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To A God Unknown

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"To A God Unknown" is Steinbeck's disturbing treatment of spirituality, superstition, and the power of faith. This is a story that will stick to the ribs of the thoughtful reader. At turns horrific and beautiful, this is a book to be read at intervals in the course of the life of a spiritual seeker. You will be haunted by the truths found beneath the hard stones of Steinbeck's simple language, and will find yourself returning again to this disturbing kingdom of the soul. Combining elements of Christianity, Paganism, and free-form superstition, this book may well cause you to reassess your thoughts on the nature of the mind and of god.

John Steinbeck's "To A God Unknown" reached into my soul and what emerged was a clearer sense of myself. This novel truly spoke to me. It is known that Steinbeck had an adversity toward organized religion, and that fact is evident in the text of this book. What struck me most was the insight into paganism and the worship of nature in its truest, rawest form. Man living in harmony with nature is a recurring theme along with the fact that humans must not desecrate the earth for monetary gains, but rather must understand nature and live within nature's guidelines. Steinbeck's lyrical prose confirms these beliefs that I hold close to my heart

As always with John Steinbeck's novels, "To a God Unknown" is lyrically descriptive and intensely potent with emotion and meaning. The topic matter of this novel might seem like strange territory for the Steinbeck of "Cannery Row" or "Of Mice and Men", but is filled with his trademark depictions of men who have been broken by life trying to find their way. This time the novel focuses on Joseph Wayne and his family as they try to eek out a living in the valley of Nuestra Senora in California.

Joseph Wayne leaves his family and dying father in Vermont to fulfill his dreams of owning his own land in the vast unknown country. After he has established his farm, he receives news that his father has passed away, and his brothers shortly come to live with him at his ranch. The Wayne family experiences every prosperity the land has to offer and happiness settles on them; however, Joseph believes that this prosperity is due to the spirit of his father who resides in the great oak tree he built his house next too. He daily offers news and sacrifices (of a sort) to the tree as a way of thanksgiving. This worries his devoutly Christian brother Burton, who eventually destroys the tree when he leaves the ranch. As soon as the tree is destroyed and dying, disaster settles upon the ranch and the Wayne family.

After the disaster strikes, Steinbeck takes readers along on Joseph's quest as he madly searches for the meaning behind the dying land and a way to bring it back to life. In his search, he means to leave no stone unturned, no matter what the sacrifice. "To a God Unknown" is a compelling examination of man's fate and beliefs. The story is beautifully told with vivdly poetic descriptions of the land. And yet the characters seem to lack some luster, some thread of reality. While some may mark that up to the story being a fable, a vast quantity of the dialogue rings untrue and leaves the characters flatly, one-dimensional. The story is strongest when the author isn't forcing his characters to confess things to move the story along, when it's allowed to unfold with the enviable grace that infuses all of Steinbeck's greatest works.

Every great once in a while, a gem of a story falls into your hands, and so it is with "To A God Unknown". I have never understood why this book has not received the notoriety that it well deserves. It is truly Steinbeck's sleeper.

I have recently been reading some of the current 'bestsellers' and the Oprah books and have become thoroughly disillusioned and disgusted with what we're killing trees to produce. I think it's time to reread something worthwhile.

If only J.S. could be reincarnated.

The story is based on man's relationship with the land. On another level, it re-enacts the ancient ritual of sacrifice in return for rain and thus crops and life itself. It retells the ages-old worship of wooden gods and animism. It leaves one to wonder if we had ever purged ourselves of these "ways" but rather embedded them further within ourselves in these "modern" times. It is a pagan theme that goes throughout. Beautifully written, the heart and feel of the California landscape never left me doubting as to where this is. If you've ever spent time in the valley, the descriptions hit home. If you've never been, it will prepare you mentally and perhaps physically, for the heat. And in the little oases of wood and stream, he has captured the coolness and mystic qualities that still exist today. From a premier California storyteller, this is a California jewel.

To a God Unknown is a book full of powerful images. Reading about the mossy stone in its lonely pine grove still makes me shudder, and I am not a superstitious or particularly spiritual person. To the protagonist Joseph, the land is god and god is everything, and it exacts great and terrible payments for the fertility and life that Joseph craves. Like almost of all of Steinbeck's novels, it is beautifully written and full of vividly drawn people. However in other ways it is very unlike most of his novels. It isn't funny, not even a little, and it isn't quite about people. I can't quite describe what it is about (the interconnectedness of all life? human longing for kinship with nature? fate?), or adequately explain the feelings it evokes in me.

