East of Eden by John Steinbeck
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Book Reviews of East of Eden
Book Review: An allegorical masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
John Steinbeck's East of Eden, which was a late, great masterpiece in the author's career, is also one of the greatest American novels of all-time. The book is unique in many ways, with many idiosyncrasies, some of them quite out of Steinbeck's usual style. To start with, many of Steinbeck's works are overtly political; among these are some of his best and best-known works. East of Eden is not among them. As the title suggests, and almost every mention of the book points out, the book is a modern retelling of the Biblical Cain and Abel story. Contrary to what such proclamations -- not to mention Oprah -- might lead one to think, however, this is not a theological, a religious, or a Christian book: the Cain and Abel allegory is the bare bones that Steinbeck uses to prop up his own visionary, allegorical masterpiece. Aside from its non-political nature, Eden is also distinctive in the Steinbeck canon for other reasons. For one, it features almost no dialect, unlike most of his other famous works; Steinbeck's deceptively simple prose is at its best here, clear and yet philosophical. It also has a much different structure than, say, The Grapes of Wrath: though it tells the parallel and intersecting stories of two families, it does not feature alternating chapters; it also tends to be quite discursive. It also proves to be quite distinctive for other reasons: as an allegory, this is not a psychological novel. The actions of the characters in the novel are presented, more or less, per se, without their actions being unduly analyzed and without their inner thoughts being much probed. Their actions are not explained: they simply ARE. In the case of the perpetually evil Cathy, this can be somewhat frustrating; much of the novel's criticism has focused upon her believability as a character. On that note, it is worthwhile to remember that, in keeping with the book's Biblical bent, she symbolizes Satan. Cathy sees only the bad in people and exploits it for her own purposes. Her downfall comes because she fails to ever see the other side of the coin.And the fact that there are two sides of the coin is the point of the book. The novel is Steinbeck's wake-up call to everyone drifting toward a determinist future. Yes, we have evil coursing through our veins -- but we also have good. Which one we choose to make use of is our own choice -- and no one's but our own. No matter whom our parents are, no matter what our circumstances may be, no matter what others may think of us -- the choice, in the end, resides with us, and us alone. Steinbeck also explores some of his other favorite themes in this monumental work. One of these is the inexplicability of love, symbolized both for Adam's apparently-unfounded yet mysterious love for Cathy and by Cyrus and Adam's preference for one son over another. Another is the consequences of not being loved -- of rejection. Charles and Cal believe that their respective fathers do not love them; they use this thought to justify much of their sometimes questionable behavior. This would seem to be the message of the book for many: that parents must love their children equally, that rejection and favoritism have, sometimes quite literally, murderous consequences and can lead to cruelty and hatred. With such an interpretation, the doctrine of original sin has its origins not in the Fall of Adam and Eve, but in God's rejection of Cain's gift. Such is the reading on the novel's glossy surface. However, it is well to remember that Cathy IS loved; and yet, not only does she does not love back, she carries out her evil deeds all the more -- not IN SPITE of her being loved, but perhaps even BECAUSE of it. This relates back to Steinbeck's true message: it the end the choice between good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate -- regardless of rejection, regardless of whether or not we are loved -- is ours, and ours alone.
Timshel!
Book Review: East of Eden: Perfection on Paper
Summary: 5 Stars
Every book you've ever read before John Steinbeck's East of Eden is only an attempt at this masterpiece. Other works are only skimming the top of the written words' potential. In 1952 Steinbeck scooped to the bottom with literary perfection and what he called "The first book."
East of Eden, set in California's Salinas Valley, carries two central biblical themes borrowed from 12 verses in the book of Genesis through the life of Adam Trask and those who live around him. The first theme is man's struggle to establish a sort of Eden, a kind of paradise where every yearning is fulfilled. Adam Trask, the main character and a farmer who moves to the valley with his pregnant wife, falls victim to false hopes of Eden, as do other characters he interacts with, especially Samuel Hamilton and his son Tom Hamilton, fellow farmers from nearby.
The second biblical theme is fraternal jealousy, like that of Cane's for Able. Adam's brother Charles, whom he leaves behind in New England, has an intense jealousy for the favoring Adam receives from their father when they're children. Likewise Cal, Adam's son years later, envies the warmth and joy everyone finds in his naive twin brother Aaron.
From these two core themes Steinbeck elaborates an entire world that is very mortal and humane, to which the reader has no problem relating. Every character that stumbles into the story has a background that Steinbeck weaves as he explains in great detail three generations that exist within Adam Trask's lifetime. Each generation has its own gripping dramas that are rooted in the past, and span into the future.
However, where East of Eden comes to life is not so much in the story, but in how Steinbeck tells the story. Steinbeck's writing is fantastic. His ability to harness words, sentences, and paragraphs and force them to create intricate pictures in your eyes, stir feelings in your gut, and strike thoughts in your mind is unmatched. Similes like "Adam sat on his land like a contented cat," and personification like "A gray nervous cloud was scurrying eastward, searching for trees to rain on," inflate Salinas Valley inside your skull.
