Alright friends, here's the dealio.

When I read this book, lots of things in my personal life were a hectic. When I finished this book, things were still hectic. I'm writing this now, and things are still a little hectic, but slowly they are leveling out (so no worries.)

The thing is, because of all that hectic, I did not document my thoughts about this book the way I normally would do. I also made the fatal mistake of waiting far too long to sit down & write my review upon finishing.

Usually, if I wait too long the reviewer in me just quietly slips an I.O.U. note into the brain inbox & then goes back into hibernation until the next book is completed. She's a finicky sort.

My point is, this review will very likely will not do the book justice. If you're looking for a review that does do the book justice, I'd consider going to read my darling Celeste's review because she's basically the wordsmith we all aspire to be. But if you'd still like to read my late to the game drivel, you're absolutely welcome here!

So, anyway, about the book. It's super freakin' great.

I literally love generational tales. The way we get to experience & live through the evolution of the Trasks & the Hamiltons is a thing of pure beauty even when the going gets rough.

Every time I put the book down, I was excited for the next chance I'd get to pick it up. It was just that engaging.

One of the more standout elements of this novel is it's inclusion of two very unique minority characters - a Chinese man named Lee, and a woman named Cathy. These two are almost a complete antithesis to one another & they are both so incredibly central to every major plot point in the story, even as it spans across many years.

While both definitely became favorites of mine in their own respect, Cathy is an especially wonderful character & probably one of the most terrifying/intriguing I've ever come across in any novel. It was terribly fun to watch these characters swirl & rage around our main cast in their storms of light & darkness.

Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed is its observance of nature vs. nurture & how the sins of the parent can be passed down to create a stain on the soul of the child. It's simultaneously a lovely reminder that we have a choice in how we react to the brokenness we may inherit.

Finally, all the Biblical parallels here were just so much fun to point out especially since I read this book with a wonderful group. The strongest recurring theme has to be the dynamic between Adam's sons, Cain & Abel. It seems as though this novel seeks to explore the "what ifs" of every possible combination there.

As far as classics are concerned, I spent a lot of time reading them in high school & I accidentally conditioned myself into thinking that all classics are super deep & super complex & require a formal essay (12 page minimum, single spaced) upon completion.

I subsequently avoided them for a couple years because I had a hard time viewing them as approachable from a casual reader's perspective. Now that I've dipped my toes back into the genre, I'm realizing that classics can fall anywhere on the approachability spectrum.

However, for readers who may be stuck in the same mindset I'm breaking out of let me just tell you this novel is super approachable! I found the writing style easy to absorb & very sincere without losing any of its beauty.

There are a couple places where I feel certain character chapters didn't add much to the overall story, and some lengthy descriptions of the Salinas Valley could've been shortened without sacrificing much in the way of atmosphere.

This is definitely a must-read for anyone in love with reading & one I will revisit in the future!

Read this with TS, Haifa, and Celeste in our mission to conquer some classics! ☺️

Parts of this book are god-like. At different stages in the beginning, middle, and end, I burnt through pages like this was some sort of mystery-thriller, but obviously with all the depth of Steinbeck...

Then there's the characters, which here are some of the best. Cal's struggle--to be good when he's so compelled to be bad--is one of the more interesting ones I've come across. Kate is a perfectly written evil bitch and every time she pops onto the page, you can't wait to see what she'll do next.

My only problem is that, overall, Part I--which is about 25% of the book--is REALLY slow. With the exception of a few scenes, it reads like straight exposition. It was so not good, that I thought about abandoning it. But, given the reviews, I struggled on, and of course it was worth it. Like every Steinbeck book, I started out thinking: Man, this book sucks. WTF? And then, by the middle, I thought: OMG, what's gonna happen? This is the bomb. And then by the end, I thought it was the best.

