„Обичам лошата миризма на старите книги и сладостния аромат на задълбочената мисъл.“


За мен, „На изток от рая“ е едно от най-великите и незабравими литературни преживявания! Дори да беше създал само този шедьовър, Стайнбек спокойно щеше да се нареди сред най-значимите писатели на 20-ти век... а той е написал още много стойностни творби!

Романът е изграден на основата на различни препратки към сюжети от Библията, но същевременно е многопластова история, която далеч не се изчерпва с интерпретацията на религиозни текстове. Авторът има изключително философски поглед върху живота и умело е вплел своите задълбочени размисли върху непреходната тема за доброто и злото, както и по други важни обществени въпроси, майсторски описвайки съдбите на различни поколения хора. Персонажите в този огромен епос са сложни и интересни личности, които определено предизвикват емоции и се помнят дълго след прочита на книгата. Абсолютен фаворит от тях ми е забележителният китаец Ли!

Достойнствата на това книжно съкровище са всеобхватни, та каквито и отзиви да напиша за него, биха били оскъдни... Струва ми се, че точно в „На изток от рая“ Стайнбек е намерил „златната среда“, в която пълноценно се допълват идиличната му визия от „Улица Консервна“ и мрачната от „За мишките и хората“.






„— Старият Сам Хамилтън бе разбрал накъде вървим. Казваше, че вече не могат да съществуват всестранни философи. Бремето на познанието е твърде голямо, за да може да го възприеме един-единствен мозък. И предвиждаше, че ще дойде ден, когато отделният човек ще знае само една малка част, но ще я владее добре.
— Да — каза Ли от вратата, — но не го одобряваше. Презираше този ден.
— Наистина ли? — попита Адам.
Ли влезе в стаята, стиснал в дясната си ръка големия черпак и подложил лявата си шепа отдолу от страх да не капне на килима. Но вече в стаята, забрави това, размаха черпака и по пода покапа пуйча мазнина.
— Сега, като ме питаш, не съм сигурен — каза той. — Не зная той ли го презираше, или аз го намразих покрай него.
— Не се вълнувай толкова — рече му Адам. — Вече ми се струва, че щом се захванем да обсъждаме нещо, ти го приемаш като лична обида.
— Може би знанието става все по-огромно, а хората се смаляват — каза Ли. — Може би от това, че са коленичили пред атомите, душите им добиват атомни размерчета. И навярно тесният специалист не е нищо друго освен един страхливец, който се бои да надникне извън своето кафезче. Помислете си само какво загубва тесният специалист — целия свят отвъд неговата ограда!“

steinbeck said that everything he wrote prior to this book was just practice.

which means everything i have read prior to this book was also practice, familiarising myself with stories about humanity, until i could fully appreciate just how perfectly this encapsulates human nature and everything that comes with it.

the good. the evil. the freedom of choice. the resulting consequences. the loneliness. the beauty.

there are so many inspired nuggets of wisdom nestled into this deeply intimate story (just go have a look at the quotes section) that i cant help but agree with a friend when he claimed this book is “life changing.”

PS - i havent seen the film, but i have heard the musical score and its absolutely perfect. makes me tear up at just how much it suits the story. take a listen here.

↠ 4.5 stars

This is a long, long sermon masquerading as a novel. Its aim seems clear- to be the great American novel. In spite of, or maybe because of this overreach, it is completely unsatisfying. The characters are mere symbols. Most of the themes pertain to the characters’ moral dilemmas, but it is difficult to be drawn into these since the characters lack any real complexity. The men are various superlatives (greatest, kindest, wisest). There are two women characters, one evil and exaggerated to the point of absurdity, and the other just a plot device. And the ‘chinaman’ has to be one of the most ridiculous characters in all of literature.

The weak characters are further undermined by the stilted and unnatural dialogue, which in no way resembles conversation as I have experienced it. The characters take turns giving soulful, melodramatic speeches on the human condition. The ‘chinaman’ is especially painful in this regard.

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

East of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952.

The story is primarily set in the Salinas Valley, California, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of World War I, though some chapters are set in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the story goes as far back as the American Civil War.

In the beginning of East of Eden, before introducing his characters, Steinbeck carefully establishes the setting with a description of the Salinas Valley in Central California.

Then he outlines the story of the warmhearted inventor and farmer Samuel Hamilton and his wife Liza, immigrants from Ireland.

He describes how they raise their nine children on a rough, infertile piece of land. As the Hamilton children begin to grow up and leave the nest, a wealthy stranger, Adam Trask, purchases the best ranch in the Valley.

Adam's life is seen in a long, intricate flashback. We see his tumultuous childhood on a farm in Connecticut and the brutal treatment he endured from his younger but stronger half-brother, Charles.

Adam and Charles's father, Cyrus, was a Union Civil War veteran who was wounded in his very first battle and unable (or perhaps unwilling) to return to service; he nonetheless becomes an expert "armchair general" who uses his intellectual knowledge of military affairs and wounded-veteran status to become a military adviser in Washington, D.C.

As a young man, Adam spent his time first in the military and then wandering the country. He was caught for vagrancy, escaped from a chain gang, and burgled a store for clothing to use as a disguise. Later, he wires Charles to request $100 to pay for his travels home.

Adam later sends money to the store to pay for the clothes and damage. After Adam finally makes his way home to their farm, Charles reveals that Cyrus had died and left them an inheritance of $50,000 each. Charles is torn with fear that Cyrus did not come by the money honestly.

Characters: Mr. Edwards, Ethel, Lee, Faye, Tom Hamilton, Cyrus Trask, Mrs. Trask, Alice Trask, Adam Trask, Charles Trask, Aron Trask, Caleb Trask, Samuel Hamilton, Liza Hamilton, George Hamilton, Will Hamilton, Joe Hamilton, Lizzie Hamilton, Una Hamilton, Dessie Hamilton, Olive Hamilton, Mollie Hamilton, Cathy Ames, Abra Bacon, Joe Valery.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه آگوست سال 1984میلادی

عنوان: شرق بهشت؛ نویسنده: جان ارنست اشتاین بک؛ مترجم: بهرام مقدادی؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، بامداد، 1361-1362، در سه جلد، چاپ دیگر، تهران، اسطوره، 1389؛ در 992ص؛ شابک 9789648332414؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م

عنوان: ش‍رق‌ ب‍ه‍ش‍ت‌؛ نویسنده: ج‍ان‌ اش‍ت‍ای‍ن‌‌ب‍ک‌؛ ت‍رج‍م‍ه‌ پ‍روی‍ز ش‍ه‍دی‌؛ تهران، گهبد، 1384؛ در 784ص؛ شابک 9648766010؛ چاپ دوم 1385؛ چاپ دیگر نگارستان کتاب، 1387، در دو جلد؛ شابک دوره 9789648155723؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، مجید، چاپ سوم 1392؛ در 784ص؛ شابک9789644531019؛ چاپ چهارم تهران، مجید به سخن، 1395؛ در 784ص؛ چاپ ششم 1400؛

عنوان: شرق بهشت؛ جان اشتاین‌بک‏‫؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، روزگار، 1389؛ در 808ص؛ شابک 9789643741891؛

عنوان: شرق بهشت؛ نویسنده: جان اشتاین‌بک‏‫؛ مترجم: شهناز کمیلی‌زاده‬‏‫؛ ویراستار: سپیده رضوی؛ تهران، انتشارات ناژ؛ 1397، در دو جلد؛ شابک دوره9786006110325؛ ‬

