East of Eden

by John Steinbeck
602 pgs

I attempted, like I usually do with the other books I've reviewed, to begin by writing a brief summary of East of Eden, considered John Steinbeck's most ambitious book. But I didn't get very far before I realized I was not going to be able to do it justice and still keep it relatively brief. There's just so much to this story that I feel is worth mentioning, and in trying to figure out what characters or elements to leave out, it became an exercise in frustration.

Fortunately, remembering this is a classic book, and one that has been around for nearly 70 years, I realized I really didn't need to write a summary after all. I assume most people have either read it already or plan to one day, so a summary isn't necessary for the former and could potentially ruin the experience for the latter. And I think those who don't fall into either of those two categories don't deserve to know what they're missing.

At its core, East of Eden is Steinbeck's investigation into good and evil, along with mankind's ability, or inability, to choose freely between the two. He took a lot of his inspiration from the fourth chapter of Genesis, the story of Cain and Abel, and patterned two of his main characters after the brothers. But each of the characters in the book is impacted by his theme to some degree or another throughout the story.

Until now, Of Mice and Men, which is one of my all-time favorite books, was the only other Steinbeck novel I'd read, and my plan had been to read The Grapes of Wrath next, eventually. But a friend mentioned he was about to reread East of Eden soon and said I should read it at the same time (like being in a little manly book club). So, I picked it up...and had a hard time putting it down. Now, I not only plan to read The Grapes of Wrath (sooner now, rather than later), but I feel like I should read several more of his books as well now.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★