A terrific story. The eternal, internal struggle between good and evil that every person (except phychopaths/sociopaths) has to endure throughout Life. The guilt of doing "bad"; the difficulty of doing "good". A lifelong struggle for us all.
"Timshel", free-will, personal responsibility to ourselves and others. We can make the choices that form us into who and what we are. The multi-generational story of the Trask family emphasizes the struggle of the individual, throughout the generations. Steinbeck managed to show the eternal struggle well. His characters are real, Life is real.
What happens if we are born without the ability or awareness of this eternal struggle and our being loses the choice that timshel allows us? Cathy and Aron seem to be two extremes of this. One cannot conceive good, the other cannot do bad. How does that affect the soul of a being?
A wonderful family saga. Steinbeck told a good story of how we need both good and bad within ourselves in order to live in this world and to become the best person we can be. Without the struggle we are all either Cathy or Aron and we cannot live in this world in any meaningful manner.

There is only one story which, from time immemorial, has been relentlessly reappearing in different forms, faces, and times and that is the never-ending battle between the Good and the Bad, the Gods and the Monsters, the Christ and the Satan, the Angels and the Demons, the crop-farmer and the shepherd, Folly and Wisdom, n  We and our alter-egon. Not always the Good wins. Not always the Bad loses. A victory gets replaced by a sliding defeat of same height and a defeat by a rising victory of same height. And, that is how it is.

This is undoubtedly one of the greatest works of all-time. This reenactment of The Fall of Adam and Eve and The murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel is not only inexorably beautiful but also profoundly meaningful.

"The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection and with the crime guilt—and there is the story of mankind."

Competitions are not always healthy or even humane especially when they are between siblings and most importantly where there is a room for disposition.

"Even God can have a preference, can he? Let's suppose God liked lamb better than vegetables. I think I do myself. Cain brought him a bunch of carrots maybe. And God said, 'I don't like this. Try again. Bring me something I like and I'll set you up alongside your brother.' But Cain got mad. His feelings were hurt. And when a man's feelings are hurt he wants to strike at something, and Abel was in the way of his anger."

This book is a tremendously balanced mixture of Irish humor in form of Hamilton couple, Chinese philosophy in form of all-known Lee, and unfathomable morality (Ok! Subjective opinion) in form of Trask's family.

Quoting one of my favorites from LEE (Who is my most favorite and memorable character!)

“We’re a violent people, Cal. Does it seem strange to you that I include myself? Maybe it’s true that we are all descended from the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers and brawlers, but also the brave and independent and generous. If our ancestors had not been that, they would have stayed in their home plots in the other world and starved over the squeezed-out soil.

That’s why I include myself. We all have that heritage, no matter what old land our fathers left. All colors and blends of Americans have somewhat the same tendencies. It’s a breed–selected out by accident. And so we’re over-brave and over-fearful – we’re kind and cruel as children. We’re over-friendly and at the same time frightened by strangers. We boast and are impressed. We’re over-sentimental and realistic. We are mundane and materialistic–and do you know of any other nation that acts for ideals? We eat too much. We have no taste, no sense of proportion. We throw our energy about like waste. In the old lands, they say of us that we go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening culture. Can it be that our critics have not the key or the language of our culture? That’s what we are, Cal–all of us. You aren't very different.”


“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”


P.S. Thank you for reading my favorite quotes from this epic book :)

«Ανατολικά της Εδέμ» γεννιέται μια ιστορία, τόσο παλιά, γνωστή, ανθρώπινη και θρυλική όσο και ο Θεός που πιστεύει καθένας.
Μία ιστορία, για την αντοχή της ανθρώπινης ψυχής μπροστά σε αδυσώπητα διλήμματα και φαρμακωμένες σκέψεις, απο αυτές τις αδίστακτες,που γεννούν αποφάσεις τοξικές,με εγκληματική μεγαλοπρέπεια και κίνητρα αξόδευτης,βαθιάς, σκοτεινής, αγάπης.

