***Disclaimer: I bought this this book. I am not affiliated with any brand or company and do not receive any money from any purchase. My opinions are my own and are completely unbiased***
John Steinbeck’s masterpiece hits many different aspects of life and takes you on an up and down journey of one man and his family. East of Eden discusses, suicide, war, love, hate, sibling rivalry, race, religion, and so much more! Written in 1951, John Steinbeck gives us a perspective of life during this time while also still being relevant today.
John Steinbeck wrote this book in his later years, but I think it may be one of the most beautiful books he ever wrote! He took ideas from the Book of Genesis and created a whole new world with some of the same thoughts! The story of Cain and Abel was very prominent throughout the book and left you gripping book from how tense some of the scenes. Steinbeck’s ability to make such a clear picture in your mind is seriously crazy good! You could see the fighting, the love in the eyes, the craziness of some of the people, and the hope of others.
While Steinbeck’s writing was tremendous, like all books, I felt like some things could have been better. There was so much going on in the book that I feel like I missed some of the points and I honestly got lost a few times. It also felt like the books was a little disorganized. For example, You could read three full chapters of Adam and Charles and then pop over to one of the Hamilton kids for a chapter and then get the narrator’s view on history then go back to a Hamilton to go a different part of Adam and Charles life. It was nice having many story lines, but there wasn’t a real pattern or anything to it. Even though the book was good, I found myself putting the book down a lot and choosing to do other stuff instead of reading the book.
East of Eden had a little bit of a slower start. It took me about 100 pages to really get into the story. While the story introduces you into two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks, the Trasks are the more of the focus in the book, more specifically Adam. Adam goes through a lot of heartbreak and regret (or at least I think he goes through a lot of regrets) in his life and we get to see him grow from a boy to entering his death. His story is quite remarkable and had me captured. I honestly could care less about the rest of the story lines, I only wanted to read his!
This may be a book that you would need to read twice (or more) to full understand it, but I had a lot of questions after reading it though the first time. For Starters, I don’t see why there was so much focus on all the Hamilton kids, I feel like some of it was irrelevant to the story. Another question I have is WHY KILL AARON???? Oh my word. This is the only death I think that really upset me. I probably missed the point of it but I really wanted him to come to terms with who he was and make a life for himself. Also Why did Kate/Cathy/Catherine shoot Adam in the shoulder and not kill him?? Did I miss that because if she felt any love for him I would of liked to know more about that. I have so many more but I think you have the gist.
All in all, this was a really good book. I would highly recommend it to adults, and mature teens. It does cover some topics that I don’t think would be okay you younger people to read. It is very detailed so to anyone who is looking to read it, I would just be warned.
If you would like to read this book there is a link on the picture to the book.
Nice and detailed review….:)
Thank you!