East of Eden by John Steinbeck Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of East of Eden
Book Review: AFTER THE FALL
Summary: 5 Stars
I usually do not read the comments of fellow reviewers at this site (or, in some cases, at least not until after I have written my own). I was, however,interested in finding out whether Steinbeck and his tale still held interest for today's readers. The answer seems to be yes. Moreover, I was also interested in what other people had to say about the symbolic nature of the clash between brothers and its relationship to the old oft-told biblical tales going back to the `first family'.
Damn, life has definitely been tougher since the `fall' from the garden. The morale to be derived from Steinbeck's novel is, apparently, that while the `fall of man' under the spell of earthly temptations had its downside humankind is better for the struggle. A strong argument can moreover be made that without that struggle by fallen humankind no serious progress would have been made. That struggle here is epitomized by the characters, tensions and actions of the two brothers (in both generations father Adam's and son Aron's) which makes me believe that that Steinbeck may see this process an eternal struggle and that we are endlessly doomed to roll that rock up the hill just to have it come crashing back down on us.
Those who have only seen the 1950's movie version of this novel starring, among others, James Dean and a young Julie Harris have missed some great writing about the effects of the struggle to rebuilt and attempts at redemption in the wake of the fall of Adam Trask and his struggle to change his ways. And through him, his sons. The movie (that I had seen long before reading the book) skips over the compelling first section which deals with the seemingly pre-ordained destruction of Adam, by his `wife', and his own character, among others. Moreover, in the movie the demonic role of the `wife' Kathy is glossed over (probably due to the less tolerate and more squeamish mores about `fallen women' in the 1950's). She is not a `nice' person. However, in the book she is positvely evil. Read the book and see why we, even the best of us, are all living just East of Eden.
Book Review: More Stars, Please
Summary: 5 Stars
What I want to know first is why, until now, no one had told me to read this book. If I could break the 5-star rule and give this book a 9-star rating, I would. It is currently, through the rose-colored glasses of my own perception and taste, the best book I have ever read. Steinbeck is my new favorite writer.
For books of this caliber, it seems a waste to relate the story in some kind of abridged synopsis. When one says a book recently read was good, people tend to ask the question, "What's it about?" The better question for a book like this might be "What makes it good?" The first question forces the reader to relate the storyline like a plot-spoiling movie trailer. The second encourages the reader to explain why the story is worth reading while preserving the integrity of the book. After all, the purpose of the book is just that--to relate the story.
I believe that good books entertain you, better books teach you, but great books inspire you. This book does all three. It is an ornate and cogent poem of a novel--relational, affecting, captivating. Every other sentence is profound. Steinbeck wastes no words. There is no filler--though the book is 600 pages--and not once did I feel as though I were working to get through it. The writing is absorbing and the content stirring, heart and mind.
For the first time in a long career of novel consumption, I did not binge on this book. It was so spectacular that I forced myself to moderate how much I read in a sitting. This is a filet mignon of a novel. Read it. Savor it. Tell someone else to do the same.
Book Review: 5 STARS.....Deserves nothing less.
Summary: 5 Stars
This and "Of mice and men" have made me a total Steinbeck nut. Im serious, this guy can write! Timshel, I will never forget that word. I really wont, and anyone thats ever read the book will know exactly what Im talking about. I picked this book up after reading "of mice and men" which totally blew me away, not much caring for the prostituted OPRAH label on it, but because the title was intriguing. It centers in around the themes of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, not in a religious sense but in more of a human kind form of looking at life. The defects of life and society are portrayed to a point where you really gotta sit back and think for a bit. I loved the characters too. I really felt like i Knew Sam hamilton. I loved it. Pick it up. Its a keeper.Book Review: simply a must-read
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit, when I felt the length of the novel weighing in my hands as i picked it up from the bookstore, I was a bit intimidated by what I could expect. I knew that East of Eden is probably one of the most renowned and famous piece of American literature of all time, but nevertheless, I was pessimistic when I began reading. However, that soon changed when I began to realize the brilliancy of the novel and recognized the masterpiece that it really is. This novel is truly one in a million.
The story is set in Salinas, California, where Steinbeck himself grew up, and follows two generations of the Trask family, the main one with Adam and his sons, Aron and Cal. The characters of Aron and Cal are purposeful allusions to the biblical story of Cain and Abel, and Steinbeck parallels them with great success. Not only does he follow the storyline, but Steinbeck is one of the few authors that is able to dig deep into the human soul and come out with something truly revolutionary: their inner-most vulnerability. His brilliant portrayal of these characters make them almost life-like, and in some ways, by spilling out their souls for me to see, I felt somewhat connected to them, and was able to share in their triumphs and falters, joys and miseries. Steinbeck so expertly integrates the story of Cain and Abel, a son crying out for a father's love, and the sibling rivalry that reins over it. This book has what every reader wants, wit, humor, perspective, and insight, all brilliantly tied together by the classic tale of two brothers.