Ο Στάινμπεκ γράφει, δημιουργεί, μιλάει, ψιθυρίζει, κραυγάζει με τα αρώματα και τα χρώματα του κόσμου, της φύσης, των συνθηκών της ζωής και και τις δυνάμεις του ουρανού και της θάλασσας, περιγράφοντας ως ανάξιος αφηγητής την συμμετοχή των θνητών στα μεγαλεπίβολα σχέδια της μοίρας ή του απαράβατου θεϊκού νόμου.
Στην επική ιστορία που ξετυλίγεται αργά ανάμεσα στην δικαιωματική έναρξη της ανθρώπινης βούλησης, την συγχώρεση, την λύτρωση και την απελευθέρωση της επιλογής, υπάρχει ένας μακρύς δρόμος, με απίστευτα πολλές διακλαδώσεις αποτελεσμάτων και παράδρομους αιτιών.

Ένα αίσθημα που κυριαρχεί εξ αρχής και συνοδεύει την εξέλιξη της δυναστείας των ανθρώπινων ικανοτήτων, είναι το βαρύ αίσθημα της απώλειας.
Όλα χαμένα και αρκούντως προσδιορισμένα, καταλλήλως στολισμένα, ευστόχως ειπωμένα με πολύτιμες Διαθήκες ομολογίας.
«Μπορώ να το κάνω» ή «μπορώ να μην το κάνω» και αυτομάτως η προδοσία ή το χαμόγελο αφοσίωσης να οδηγεί με
κάθε νόηση και αίσθηση στο σκοτάδι της ψυχής που ευδοκιμεί η εγκατάλειψη,η παραίτηση, η παρεξηγημένη θυσία και το παράπονο της αγάπης που στο μέτρημα πάντα χάνει απο το ατομικό συμφέρον ή την προσωπική επιλογή.

Τα λόγια του Στάινμπεκ βρίθουν συναισθημάτων και αυτό κάνει την ειδοποιό διαφορά ανάμεσα σε μια χιλιοειπωμένη ιστορία οικογενειακών δραμάτων και αντιπαλότητες αίματος και σε αυτό το υπέροχο δημιούργημα που δίνει νόημα στην ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη.

Σε αυτή την Εδέμ ο συγγραφέας επαναλαμβάνει την αέναη μάχη των αντιθέσεων κυρίως ανάμεσα σε καλό και κακό σε ένα περιβάλλον που είναι στην πραγματικότητα ένα ατελείωτο μέρος του συνόλου.

Δεν ζούμε μονάχα μέσα στην φύση, προερχόμαστε απο αυτή και χάνουμε ή κερδίζουμε μονιμότητα, δυνατότητα, αλλαγή, διάρκεια, πνευματική ουσία, κλονισμό,θεραπεία και εμπειρία, καταβροχθίζοντας την επιθυμία της επανάληψης με βουλιμία, σαν γλυκόπιοτο ελιξίριο για την ευτυχία της ψυχής μας.


* Ωστόσο «Τα σταφύλια της οργής» μου έξυσαν βαθύτερα την ψυχή, έψαξαν και βρήκαν φως *


Καλή ανάγνωση.

I went into this read completely blind to what I was getting into and I think that was a great way to approach this novel. It’s a family saga but it’s so much more than that. Steinbeck has created a thought-provoking novel that is quite unforgettable. The way he draws each character is perfection. His prose is so descriptive and grabs you right from the start. I loved how he began with the beautiful descriptions of the Salinas Valley in California and the history of the people who found themselves settling there and the names of places and how they came to be.

I think this is the best-known story in the world because it is everybody’s story. I think it is the symbol story of the human soul.

This book and these characters get at the heart of what it means to live in a world filled with people who are good and bad. This story is often brutal and tragic but Steinbeck’s creative acumen is what makes this novel one that I kept coming back to for more wanting to know about these two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons whose lives intersect in the Salinas Valley. The build up is slow but it’s a worthwhile wait to get to the reward. The generations of these two families are explored with an intertwining of the most well-known Biblical story of the sibling rivalry of Cain and Abel with some of his most memorable characters ever created.

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.

