East of Eden

n  “All great and precious things are lonely.”n

Such an amazing book. An instant all time favourite.

I'm sure you've heard of this book. Often touted as one of the "greatest novels of all time" or "books you must read before you die". For some reason, I've been putting it off. Maybe because I was made to study Of Mice and Men to death in school, or maybe because I thought The Grapes of Wrath was a little overrated. But I've been missing out.

A closer look should have told me that. Because I love family sagas. Epic, multi-generational tales filled with rich characterization and plenty of drama. The House of the Spirits is a great example. These books really pull me into the characters' lives. I get a sense that I've grown up with them, gone through each hardship with them, and come out the other side. They always leave me feeling emotional.

East of Eden is a great book from every angle.

The characters come bounding off the pages, offering a sort of Cain and Abel retelling set before, during, and after the great westward migration of early modern America (it's no coincidence that the Trask brothers are called Charles and Adam).

Steinbeck could not have more vividly painted the Salinas Valley in our minds if he had literally dragged us there in person. It's a beautiful, dusty, challenging place to be and into it comes the story of the Trasks and the Hamiltons. I cannot stress enough how well-drawn these characters are as we move with them through poverty, war, wealth, murder, love and lies.

n  “But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.”n

It's rare that a book is both a thoughtful historical tale with strong themes, and a fast-paced, highly-readable romp through the lives of people who are smart, naive, calculating, lovable, mean, selfish and confused. It's surprising how often the terms "easily readable" and "masterpiece" are mutually exclusive - but that is not the case here. I couldn't put it down.

I just... don't even know how to fully summarize my thoughts and feelings. East of Eden is clever, it's "deep", but it's also so damn enjoyable. I loved all the relationships and conflicts between the characters. And I especially loved Cathy - the kind of twisted female character I'd expect Gillian Flynn to create.

If you're looking for an intelligent classic - read it. If you're looking for an exciting pageturner - read it.

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This book is mind blowing. It is John Steinbeck at his sharpest. He said that every author really only has one "book," and that all of his books leading up to East of Eden were just practice--Eden would be his book.

I could write a summary of the book, but it would be more trouble than it's worth. You will often hear it referred to as a "modern retelling of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel" but that is too simplistic. Steinbeck takes the story of Cain and Abel and makes Cain (in the form of Cal Trask) the sympathetic character. Cal Trask does not act destructively for the sake of destruction, but he is desperately clawing for approval and love from his father, Adam, who prefers Cal's twin brother, Aron. The story isn't that pat, though--Cal and Aron really don't make their entrances as major characters until the last quarter of the 600 page novel. So, to say that this book is simply the retelling of Cain and Abel is to oversimplify the book. The main theme of the book is the desire within everyone for love, and how this desire can make people turn to destructive behavior.

This book has been criticized for being too verbose, meandering, inconsistently paced, and heavy handed in its parallel with the story of Cain and Abel. Yes, it is verbose and meandering, but that's Steinbeck. It gives a full picture of the Salinas valley. It gives you insights and perspectives you might not otherwise have. If anything, Steinbeck's constant forays into unrelated sidebars give the reader a break in pace, a rest that makes the more important parts of the books feel as though they flow more smoothly. As for the parallel with Cain and Abel, it is heavy-handed. That being said, the heavy-handedness didn't bother me. Going in to the novel with the expectation of it being a retelling of Cain and Abel (at least for some of the narrative) is enough to make the obvious references to Cain and Abel seem natural. If Steinbeck had given the impression that he was trying to hide the parallel, it would have been insulting. But Steinbeck isn't trying to hide it--he makes it clear that the story of Cain and Abel are an integral part of his story.

East of Eden is an amazing novel. Its strong points more than compensate for the very few shortcomings. Steinbeck is such a tremendous writer that his shortcomings become strengths. I highly recommend it.

