Book Seventeen of the Book-A-Week Quest
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck (1952)
I read Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men early on in my Book-a-Week Quest and it was a very short, incredibly nondescriptive book that had the ability to create a lot of power with very few words. East of Eden is a very long, hugely descriptive novel that also creates a lot of power, but does so over the course of over 600 pages.
Although this could be the wrong terminology, East of Eden was what I would call an epic -- a tale of two families intertwined over multiple generations, each yearning to create a better future while, at the same time, dealing with indiscretions of the past from which they can't seem to shake free. Of the two families, the book's focus is on the Trask clan, and the book is essentially broken apart into two segments, with section one dealing with brothers Adam and Charles and section two dealing with Adam's sons, Cal and Aron. Both sets of brothers absolutely mirror the Cain and Abel story from the Bible, in which Cain kills Abel because God favored Abel over him. In both generations of the Trask family, one son (the Cain of the clan) feels a lack of love from his father (symbolizing God), leading him to do whatever he can to gain that love.
Various characters weave in and out of the Trask men's lives, the most intriguing of which is Cathy/Kate, a ruthlessly evil woman hellbent on doing anything she needs to do to have control over everything. A conniving whore (literally), Cathy/Kate (who happens to be Adam's estranged wife and the mother of his two sons) is likely reminiscent of the biblical Eve in that she tempts men into sin. Also fascinating was the character of Lee, a Chinese servent of Adam Trask who essentially raises Adam's two sons. Full of wisdom and heart, Lee becomes a father to all the Trasks (Adam included) and helps them sort out their various issues.
To me, the biggest theme of East of Eden (besides the struggle of good vs. evil within all of us) was that of being forced into a mold as a child, and, as one grows older, desiring to break out of the mold, but being unable to do so. The fathers in the novel were always trying to shape their sons into what they wanted them to be, or the sons were desperately trying to become whatever their fathers wanted them to be. This yearning to please others creates the inability to live a life of happiness.
Two lines in particular stood out to me in the book enough to write them down...
and
The first one was simply a throwaway line in a short two sentence paragraph. I realize it's rather simplistic, but for some reason, it stood out to me. The last one, in particular, got to me a lot. It was on the third to last page of the book and when I read it, I re-read it because it was extraordinarily powerful to me. It was kind of a "Wow" moment that hit me in a very spiritual way.
If I were to fault the book, it would be the beginning was a little drawn out (it makes sense in the overall "epicness" of the novel, but it was a struggle to read) and the end happened much too quickly. There were scenes at the end of the novel that were discussed after they happened, but the reader never got to witness these scenes themselves. I wanted to see confrontations, not be told about them -- I felt like I earned that or something after reading all that I read.
Still, nevertheless, East of Eden was an excellent book, and I'm fairly confident that I can say John Steinbeck is now my favorite author. I am eagerly looking forward to reading another book by him.
Just a little side note here -- this is my my second Oprah's Book Club selection (whoopie!) and the longest book so far in the Quest.
Although this could be the wrong terminology, East of Eden was what I would call an epic -- a tale of two families intertwined over multiple generations, each yearning to create a better future while, at the same time, dealing with indiscretions of the past from which they can't seem to shake free. Of the two families, the book's focus is on the Trask clan, and the book is essentially broken apart into two segments, with section one dealing with brothers Adam and Charles and section two dealing with Adam's sons, Cal and Aron. Both sets of brothers absolutely mirror the Cain and Abel story from the Bible, in which Cain kills Abel because God favored Abel over him. In both generations of the Trask family, one son (the Cain of the clan) feels a lack of love from his father (symbolizing God), leading him to do whatever he can to gain that love.
Various characters weave in and out of the Trask men's lives, the most intriguing of which is Cathy/Kate, a ruthlessly evil woman hellbent on doing anything she needs to do to have control over everything. A conniving whore (literally), Cathy/Kate (who happens to be Adam's estranged wife and the mother of his two sons) is likely reminiscent of the biblical Eve in that she tempts men into sin. Also fascinating was the character of Lee, a Chinese servent of Adam Trask who essentially raises Adam's two sons. Full of wisdom and heart, Lee becomes a father to all the Trasks (Adam included) and helps them sort out their various issues.
To me, the biggest theme of East of Eden (besides the struggle of good vs. evil within all of us) was that of being forced into a mold as a child, and, as one grows older, desiring to break out of the mold, but being unable to do so. The fathers in the novel were always trying to shape their sons into what they wanted them to be, or the sons were desperately trying to become whatever their fathers wanted them to be. This yearning to please others creates the inability to live a life of happiness.
Two lines in particular stood out to me in the book enough to write them down...
"There's a responsibilty in being a person. It's more than just taking up space where air would be."
and
"Can you think that whatever made us would stop trying?"
The first one was simply a throwaway line in a short two sentence paragraph. I realize it's rather simplistic, but for some reason, it stood out to me. The last one, in particular, got to me a lot. It was on the third to last page of the book and when I read it, I re-read it because it was extraordinarily powerful to me. It was kind of a "Wow" moment that hit me in a very spiritual way.
If I were to fault the book, it would be the beginning was a little drawn out (it makes sense in the overall "epicness" of the novel, but it was a struggle to read) and the end happened much too quickly. There were scenes at the end of the novel that were discussed after they happened, but the reader never got to witness these scenes themselves. I wanted to see confrontations, not be told about them -- I felt like I earned that or something after reading all that I read.
Still, nevertheless, East of Eden was an excellent book, and I'm fairly confident that I can say John Steinbeck is now my favorite author. I am eagerly looking forward to reading another book by him.
Just a little side note here -- this is my my second Oprah's Book Club selection (whoopie!) and the longest book so far in the Quest.
I only read about half of it since I'm pretty ADD today.
ReplyDeleteYou should read One Hundred Years of Solitude, if you haven't.
I wrote it, published it, and then couldn't believe how much I had written.
ReplyDeleteIn Thomas' "review" of the book, he mentions One Hundred Years of Solitude...maybe later on this year...
It's right below The Things They Carried, in my opinion. Though it is actually a better book.
ReplyDeleteThat good, hmm? I'm guessing "100 Years" is a long one...after East of Eden, I'm needing something breezy (although the book I just picked up to read is anything by breezy).
ReplyDeleteMaybe in a bit...that's two of you that love the book...
450 pages. It's easy to breeze though. I read it in about a week in box, after the DDR machine got installed and now I have the music from it tied into my memories of the book.
ReplyDeleteI have a short book I could bring in that's odd but good. It's called the Mezzanine. It's a 130 page book that takes place on a ride up the escalator, the majority of the book is taken up in hilarious footnotes. Also read it in box. During a 11 hour shift the day before Spiderman 3 came out. It's pretty much the definition of breezy.