Also wonderful in East of Eden is the dialogue. Often considered just another essential part of conveying a story, Steinbeck makes it something extraordinary. Through conversations Steinbeck tells more than he could with narration. Characters' feelings, their thoughts and philosophies, all become clear with their words, injected with drawls and slang. Some of the most thought-inducing parts of the novel are conversations by candle light between Adam's Mandarin helper, Lee, and Samuel Hamilton. Philosophies which could normally hardly be contained in a 1,000 page essay are made perfectly clear in these simple exchanges.
What makes East of Eden the climax of literature since man began scripting his thoughts on cave walls is not the plot, nor the writing, nor the dialogue. It is how Steinbeck has all of them intersect at one final, all-consuming lesson that we are simply animals of want and lust. Our yearnings dominate our lives, as we try to separate the good ones from the evil.
Before I read East of Eden I was bothered by an itch that literature was capable of more than what I had seen. Only this work has satisfied that itch, and every other book I've read since has been dwarfed. East of Eden, with its characters and developments will keep you entranced and enchanted, long after the impressionable finale.
Book Review: An Amazing Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Steinbeck's novel is truly a masterpiece as he weaves the stories of two unique American families and exposes the character's deepest, darkest thoughts, particularly those of Cathy and Cal. Each character is carefully constructed and the personalities are told in great detail. The story begins when Steinbeck describes the serene land in the Salinas Valley. I felt mesmerized by the beauty of his language, for he describes things extensively- from appearance to scent. I could imagine the wild flowers in spring and the tiny Victorian houses right before me. From the complexity of the characters to the meticulousness of the setting, this novel is simply beautiful.
Even the structure is unique and it is evident that Steinbeck took a lot of time to perfect the order in which his story would be told. In Part 1 of the novel, Steinbeck alternates between the Trask family and the Hamilton family each chapter. The families are on different parts of the country and have no relationship whatsoever. It is not until part 2, where the two families merge in Salinas, California. I found this method very clever because I was able to differentiate the families in their respective environments. It was interesting to read the characters' pasts because it would certainly affect their futures. For example, the fact that Adam Trask's father lied to him as a child accounts for Adam's determination to be a good father for his own children; Cathy's poor childhood and the lack of parental love account for her horrible actions towards her children. As the story progresses, I learned that Adam's tough character is a result of serving in the army. Away from his family, Adam had to be independent and strong- both physically and emotionally.
In an attempt to start a new life, Adam bought a piece of farmland from Samuel Hamilton. However, the story immediately turns dark and somber as Cathy, Adam's new wife, abandons her twin boys. Cathy is a dark character and she is the epitome of evil. She is a selfish woman who blames her wrongdoings on other people. Every word Cathy said made me despise her, for this woman neglected her children to run a brothel. Cathy's dialogue in conversations with other characters made me develop only disgust for her. Steinbeck was careful in his writing because after depicting the evil Cathy, he would switch to men of wisdom: Lee and Samuel Hamilton. These characters offered relief from the tense drama occurring by offering peace. Lee and Samuel, firm believers in God, spoke straight from the Bible to convey a sense of goodness. Unlike Cathy, these characters care for the twin boys and are proof that there is still good in the world. Cathy's ruthless nature is passed on to her son Cal, as he struggles to form his own identity. Cal feels trapped between good and evil, until the wise character Lee offers him profound advice. He learns that he is his own person and is not doomed to be evil like his mother. Cal is a human being (whereas his mother is a "monster") and thus is subject to make mistakes. I developed so many emotions from reading this, such as joy, relief, sadness, pity, and utter disgust. Even though I found some parts to be predictable, I felt that the entire novel was filled with suspense. There was not a single moment that I wanted to stop reading. This novel is so intriguing because it explores the dark side of the human mind, including such concepts such as revenge, sin, and evil.
Book Review: Reading "East of Eden"
Summary: 5 Stars
I hadn't read John Steinbeck since high school but returned to him a year or so ago when our book group read his novel "The Winter of our Discontent." Following that, I read several other Steinbeck novels and recently had the good luck to read "East of Eden." It is admirable that Oprah Winfrey used this large, complex novel to present to her audience.
Steinbeck wrote "East of Eden" in a burst of energy over several months in 1951. He loved this book among all his works and, literally, put himself into it. The first-person narrator of the story is, indeed, Steinbeck himself speaking in his own voice as a grandson of Samuel Hamilton, born in Ireland and a hero of this novel.
Steinbeck said that he wrote "East of Eden" to tell "the story of my country and the story of me" to his two young sons in order to demonstrate "the greatest story of all -- the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness, of love and hate, of beauty and ugliness, how these doubles are inseparable." For all its melodrama, length, sometimes black-and-white characterizations, and preachiness, the novel achieves its goals. I was transfixed by the book, couldn't put it down, and read it in a short time.