I finally did it. For years this book has sat on my shelf unfinished. Some time ago, probably seven or eight years, I started this book, got nearly to the end, and for whatever reason never finished it. I remember that I was enjoying it and likely just got preoccupied with college finals or something. Knowing that someday I'd want to read it, I left it on my bookcase where it's waited for me to pick it up again. I knew I'd eventually want to read it over from the beginning, which felt like a daunting task since this book is quite long and dense—especially to re-read upwards of 400 pages. However, I'm not sure why I was daunted by that prospect because after having read it I found the experience to be quite absorbing.

Steinbeck's writing is undeniably good. He's a great thinker and that's shown in his astute dialogue and descriptions. Characters come to life off the page and the lush Salinas Valley is depicted so beautifully. It's this high caliber of writing that makes this reading experience so enjoyable.

As for the story, it's likely you've heard enough about this book to know the gist. It's a sort of re-telling of Genesis 4: Cain and Abel. The title alone should make that clear, if you're familiar with the Biblical narrative. But Steinbeck goes beyond mere re-telling. It's a deeper exploration across generations and intertwining the lives of characters from two families. It's layered and complicated and quite, quite good.

All that to say, I definitely enjoyed this reading experience. And I'm so, so happy to have finally conquered this book. If anything I'm pretty eager to read more Steinbeck in the near future. The Grapes of Wrath, anyone?

East of Eden came into my life by virtue of a classics book club I belonged to seven years ago. Published in 1952, this is the best novel that group assigned. It remains my favorite novel. John Steinbeck's magnum opus tells the tale of two families in the Salinas Valley of California who at the turn of the 20th century, find their capacity for good opening the doors to prosperity, while their potential for evil threatens to hurtle some of them into darkness.

The novel is narrated by an author surrogate who is grandson to one Samuel Hamilton, an Irishman whose gifts for invention are weighted by his lack of business acumen. Samuel and his God fearing, indestructible wife Liza relocate their family from San Jose to the foothills east of King City in 1873. The only land Samuel can afford is useless for farming, but the family is fertile in love. They bear nine children, many of whom play small roles in the unfolding narrative.

Adam Trask's story begins in Connecticut. He's a kind hearted boy drilled into obedience by his father Cyrus, a hellraiser who returns from the Civil War with the clap. His first wife, Adam's mother, blames her social disease on her own sin and drowns herself, while Cyrus' second wife gives birth to Adam's half-brother Charles and ultimately succumbs to tuberculosis. Cyrus grossly inflates his war experience and as a result, gains prominence and fortune in Washington as a military adviser.

Charles is a manipulator who covets the love of his father. The boy is also given to a violence that disqualifies him from soldiering as far as his father is concerned. Cyrus' hopes fall onto Adam, who does not love his father and abhors military discipline. Charles attempts to buy his father's love by diligently saving to buy him a pocketknife. Cyrus never uses it, while a stray puppy that Adam carries home becomes the old man's loyal companion for life. Profoundly rejected, Charles beats and almost murders his brother.

Adam serves two tours in the Army, making every effort in the Indian Wars to not shoot an Indian. He rambles around the country, restless, until his father's death and a large inheritance reunite him with Charles. Sorely missed by his brother, now a miserly farmer, Adam co-exists on the farm with Charles for a time. He tries to sell his bachelor brother on coming with him to California, where the fields have no rocks and offer endless bounty to those willing to work hard.

If the story is already good, it gets even better.

Cathy Ames has been endowed with considerable physical gifts and charisma and no empathy for other human beings whatsoever. Having burned her parents up in a house fire, she's beaten to near death by her lover, a Boston pimp, and left to die when the Trasks find her. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and asks her to marry him. Penniless but plotting, she agrees. Charles recognizes in Cathy a devil even more manipulative than him. Adam ignores his brother's warning and head west with his bride.

In Salinas Valley, Adam Trask purchases fertile land, plans for the future and awaits the birth of his first child. Samuel Hamilton is hired to drill a well and is left unsettled by his encounter with Cathy. He delivers her twin boys and is bitten for his trouble. Cathy makes good on her promise to leave Adam and when he takes too long to get out of her way, she plugs him with a .44. The twins are raised by Adam's servant, a second generation Chinese named Lee, while Adam drifts through their lives until Samuel knocks sense into his despondent neighbor.

