John Steinbeck's East of Eden

This is a book I would consider a modern-day classic. It was easy-to-read and compelling. That's not an easy task for a writer tackling a novel of this scope. If you're unfamiliar with the novel, according to the preface East of Eden is "an ambitious saga of the Salinas Valley (California) and [Steinbeck's] own family's history." It sounds like you'd be bored to tears, but you'd be wrong. I'm not sure how much is fabricated, but these characters led some mighty interesting lives. Plus, Steinbeck's prose is not hard to understand at all, but he's still a very powerful writer. The man could tell a story.

What I loved most are the meditations on life Steinbeck weaves throughout the novel. For example, before introducing the reader to a certain character, he discusses "monsters born in the world to human parents." He explains, "Some you can see, misshapen and horrible, with huge heads or tiny bodies." Then he asks, "And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?" Such an observation seems so obvious, but not everyone can put it into words quite like that. That is what makes a novel great in my opinion. Any book that makes me nod my head in agreement, shake my head in wonder, cringe, laugh, cry, etc. is a great book.

Has anyone else read this? Any thoughts?

Next I'll be reading Ava's Man by Rick Bragg. I read All Over But the Shoutin' several years ago, and I really enjoyed it. We'll see how Ava's Man turns out.