زندگی پیچیده دو خانواده «ترسک» و «همیلتون» و داستان‌های در هم گره خورده ی آن‌ها را، به تصویر می‌کشد؛ «اشتاینبک» این رمان را در خطاب به دو پسر کوچکش، «تام» و «جان» بنوشتند، که در آن زمان به ترتیب شش و نیم، و چهار و نیم ساله بودند؛ ایشان می‌خواستند جزئیات دره «سالیناس» را برای آن‌ها توصیف کنند

شرق بهشت داستان دو نسل در دو بازه ی زمانی گوناگون را بازگو می‌کند؛ خانواده «سایروس تراسک»، و خانواده‌ ی دوم «همیلتون»‌ها هستند؛ در هر دو خانواده ی داستان، پدران به یکی از فرزندان خود، بیشتر توجه دارند؛ در خانواده «تراسک»، «سایروس»، «آدام» را به «چارلز» ارج می‌نهد، و «آدام» هم، زمانی‌که که پدر می‌شود، بهمانند پدرش «سایروس»، به یکی از فرزندان خود، به نام «آرون»، نسبت به آن دیگری توجه بیشتری دارد؛ در همین جای داستان، زمینه‌ های ناتوریستی کتاب، شتخص می‌شود، و کتاب تبعیض بین فرزندان را؛ وراثتی نشان می‌دهد

اگر «جان اشتاین بک» در سراسر عمر ادبی خویش، جز همین «شرق بهشت»، کتاب دیگر ننوشته بودند، باز هم شایسته و سزاوار همه ی شهرت و افتخاری بودند، که نصیبشان شده است؛ حماسه ی فلسفی و انسانی بزرگواری که داستان بشریت را، از آغاز آفرینش تا به امروز در خود گنجانیده است؛ ماجراهایی که پس از خوردن میوه ی درخت خرد، بر سر فرزندان آدم آمده بود، و تا ابدیت نیز ادامه خواهد یافت؛ «شرق بهشت» به رغم گذشت سالها از نگارش و نخستین انتشار آن، هنوز هم، جزو «پرخوانشگرترین ده کتاب» در «ایالات متحده آمریکا» است

نقل از برگردان جناب «کیومرث پارسای»: (دره دراز و باریک سالیناس در شمال کالیفرنیا واقع شده و در میان دو رشته کوه قرار گرفته است؛ رودخانه سالیناس در مرکز آن جریان دارد که به خلیج مانتری منتهی می‌شود؛

نام‌هایی را که در دوران کودکی برای گیاهان و گل‌های پر رمز و راز انتخاب می‌کردم، هنوز به خاطر دارم؛ یادم می‌آید که قورباغه‌ها در کجا زندگی می‌کردند و پرندگان چه وقت در بهار بیدار می‌شدند و نیز به خاطر می‌آورم که از درختان در فصول گوناگون چه رایحه‌ ای به مشام می‌رسید، مردم چه قیافه‌ هایی داشتند و چگونه راه می‌رفتند و حتی چه رایحه‌ ای از آن‌ها برمی‌خاست؛ خاطراتم همه سرشار از چنین رایحه‌های دلپذیری است

کوه‌های «گاییلان» را در بخش شرقی دره به یادم می‌آورم که سبکبار و پر از نور خورشید و شادی بودند، انگار انسان را با آغوش باز پذیرا می‌شدند تا جایی‌که هر کس آرزو می‌کرد به دامنه گرم آن‌ها پناه ببرد و احساسی همچون استراحت در دامن دایه‌ ای مهربان داشته باشد؛ گیاهان قهوه‌ ای رنگ همین ‎‌ها به انسان خوش آمد می‌گفتند؛ کوه‌های «سانتالوسیاس» در بخش غربی، سر به فلک می‌ساییدند، و دره و دریا را از هم جدا می‌کردند، دامنه های این کو‌ه‌ها تیره و متفکر، ناآشنا و خطرناک، به نظر می‌رسیدند