Cathy settles in Salinas, where she changes her name and rises to power in the criminal underworld as the madam of a whorehouse. Lee ultimately confides in Adam where Cathy can be found. After confronting his wife in her den of inequity, Adam elects to keep Cathy's sinister existence hidden from his boys, who Samuel and Lee have helped name Caleb (Cal) and Aaron (Aron). Seventeen years old when the Great War breaks out in 1917, Cal & Aron covet the acceptance of their father and their estranged mother, as good and evil duke it out in each of them.

The 1955 film version of East of Eden was directed by Elia Kazan and skimmed the source material, focusing on the Cain and Abel struggle between Cal and Aron. Paul Osborn's adaptation eliminated the Hamilton family history and left Adam and Cathy's lurid past to the imagination. James Dean starred as Cal Trask in the second of his three film roles. It's my favorite Dean performance because Steinbeck created a character in Cal with the richest past and the most to lose in the future.

Rich in history, psychology, sociology, criminology and folk wisdom, East of Eden is big (602 pages) but whenever Steinbeck threatens to become professorial and turn the book into a lecture, he slams the reader back into the life and death struggles of his characters with grandeur, urgency and wit. We remain in the hands of a master storyteller throughout. It's impossible to read this book and not come away with something about America, about farming, about family or about guilt.

This book has stayed within me and will continue to do so. Having a younger brother, I could relate to the competitiveness between Adam & Charles and Cal & Aron (my brother's name is Aaron) and the intense hurt you feel when you assume others are loved or given preferential treatment over you, which of course they are, but that love ebbs and flows, and if dwelled upon, can consume you. It's a masterful novel that achieves a perfection in its storytelling.

What can I say about this wonderful book that hasn't already been said in reviews. You have probably already heard it compared to "The" Garden of Eden and Adam, and his two sons, Cain and Abel.
You wouldn't think that John Steinbeck would change that up much, right ?
East of Eden is a little bit different and so good.
Except that East of Eden shakes things up a little bit, and by a little bit, we mean that it changes around everything.
Adam and Charles Trask are two competitive brothers with daddy issues. Cathy is a cold-hearted monster who uses her sexuality to control (read: destroy) people. She is just the kind of person we love to hate .
Whoa. Don't remember that happening in Paradise, now do you ? That's just the beginning.
Throw in an inventive Irish-American farmer and a sage Chinese-American servant as side-characters watching and commenting as this whole train wreck unfolds, and you've got yourself a story.
I loved all the characters in the book, and I liked how John Steinbeck told the story as being part of the family because he is.
I think everyone should read this book at least once. I thoroughly enjoyed it

This is my second reading of this John Steinbeck epic masterpiece (over 50 years apart) and it is just as good, if not better, the second time around. Steinbeck's writing is clear, beautiful and incredibly moving. He tells a story like no other. He is a testament to the fact that one can win a Nobel Prize in literature without being obscure and pretentious.

-Voliš li ga?
-Voliš li je?

Pitanja postavljana iznova i iznova u ovom nedodirivom romanu. I nikad objašnjenja, bez obzira na odgovor. Da ili ne. Svejedno je. To je nešto van ljudskog razuma, nešto izopšteno našom potrebom za objašnjenjem i shvatanjem.

Stajnbek u ovom obimnom romanu, po prirodi biblijskom i po veličini i po sadržini (brojne, ali nimalo napadne aluzije na mitove), piše priču dve porodice. Dve male, stvarne porodice (Stajnbek je potomak Hamiltonovih) koje služe kao mikroplatno za prikaz celokupne čovekove istorije. Sve se svodi na tu jednu jedinu priču koja nas proganja. Hamiltonovi (ne Hemiltonovi, zaboga, ua prevod) i Treskovi su srce ovog romana i svaki od članova ove dve porodice zaslužuje apsolutnu pažnju i posvećenost koju im Stajnbek pruža (uz neke male izuzetke, pošto je ipak reč o desetinama likova). Bez ikakve sumnje, ovde sam upoznao neke od najstvarnijih, najmudrijih i najdivnije napisanih likova: Adam, Kol, Aron Tresk, Semjuel (!) i Liza Hamilton, kinez Li (!), pa čak i Keti Ejms. Niko od njih nije prazan lik, niko nije stereotip ili prazna ljuska, svi imaju dušu koja se jasno vidi i snažno utiče na čitaoca.

