Customer Reviews

East of Eden

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This is a great book to read if you're looking for plot, style, story and structure. John Steinbeck is obviously the best in all three categories. After all, the man did win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. I was in the navy way back then, and we were right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, so literature was the farthest thing from my mind. But, after all these years, I've finally gotten around to reading this masterpiece and, I assure you, it is well worth the six hundred pages. Plus, the Penguin book format is so easy to manage.

East of Eden is all about a man named Adam Trask who, after being discharged from the army and inheriting a small fortune from his deceased father, settled in rural Salinas Valley, California around the turn of the century. He bought a farm and, over the course of his life he survived a fatal love attraction, a horrid marriage, reared two sons, met some life-long friends and wonderfully colorful characters, and even tried his had at business. For the most part, heartache and sorrow were his rewards. Such is life. But that's just the storyline. To me, this book was more about style than story. The way Steinbeck constructed his story, developed his characters, twisted his plot, and the beautiful descriptions he used made this book a joy to read, as well as an enlightening literary experience. I thought it was great.

I recommend East of Eden to anybody who is interested in reading his or her way through the American classics.

New book arrived with markedly creased front cover. Less than perfect. When advertized as brand new, I am one to expect that the item will really appear as brand new. My "new" book did not.