The story includes the "doubles" to which Steinbeck refers as well as some others. The book is the story of two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks. It is the story of two Trask brothers, Adam and Charles, and of the two twin sons of Adam Trask and his wife Cathy -- Aron and Caleb. Both Adam and Charles and Aron and Caleb replicate in their own ways the Bible story of Cain and Abel. Steinbeck gives this story a full, rabinnical exegisis as the reader sees the story of the conflict between good and evil play out in double over the course of the book.
The Trask family and the Hamilton family are settlers in the Salinas Valley in Northern California. "East of Eden" develops a finse sense of place, and when I finished bhe book I felt I knew an area and its history that I have only in the most superficial manner seen myself. Samuel Hamilton, Steinbeck's granfather, figures prominently in this book for his wisdom, his stoicism, his inventiveness, and his other - worldliness. His wife, Lisa, is also portrayed lovingly.
Perhaps the most memorable character of the book is Cathy Trask who becomes "Kate" after she leaves Adam Trask and returns to the profession of prostitution in which she was engaged before her marriage. Steinbeck calls her a "monster" and well he might. The protrayal is striking and even nuanced at the end for all the starkness.
Lee, a Chinese servant, is also well-portrayed for his fine mind, wisdom, tact, love of learning, and, ultimately, devotion to the Trasks and understanding of himself.
This is a sweeping, dramatically told story which captures the land, the good and evil of which people are capable, and the importance of what in the Cain and Abel story is described by the Hebrews word "Timshel" with which Steinbeck concludes his novel. People have the capacity for both good and evil and the power for choice -- to understand the good and reject the evil. The story is told in a humanistic rather than a theological way.
"East of Eden" is a memorable work of American literature that, as a result in part of Oprah Winfrey and her edition of the book, is receiving the attention it deserves.
Book Review: East of Eden - An Extraordinary Tale Of Strife & Betrayal
Summary: 5 Stars
"East of Eden" is one of John Steinbeck's most fascinating and disturbing novels; a tale of envy, conflict and betrayal between two generations of brothers - Adam and Charles Trask, and Adam's twin sons, Aron and Caleb. The novel spans the period between the American Civil War and the end of World War I. Adam Trask grew up with his brother, Charles, on a farm in Connecticut. Their father clearly favored gentle Adam throughout their lives, leaving Charles, the wilder and more violent of the two boys, bitter and envious. Charles loved his father and brother deeply, but could never elicit the old man's affection. The jealousy he felt towards Adam gnawed at him constantly, and he finally left home to join the army. The brothers did not see each other for many years. Whenever Charles came home they argued relentlessly. And again Charles would go away. Finally, their father died, leaving both sons a fortune.
Cathy Ames, a narcissistic, manipulative girl with few redeeming characteristics, plays a profoundly symbolic role in this Steinbeck novel. When she showed up at the Trask home one evening, beaten and close to death, Adam nursed her back to health. Gulled by Cathy's seeming vulnerability and beauty, he married her. She got him drunk on their wedding night, and while he slept, she had sex with Charles. Adam bought some land outside of Salinas, California, and moved there with his unwilling wife. He wanted to create an Eden for his Eve. Pregnant, and miserable at the thought of becoming a mother, Cathy tried to abort and failed. She stayed in Salinas long enough to give birth to fraternal twins, Aron and Caleb. Soon after their birth, Cathy abandoned her family, shooting her husband in the chest before exiting. Adam was so disturbed by the loss of his wife that he wanted little to do with his sons. The boys were raised by Lee, an Asian hired hand, who cared for them as his own. Samuel Hamilton, a neighbor and local philosopher, visited Adam frequently, attempting to jolt him out of his depression. On one occasion the two men discussed the biblical story of Cain and Able, Mr. Steinbeck's metaphor for this novel.
Like their father and uncle, the twins constantly vie for their father's attention. Aron meets a young woman at school and becomes deeply attached to her. She is the first woman to show him affection. Caleb is beside himself with jealousy...and longing.
The ensuing conflicts, and unnecessary alienation, between Aron and Caleb are heartbreaking. There is a painful scene when Adam repeats history, and tells Caleb, in spite of all the young man's efforts to please, that he should be more like his brother. The novel, however, does ends on a note of hope and redemption.
I don't think Steinbeck's main characters are as fully developed, or as complex, as they could be because he is so intent on drawing similarities between them and their Biblical counterparts. In his retelling of the Cain and Abel story, Adam, Charles, Cathy, Aron and Caleb, are forced to reenact the ancient drama of exile from Eden. However the Biblical references are interesting, and the plot and subplots are tension-filled and moving. His secondary characters, Lee, Samuel, Abra, are beautifully drawn, realistic portraits of believable people. Their stories, histories and motives, are fascinating and add much to this deeply moving masterpiece by John Steinbeck.
JANA