What is it about our goodness and badness? Are all humans capable of one, or both? How can we balance our tendencies toward one or the other and recognize that the struggle is ever looming? Can a human become great despite this ever-present struggle with the good and the bad? This is essentially what Steinbeck was getting at - that it is our own personal and individual responsibility to find that greatness within ourselves and it is through choice or free will that it occurs. The goodness in people is what ultimately will dominate but one must make that choice in order for greatness to be achieved.

The word Steinbeck used to explain this is timshel, a Hebrew word meaning “thou mayest”.

”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.’ Don’t you see?”

The entire idea that a man has a choice to fail or succeed is his own. No matter what circumstances one finds himself in, the fact is, he has the way (the choice) to overcome it. And no blame can be made toward anyone else for the end result.

I loved this story and my favorite character was Lee. He was so very wise and provided the conceptual thoughts about human nature throughout. Samuel Hamilton was another favorite character because he was content in his life and he was good to everyone he encountered. The rest of the story is one that should be experienced for the first time rather than told about in a plot summary. It is truly unforgettable and one that will remain with me for a very long time.

This is maybe the best book I’ve ever read in my entire life…. I-

تخصص اشتاین‌بک روح انسان‌هاست. آدم‌ها رو مثل یک قالی روی زمین پهن می‌کنه و نقش و نگار آشکار و نهفته‌شون رو به تصویر می‌کشه

شرق بهشت داستان زندگیه. داستان «بودن». داستان تقابل ابدی بین خوب و بد. داستان روح آدمی که در عین شکنندگی شکست‌ناپذیره. شرق بهشت به قول خود اشتاین‌بک کتاب اوله

کتاب رو بستم و هنوز دارم به تک‌تک کاراکترها فکر می‌کنم. به لی. به آدام. به ساموئل. به اینکه چی انقدر این کتاب رو خاص می‌کنه؟ به اینکه مگه چه داستانی جز داستان یک زندگی ساده چند نسل‌ داره؟ جواب این سوال فقط برام یک چیزه: نگاه اشتاین‌بک، موشکافی این دومینوی زندگی، این اثر پروانه‌ای، این الگوی تکرار شونده

زندگی معمولی، زندگی من و توئه. زندگی‌ای که در عین بی‌اهمیتی پر از معنی و عمقه. زندگی‌ای که ارزش دیده شدن داره. این کاریه که اشتاین‌بک با آدم‌های کتابش کرده. او انتخاب کرده که اون‌ها رو «ببینه» و ابدیشون کنه


پ.ن: در حین خواندن کتاب صوتی رو هم گوش کردم و طبق معمول لذت مطالعه رو برام چند برابر کرد. کتاب صوتی واقعا خوب خوانده شده و به شخصیت‌ها روح و عمق بیشتری میده

این کانال جدیدیه که بعد از بسته شدن قبلی درست کردم و کتاب‌ها و ریویو‌ها رو اینجا می‌گذارم
Maede's Books

۱۴۰۱/۸/۹

Rating 4.75

Continuing on my quest to read all of Steinbeck's works, up next was East of Eden. I order from my library and what comes in is what I'm listening to. And another one that did not disappoint.

East of Eden tells the saga of the Trasks and the Hamiltons. You first hear of the Trask family, focusing on Adam and his brother Charles. The difference between the two and how they grew up. You then follow Adam to the Salinas Valley where he meets the Hamiltons. Adam, now married, has two children, Cal and Aron. Here, you watch them all grow older. I really don't think I can do this book justice. What I will say is man, can Steinbeck write characters. Characters you love and others you love to hate. How can you not love Lee, the Cantonese cook of Adam who stays with the family over many years, helping to raise his boys. Or Abra, her sweet innocence and love for the Trask men and Lee. Then again, there is Cathy Ames, one of the most despicable characters that you will probably ever find in literature. A few other characters I would just shake my head at but this is the beauty in his writing, you get these deep looks into each of characters.