همواره نسبت به غرب، احساس وحشت و نسبت به شرق، احساس عشق و علاقه داشتم؛ نمی‌دانم چنین احساساتی از کجا به ذهن من رسیده بود، ولی شاید دلیل آن تنها طلوع خورشید از قله های سرفراز «گاییلان» و غروب آرام آن در خط راس کوهستان «سانتالوسیاس» بوده باشد)؛ پایان

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 05/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 29/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Mi ritrovo a corto di parole per descrivere questo libro, e la sua lettura. Ero partito un po' timoroso, temevo una lettura lunga e lenta, difficoltosa magari.
Invece la scrittura di Steinbeck mi ha subito catturato, la sua scorrevolezza e i suoi luoghi mi hanno trattenuto spesso più a lungo del dovuto tra le pagine del libro.
E i personaggi, le loro sfaccettature all'interno della monolicità che li contraddistingue, i loro dialoghi, le tematiche trattate...

Cosa dire che non sia stato già detto? Cosa dire di un capolavoro?

Tanti i temi trattati. L'identità delle persone e la loro ricerca del sé. Il tempo che passa e i costumi che mutano, in un'America che si stava affacciando al mondo, alla ricerca anch'essa del proprio sé.
L'amore, la gelosia, i legami famigliari.
La ricerca dell'amore e dell'affetto, la reazione al rifiuto da parte delle persone care, vero o percepito che sia.

Quest'ultimo è il tema portante della storia, una storia che in un certo senso parte da due fratelli e termina con due gemelli. Un fratello amato dal padre e l'altro meno, un fratello "buono" e l'altro, per contrasto, ombreggiato, cupo, incattivito. I tentativi di farsi amare, i cambiamenti che entrano nello spirito di fronte al rifiuto, la dualità tra amore e gelosia, affetto e risentimento.

I parallelismi con la storia di Caino e Abele, che coi gemelli sfocia quasi in una parodia agghiacciante durante la scelta dei nomi e la visita di Samuel anni dopo.

E ancora, i personaggi stupendi di Samuel e Lee, la figura odiosa e al tempo stesso penosa (perché difettosa) di Cathy, e quella in contrasto enorme e gigante di Abra.
Ma anche la famiglia di Samuel e il loro, di contrasto, con le dinamiche famigliari dei Trask.


Un viaggio enorme che sembra durare troppo poco, arrivati alla fine si deve mascherare del disappunto nello scoprire di aver già divorato le più di settecento pagine.

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

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

“There's more beauty in truth, even if it is dreadful beauty.”

La visione biblica del mondo di Steinbeck non è fosca e sanguinante come quella di Faulkner, è assolutamente armoniosa e pacificatrice. L’avevo capito leggendo Vicolo Cannery e Furore; ne La valle dell’Eden la definitiva conferma, a partire dal titolo.
A differenza che in Furore, in cui tema prevalente è la questione sociale, al centro de La valle dell’Eden ci sono i legami familiari ed i sentimenti che legano padri e figli, sulla falsariga di una storia che sempre si ripete, quella di Caino e Abele, macchiata dalla colpa del peccato , lavata dal perdono del Padre, ma soprattutto impreziosita dalla libertà che solo l’uomo ha di sbagliare ancora e ancora.
Si esce corroborati dalla lettura di questo corposo romanzo, la cui trama è conosciuta grazie al film di Elia Kazan del 1955 –che in realtà mette in scena soltanto l’ultima parte delle quattro in cui il libro è diviso-; si esce dalla lettura come illuminati dal pensiero che la fragilità dell’uomo costituisce la sua grandezza e lo rende la meraviglia dell’universo. Tra Cal ed Aron Trask, i due gemelli nati dall’incontro dell’onesto e limpido Adam con la demoniaca Cathy Ames, il lettore compie lo stesso percorso della giovane Abra: rimane colpita dalla bellezza angelica di Aron, ma alla fine comprende che la vera bellezza è nella complessità e ricchezza dell’animo umano, in ogni sua sfaccettatura, anche quelle che si nascondono nelle pieghe più riposte e negli angoli più bui, anzi soprattutto negli istinti e nel peccato, che rendono l’uomo fragile e disperato, miserevole ma “vero” in quello che Steinbeck definisce, attraverso le parole del personaggio che più di tutti spicca nel romanzo per umanità, il domestico cinese dei Trask, Lee, “il diritto di soffrire”.

