Steinbeck was one of the few authors assigned in high school that I actually enjoyed. I always meant to read more books by him, but I got distracted by other things.
A few year ago, I saw the movie “East of Eden”, and really enjoyed it, so I’ve been meaning to read the book for some time now. I had a hard time finding a decent copy, but when I saw it in the Oita library I grabbed it.
Because I had already seen the movie, I was a little worried that I would get bored with the book, but actually it turns out the movie only deals with a small portion of the actual story. The book actually traces three generations of two different families: the Trasks and the Hamiltons. In this way the book is actually a much more epic story. It reminded me of Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks".
The Hamilton family is John Steinbeck’s actual maternal family, and so Steinbeck writes himself into the book, including what I’m assuming are real autobiographical details mixed in with his fictional story. This is an interesting literary technique, and some of the most interesting parts of the book are those dealing with Steinbeck’s life, such as the time he recalls with great regret about how he and his sister took part in the harassment of a German immigrant during the first World War.
As the title indicates, and as anyone who’s seen the movie knows, this story is a modern retelling of the Garden of Eden story. I’ve heard that this book has been criticized for lack of subtlety, and this is really true. The characters themselves even comment on the Garden of Eden and the Genesis story, so that there’s never any doubt as to where the story is going. In this regard those who have seen the movie, and already know how the story will end, are at no more disadvantage than those approaching the story for the first time. At times I felt things were a little heavy handed, but on the other hand it’s kind of refreshing for an author to be like: “look, I’m not going to be coy with you and make you guess at the symbolism. This is the story I want to tell. It’s all out in the open for you.”
Useless Wikipedia Fact
The September 25, 2005 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that Tillman held views which were critical of the Iraq war and did not support President Bush's re-election. According to Tillman's mother, a friend of Tillman had arranged a meeting with Noam Chomsky, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. The article also reported that Tillman urged a soldier in his platoon to vote for John Kerry in the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.
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CIA Spy Speaks Out: No WMDs in Iraq Was Not an 'Intelligence Failure'
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I have read this book up to somewhere, I definitely have gotten past the point in which the brother talks to the protagonist about how their dad loves the protag but not him no matter how he tried. Likely that I shall never finish this book. I do regret wasting my family's money on the English version of this book however.
ReplyDeleteI have no kind word to say about Steinbeck. I personally love to call his works "peasant literature". Having spent most of my life in the rural sh1th0l3 of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, I see no reason to shed any tear or feel any resonance toward any of the disgusting backward culture that the likes of Steinbeck and JD Vance love to extol.
I may sound like a British cigarette by bringing up how sexist this book seems to be when he writes a vile woman who does bad things just because - but that greatly put me off.
Just to be comprehensive (I don't want really want to touch on this), sentences that talk about how he or whoever love to champion and bring about freedom is something I have an aversion against.
Oh, almost forgot the wise sage Asian old man cr4p. If you already want some foreign wise sage to vindicate your conservatism, might as well rope in Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Although I should give credit where it's due - the first dedication page to his friend is the best he has written, to the point I got scammed into buying the book.
Personal recommendation: watch the movie guys, why torture yourself with the novel? I have never watched the movie but I'm sure it should be much better than this (it has James Dean doesn't it? I like him, his best movie is Giant though; actually maybe I have watched East of Eden a bit? Not something I'm really interested in so no wonder why I forgot).
The movie is worth watching. It's a different animal from the book entirely, but it's still worth watching.
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