Book Review: East of Eden & Springsteen
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck, one of the greatest American novelists. Though it wasn't this novel that inspired Bruce Springsteen to write his father trilogy (Adam raised a Cain, Independence Day and my Father's House) it might as well have been the similarities are startling, both between the author and the singer as between the novel and the songs. Both Springsteen and Steinbeck are autodidacts when it comes to social and religious matters, both have been known to weave that subject matter into their works. The most pronounced link between Springsteen and Steinbeck might be Grapes of Wrath but East of Eden shows that Bruce attraction to Steinbeck is far from coincidental. In short the novel deals with the heritage of sin. Steinbeck modeled his novel to Genesis and especially to the story of Cain and Abel. The novel is a slow unraveling of a family drama over three generations, with the focus on the last two. It was his most ambitious yet controversial novel at the time. Although the novel works at various levels, the level of inter familiar relationships is where the relation to Springsteen's music strikes the clearest chord.
In the centre of the novel is the upbringing of Cal(eb) and A(a)ron, the twin "sons" of Adam Trask. Their youth is plagued by the secret and sins of their parents. Unbeknownst to the twins their true father is Adam's brother Charles. Their mother, Kathy, they are told died at birth although in fact she rejected her marriage, her children and all that is good. Kathy ran of after giving birth to Salinas where she runs a brothel. When the oldest born, Cal, finds out he's is burdened by this. Cal feels his mother's sin in his blood, experiences it as something he barely can escape. "In the darkness of your room, your mother calls you by your true name, You remember the faces, the places, the names, You know it's never over it's relentless as the rain, Adam raised a Cain" Springsteen sings; "You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames", the song continues. Both the novel and the song pose a question. Is sin something we inherit out of the pain of our parents, is it in our blood, can we possibly escape the trappings our parent set for us.
In the novel the question around the heritage of sin is discussed in length. Ironically it takes a Chinese servant, Lee, to shed some light on the case. Almost as if Steinbeck wants to tell us we need a foreign view to understand ourselves, to show us our trappings, to be our mirror. Thought Steinbeck might also have wanted to stress the universality the heritage of sin. Anybody who's ever read close into the Bible already knows that it's not free of contradiction and mystery, some of it spurns from translation as not all Hebrew let's itself easily translated in other languages. Steinbeck shows us through Lee that the whole notion of heritage of sin might be as a result of clumsy translation. In the King James Bible God promises Cain he'll conquer sin, where as in the American standard Bible Cain is commanded to rule over sin. "Thou shalt rule" or "Do thou rule", two translations, a world of difference. Both seem to imply we inherit sin, but the way we conquer sin differs. In the first God takes away our sin, in the second He commands us to stay free of sin. In both cases man is left without will. It has been decided for him what sin is and that it must be conquered, the only difference is who does it. God or man himself by command. The translation drives from the Hebrew "Timshel", more purely translated "Thou mayest", implying a far more open question, leaving it open for man if he'll recognize sin and if he'll conquer sin. Steinbeck in East of Eden radically reinterprets the Bible giving us free will and choice, close to making God irrelevant. If we have free will and choice, if we can decide for ourselves independently, God is no longer all powerful. Not only that, it means we can shake ourselves free from our heritage.
This realisation is close to the understanding Springsteen reaches in Independence Day.
"Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
But they can't touch me now
And you can't touch me now
They ain't gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you"
In Independence Day is enclosed the realisation that the past cannot be chanced, it is something we carry with us and between us the rest of our (joint) lives. But Independence Day is also an affirmation of free will. In this song it seems that Springsteen no longer feels trapped in his heritage, he starts to make his own choices. The darkness can no longer touch him he exclaims and Springsteen decides on a different path as the one his father set out on or may have intended for him. The analogy is almost Biblical. Cast out of the Garden man set out on his own path making choices God neither intended nor wished for us but we have made with the free will installed in us.
With the unravelling of the novel Steinbeck starts to focus more and more on Cal and his relationship to his father. Steinbeck lets Cal play out a question that troubled him in the Bible. Why would God take preference over Abel's offer, does God have preferences, does he love some more than others. Steinbeck also shows our basic human need for recognition, our need to be accepted as full individuals by our parents as he lets the triangular relationship between Cal, Aron and Adam unravel. In the novel Aron develops as character that seems to meet Adam's wishes and desires. Adam sees in Aron the son he wanted, in Cal he seems to see the negative no matter how hard he tries, in his mind affirming the Sin he must have inherited from his mother, affirming he's no good. Although Cal has declared his independence earlier in the novel, his hunger for recognition fails to die causing him to hate his brother and hurt him severely. When Cal asks for his father's forgiveness and acceptance on his dying bed Adam just says Timshel, he may give him that, leaving the question unresolved but also leaving the choice of acceptance and forgiveness with Cal. He is left to forgive himself, he is left to accept himself, he is left with his own choices for bad or good despite how his father may perceive him.
A same kind of sentiment seems to breathe from "My Father's House", the song where Springsteen revisits his Father, looking for some closure but finding none. "My father's house shines hard and bright it stands like a beacon calling me in the night, Calling and calling, so cold and alone, Shining 'cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned"