East of Eden
A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America's most enduring authors, in a deluxe Centennial edition In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean, and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah's Book Club back, East of Eden has remained vitally present in American culture for over half a century. This Centennial edition, specially designed to commemorate one hundred years of Steinbeck, features french flaps and deckle-edged pages. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translato
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Community Reviews
I can't believe this book was written so long ago. There is so much of this book that is true for today. I had a laugh at this passage. "A whisper of shortage caused us to buy and store food. Nice quiet ladies clawed one another over a can of tomatoes." If you just replace tomatoes with toilet paper, you will have covid days.
I'm sad for losing all the people I have lived with this last week while reading the book. I think I'll go have a good cry now ;)
I'm sad for losing all the people I have lived with this last week while reading the book. I think I'll go have a good cry now ;)
Unprecedented classic whose Edenic resonance is of a timeless quality. East of Eden is an experience which manifests the story of every human by enabling to express the immanent questions we live with through a form purely dedicated to allegory. Words, language and thought all coagulate to present the Story of all stories and transform the act of reading into a meditative ensemble that helps deliquesce the stiff structures we often find difficult to move on ahead in.
i dont think i could read anything else that could make me feel like i did reading this book. wish i could read it again for the first time
I genuinely really enjoyed listening to this book. I enjoyed the turns of the stories, the obvious parts of the allegory and the not so obvious messages within them, and the internal struggles of various characters.
I was worried that this book would boil down to the idea that there is always evil in the world, and nothing can be remade from that evil, which is a sad thought and hopefully an untrue one. But by the end of the book, I was relieved to find that we are not condemned.
(mild spoilers here)
At first, the old Cain and Abel story seemed to be unfolding as it always does. But things are not always what they seem. Adam gets hurt for his goodness, even Cathy's evil may be undamning, Alice thinks Adam's gifts are from Charles, Samuel is "good" but that makes his family's life harder, Lee appears as if he doesn't know English but he is in fact well educated, and churches and brothels are suggested to be two sides of the same coin.
The scar is sometimes darker than other times. Caleb may go by a nickname of Cal. In other words, thou mayest.
A word of warning that this book uses the n-word multiple times, and certain characters sometimes call Lee a chink or "ching chong." While it's not my place to speak to the usage of the n-word, I was actually pleasantly surprised by Lee's character. He's a Chinese servant, but he's intelligent and wise... he is seen as a sage and a scholar... Also, Steinbeck talks about the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants in the building of the transcontinental railroad, which I rarely see talked about.
Overall, I rate this book as five stars because it's given me a pleasant amount of considering to do. I also appreciate that Steinbeck's way of writing is so straightforward, honest, and understandable. I honestly wish I had read it sooner (I've wanted to read it for a long time), but maybe I wouldn't have valued it then the way I do now.
I was worried that this book would boil down to the idea that there is always evil in the world, and nothing can be remade from that evil, which is a sad thought and hopefully an untrue one. But by the end of the book, I was relieved to find that we are not condemned.
(mild spoilers here)
At first, the old Cain and Abel story seemed to be unfolding as it always does. But things are not always what they seem. Adam gets hurt for his goodness, even Cathy's evil may be undamning, Alice thinks Adam's gifts are from Charles, Samuel is "good" but that makes his family's life harder, Lee appears as if he doesn't know English but he is in fact well educated, and churches and brothels are suggested to be two sides of the same coin.
The scar is sometimes darker than other times. Caleb may go by a nickname of Cal. In other words, thou mayest.
A word of warning that this book uses the n-word multiple times, and certain characters sometimes call Lee a chink or "ching chong." While it's not my place to speak to the usage of the n-word, I was actually pleasantly surprised by Lee's character. He's a Chinese servant, but he's intelligent and wise... he is seen as a sage and a scholar... Also, Steinbeck talks about the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants in the building of the transcontinental railroad, which I rarely see talked about.
Overall, I rate this book as five stars because it's given me a pleasant amount of considering to do. I also appreciate that Steinbeck's way of writing is so straightforward, honest, and understandable. I honestly wish I had read it sooner (I've wanted to read it for a long time), but maybe I wouldn't have valued it then the way I do now.
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