpiece for the first time in my life and I am awed. That a mere mortal could craft such a work of art intertwining the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega if you will, is overwhelming. Timshel (the Hebrew verb used in the story of Cain and Abel and

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translated "thou mayest") and its implications on my own life have begun. These are my first emotions after reluctantly putting the book down less than an hour ago. I trust with more time, my eloquence will improve...but for now, I had to share this with others who have not only read, but experienced, East of Eden.

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I read this book for school in sophomore year and only got halfway through. I was reading it alone and was missing tons of undertones and symbols. A lot of it had to do with the small amount of time I had to read the whole book, so I was just reading it to get through it. I loved loved loved all

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the Cathy parts, but everything else seemed to bore me.
THANKFULLY, in my Junior year, we read the book as a class and I was able to understand it on a much better level. I still loved every Cathy chapter, but the rest of it was great too. I recommend this book to everyone. It's long, but it's such an epic story that it'll stay with you forever.

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Ever since I was caught completely off-guard by the brilliance of "Grapes of Wrath," I have had my eyes on "East of Eden." Several times the overblown pastoral beginning delayed a full reading by months or years--I don't care about "warm foothills," "beckoning mountains" or "five-fingered ferns and

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goldy-backs."

I should have remembered those distracting set pieces that punctuate the arresting drama of "Grapes of Wrath" and pushed through until the characters got started. Steinbeck has the discipline, craft and insight required to rewrite Genesis while weighing in on just about every major grappling point in the self-actualization of a thoughtful human being. He also has enough respect for working people to ground himself in loyalty, vengeance, debauchery and facts.

Critically, Steinbeck can aerate his novel with dialogue as unpretentious and wonderful as:

"You never wrote much what you were doing," said Charles.
"I guess I didn't want to think about it. It was pretty bad, most of it."
"I read about the campaigns in the papers. Did you go on those?"
"Yes. I didn't want to think about them. Still don't."
"Did you kill Injuns?"
"Yes, we killed Injuns."
"I guess they're real ornery."
"I guess so."
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"I don't want to."
They ate their dinner under the kerosene lamp. "We'd get more light if I would only get around to washing that lampshade."

Reading Steinbeck can feel like participating in history. His characters are giant; they develop over decades and through drawn-out, thoroughly-explored conflicts. He also has a misogynistic streak that produces some amusingly crabby one-liners about the women in his book: all of whom are deeply flawed in one way or another--both as characters and as inventions.

What Steinbeck should I read next? (Assuming that I don't want to get anywhere near shit like "Of Mice and Men.")

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Steinbeck is the master of linking populist/"common man" experiences to lofty philosophy. My other favorite book on the meaning of original sin (after His Dark Materials).

A secondhand look at mankind's great struggle, free will. Steinbeck was incredibly ambitious to take on the retelling of one of the most famous stories from Genesis, Cain and Abel. He meticulously places bits of philosopgy throughout his epic. At times, these bits of philosophy become preachy, but

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what could one expect from a novel that aims to reach up and smack its reader, challenging him to exercise his own free will. Timshel!

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I started this book on the plane to Monterey for our vacation. It was so good I almost didn’t want the plane to land.

I had to read this book in high school and I fully expected to hate it, but it turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read. The whole book beneath the surface is so very *human* that everybody really should read it.