Roman je filozofske prirode i veći deo radnje se odvija kroz dijaloge. Brojne rasprave na brojne teme, od kojih većina zadire u samu prirodu ljudskosti. Surovo je čitati o toliko likova koje proganja teret dobrote ili teret zla ili teret dobrote i zla, ali Stajnbek misli da je to neophodno.

Na sedamsto stranica ovog romana saznao sam više o sebi nego posle bilo koje druge knjige. U rečima, pronašao sam pitanja i potrudio sam se da odgovorim na njih najbolje što umem. Zvuči pretenciozno, ali iskreno mislim da je to odlika velikih knjiga. Pred tobom, za tebe, i nisu toliko velike, daleke.

U trenutku najveće sreće, Stajnbek ruši idealnu scenu i donosi tugu. Svako može da oseti da se to sprema, ali niko zaista ne očekuje tako nešto. Zašto je promena jedina sveprisutna? Jer - ti možeš. Jedan jedini izbor je doveo do toga. Ali čak i tad, nešto nalik prećutnoj nadi i dalje opstaje, kao što apsolutno crno telo ne postoji zaista u vidljivom svetu. Uvek se nekakva svetlost provuče. "Uzvišenost bola". Jer - ti možeš. To je po mom mišljenju najlepša poruka koju pisac može da prenese. Možda i jedina prava, kao što je ovaj roman u Stajnbekovim očima jedini pravi koji je napisao.

Svet je tu. Na dohvat ruke. I sve je moguće: i tuga i radost i još mnogo drugih suprotnih, ali nimalo uzajamno isključivih stvari. Voliš li je? Voliš li ga?
Da. Ne. Nije ni bitno, Stajnbek kaže.
Timšel. I to je jedina istina.

5+ (6)

این مدت که تصمیم داشتم شرق بهشت رو بخونم تو ذهنم بود در حد و اندازه خوشه‌های خشم میتونم دوسش داشته باشم یا نه. و خب استاین بک تو هر کتاب بیشتر غافلگیرم میکنه :))
نویسنده تو این کتاب از وطنش گفته، از محله‌اش و آدم‌هاش. اونقدر شخصیتای قصه به دل می‌نشستند که ۸۰۰ صفحه رو یک نفس خوندم. شخصیت پردازی بی نظیر بود. از هر جنسی و دنیایی از آدم‌ها تو این قصه هست. فک کنم کمتر کسی باشه که عاشق لی و ساموئل نشه. بنظرم کل داستان رو میشه استعاره‌ای از زندگی انسان دونست. تو بخشی از کتاب به داستان هابیل و‌ قابیل اشاره شده و هرچی بیشتر پیش میره تو قسمتای مختلف این خط داستانی پر رنگ‌تر میشه.
پایان بندی منحصر به فرد بود و استعاره‌ی تبعید انسان به زمین (شرق بهشت) رو تکمیل کرد. بنظرم استاین بک استاد پایان بندی‌های فوق‌العاده است اونم دقیقا تو کتاب‌هایی که بعد از چند صد صفحه از خودت می‌پرسی قراره داستان کجا تموم بشه.
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پ. ن: بعد از کلی بحث با بچه‌های گودریدز به این نتیجه رسیدیم که تلفظ دقیق اسم ایشون «جان ارنست استاین بک» نه اشتاین بک، استین بک و غیره :)) باشد که مترجم‌ها و ویراستارهای عزیز هم رعایت کنند.