I listened to the audio version and the narration was wonderful. I loved it! So after all that...why only 4.75. First, I'm very stingy on 5 stars. Next, I do think it could have been trimmed down a bit. The audio was over 25 hrs (book over 600 pages) and it seemed to take forever to get through. There were a few times it did drag a bit. Also, while I really liked the book, still gotta say Travels with Charley is my favorite. Although this is a close second. A must read of a book (it is done by a writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature), a great audio for a very long drive, and a great, heartbreaking story.

This book was even better the second time around.

This has to be one of my favourites of what I have read of Steinbeck's work so far. And don't let the Biblical references in the story turn you away. They help emphasize the story and make it more meaningful.

"I think this is the best-known story in the world because it is everybody's story. I think it is the symbol story of the human soul. ...The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection, and with the crime guilt - and that is the story of mankind."

Before this, my only exposure to John Steinbeck were his two short novels Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, neither of which impressed me in any significant way. In fact, when people suggested I read this book and tried to explain why it was so amazing, I didn't really think that, based on his work that I'd read so far, Steinbeck was capable of writing an epic like this. And holy hell, was I wrong.

To say that this book is a retelling of the Biblical Cain and Abel story seems too simplistic. That's what's going on at the core of the story, but there's so much more here that Steinbeck wants us to see besides "the story of Cain and Abel isn't as simple as it seems." The book starts out with Adam and Charles Trask - one brother is good, one brother is bad. The father loves the good brother and rejects the bad brother. Then the good brother grows up, starts a family, and has two sons - one good, one bad. But this time it's not that simple, and the paths that the two brothers take, and how they overcome and subvert their roles of "good brother" and "bad brother" is fascinating.

That's the cliff notes. As I said, there's a lot of other stuff going on - like some of the best characters ever created, generally. First there's Lee, the Trask family's Chinese servant who's so goddamn cool and well-done that I don't even want to describe him further than that because it might ruin things. And then there's Adam Trask's wife Cathy, affectionately known as the Psycho Bitch by me and, to a lesser and more eloquent extent, Steinbeck:

"I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. ...It is my belief that Cathy Ames was born without the tendencies, or lack of them, which drove and forced her all of her life. She was misweighted, some gear out of ratio. She was not like other people, never was from birth. And just as a cripple may learn to utilize his lack so that he becomes more effective in a limited field than the uncrippled, so did Cathy, using her difference, make a painful and bewildering stir in the world."

Translation: bitch is crazy, and she will fuck your shit up. And oh, she does.

All these characters, flawed and wise and foolish and stubborn and angry and sad, interact and intersect with each other, moving in and out of their lives throughout the course of the story. More stuff than just Cain and Abel retelling happens, as I said, but some of the best parts of the book come when Steinbeck has his characters openly discuss the similarities between their lives and the Biblical story. There's the part I quoted at the beginning of this review, and then later the same characters talk about the story again, and focus on a specific phrase: when God tells Cain, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at thy door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." That's what it says in the King James version of the Bible. In the American Standard version, the verb is "Do thou rule over him." Lee, because he is awesome, decides to find out what the original Hebrew version says, and this is what he finds (pay attention, because this is kind of the entire point of the book):

"And this was the gold from our mining: 'Thou mayest.' 'Thou mayest rule over sin.' ...The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in 'Thou shalt,' meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel-'Thou mayest' - that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the whole world. That says the way is open. ...Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and the murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight through it and win."

That's what the story comes down to: are we born good or evil, or do we choose to be that way? Is anything predestined, or are we capable of changing ourselves and our lives? It's gruesome, it's tragic, it's beautiful, and it's more than The Pearl would have made me think Steinbeck was capable of.

"I want to think...Damn you, I want to think. I'll want to take this off alone where I can pick it apart and see. Maybe you've tumbled a world for me. And I don't know what I can build in my world's place."

PS: why the FUCK is this not on The List? Fucking Of Mice and Men made the cut, but noooo, not East of Eden. Seriously, what the hell.

Wow. That’s all I can think to say. Thank you