On a side note, this is the 100th book I’ve reviewed this year, and I’m incredibly thankful that such a title fell onto a novel that mattered so much to me.

This was my first fully engaged experience with Steinbeck, and I was completely blown away. His prose was lovely in the way a desert is lovely; sparse but absolutely breathtaking in a certain slant of light. I read The Grapes of Wrath in college, but did so while reading 4 or 5 other classic chunky novels at the same time for various classes, meaning that none of them really stuck with me. But man, this book will stick. The ending gave me literal goosebumps, which is incredibly rare. If there is such a thing as The Great American Novel, I strongly believe that this should be it. I’ve never read a novel that felt more quintessentially American. The landscape described, the eras experienced, and the mentalities revealed all felt like an ode to everything that makes us American, which was one of the reasons it resonated with me so strongly. It just exactly captured our identity as a nation, both what we regret being and what we yearn to become. Not that this book won't ring true for NonAmerican readers. Not at all! Instead, I believe it would shed some light on our history, on who we are, and who we wish to be.

“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?”

East of Eden spans various families and generations, but centers around the intersection of the Hamilton family and the Trask family. Unbeknownst to them, the Trask family is caught in a cycle of living and reliving a curse as old as time: the battle of wills between Cain and Abel. This curse makes itself felt in multiple generations, and in multiple ways. It’s the saddest thing in the world to watch, but was an incredibly powerful trope to develop into the central focus of the plot. If you’re well acquainted with the Cain/Abel narrative from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, there are so many little Easter eggs in the story to track down and keep your eyes open for, which added another layer of fascination for me. There are so many clues to look for, but discovering them for yourself is half the fun.

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.”

This was one of the most deeply philosophical books I’ve ever read, which made me love it far more than I expected. The love I have for Samuel Hamilton and Lee knows no bounds. Their conversations on philosophy and Scripture and life in general were my very favorite parts of the novel. The linchpin of the entire story is the conversation they had about the Hebrew word Timshel, translated by some as “Thou shalt” and others as “Thou wilt.” But Lee contended that a third translation held more truth: “Thou mayest.” Free will is imperative to humankind; without it, we would be mere automatons in the hands of God. But instead, He imbued us with the capability of determining our own fate. That’s where Timshel comes into play. The words “Thou mayest” are incredibly powerful, as they put our choices back in our own hands. And that is the central struggle in the novel; becoming who you want to be in spite of the genetics or past stacked against you.

“An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.”

I don’t know that I’ve ever been this impacted by a classic outside of C.S. Lewis’s novel, Till We Have Faces. It moved me and made me think and I think it will stay with me. This is a book deserves to be reread. It deserves to be highlighted and annotated and tattered. It deserves to be discussed and debated. Most of all, it deserves to be read.

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

This was a buddy read with these lovelies: Mary, Haïfa, and TS.

One of the most appropriate epithets that apply to this novel is ‘monumental’. Indeed East of Eden stands as a monument to the entire epoch and those people that lived in those troubled days. This is a chronicle of generations – of parents and children.

When a child first catches adults out – when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just – his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone.

And like all colossal books East of Eden is a book of good and evil, a tale of God and man.

Maybe we all have in us a secret pond where evil and ugly things germinate and grow strong. But this culture is fenced, and the swimming brood climbs up only to fall back. Might it not be that in the dark pools of some men the evil grows strong enough to wriggle over the fence and swim free?

And by the power of his words John Steinbeck forces us not to read the story but to live among those he wrote about.

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.