John Steinbeck has a habit of leaving the reader hanging a little bit at the end of his stories. "To a God Unknown" is no different. This is one of the more admirable qualities of Steinbeck as he does not tell the reader what to think. He trusts the reader's intelligence.

Steinbeck tells this story in the setting that seems to be his trademark, the early agricultural societies of the West. Joseph Wayne is struggling in his faith. He adopts pagan beliefs because they work while his land prospers. When the tree that is the center of his pagan beliefs is killed by his religious brother, the farm and his life begin a downward spiral. While the story almost seems biblical in the beginning, it becomes strange after the tree is killed. While Joseph seems to be a saint in the beginning, his character unravels. After the death of his wife and giving away his only son, Joseph takes to worshiping the moss growing on a rock. Eventually, the moss becomes the center of his life. The mossy rock becomes the scene of his demise as it was the scene of his wife's demise.

The last scene will require some thought and reflection for the reader. Perhaps you will find your own interpretation. In the final scene, the priest hopes Joseph is happy with the rain. He says this unknowing of Joseph's death/apparent suicide. Both the pagan and the priest received what they prayed for in the end. The priest has the last word. I think this tells you who was right. The thought-provoking nature of the book makes it a very underrated classic from Steinbeck.

Years ago I read this novel at the urging of my father, a big Steinbeck fan. He said it was 'spooky'. It was tough to understand at the time, and still tough upon rereading now, but that is the beauty of it.. what is being said here? Steinbeck seems to flit back and forth between approval of his main character's actions and warning against them. The message comes through clearly that Nature is a chaotic force, but some devotees have a special connection with it. Nature is truly presented as another religion, perhaps more powerful than the ones we consider mainstream. And like any other religion, the God of nature calls a particular few, sometimes causing division in families . The style is sometimes a bit disconnected, but the book is a definite recommend for deep thinkers. Also particularly interesting is the foreward explaining the origins of the novel's theme and the time and effort it took Steinbeck to write... he spent more time on this novel than on any other. I will pick this up and reread it again, in a few years. It's that kind of book.

Maybe I read too much Steinbeck, but its only because I usually love his writing. However, I found this particualr novel to be dissapointing. Although there was potential for interesting characters and character development, it never came through. I understand that the main character was supposed to be hard to understand, but I don't like that it was this idea that was developed rather than the character himself. The points on religion and connection to the earth fell through in similar fashion; interesting ideas were brought up in sporadic well-written scenes, but then never fully developed. If you want a better written and more pleasurable read that include the same, but thought-out views, read East of Eden. This novel was in fact the predecessor to Steinbecks masterpeice; and it seems to merely be a brainstorm. The plot itself was a dissapointment as well. I usually enjoy Steinbecks cynical realism and irony, but in this case it was pitiful. There was so much foreshadowing, that what it led to became unimportant and inti-climactic.

"To a God Unknown" is one of the most cryptic or simply weird novels I have ever read. I write this more as a book report, as opposed to a review, for my own clarification.

The story begins simply enough. Joseph Wayne, a carbon copy of his father, upon reaching adulthood faces the harsh realities of sharing a small Vermont homestead with his three brothers. To his father's chagrin, he travels west to the new promised land of California, where he finds a fine tract of land and sets down roots. Everything seems at first so promising in his land of milk and honey. Yet he soon finds out that the previous settlers had been forced to flee on account of a mercilessly relentless drought. Undaunted, he dismisses out of hand any notions of past disaster and even goes so far as welcoming his three brothers to move west to share in the wealth.

Steinbeck drew a sharp contrast in the way he depicted the four Wayne brothers. The stoic Joseph was the oldest and natural leader of the pack. Thomas was a naturalist whose love and caring for wild things overshadowed everything else. Burton was the fire and brimstone brand of fundamentalist who forcefully took exception with anyone who departed from his notions of creation. The baby of the family, Benjamin, was by disposition prone to laziness, drinking and womanizing. At first, the unified family made a success with the land. But, as so often seems the case when it comes to the long-term practicality of communal living, internal dissensions spelled its ultimate demise. Benjamin's transgressions with one of the farm helper's wives results in his being brutally stabbed to death. Furthermore, owing to Joseph's pantheistic inclinations,* Burton leaves the farm.

The final blow arrives in the form of drought. In searching out sources of water at an ancient, legendary spring, Joseph tragically loses his new wife to a freak fall. Emotionally and spiritually distraught by the scorched earth, Thomas flees with the few remaining emaciated livestock. Lastly, Steinbeck closes the book with Joseph's suicide. Perhaps he provided this as a metaphor. Did not Christ give up his life here on Earth so that we might have a better chance of reaching heaven? Could it not, therefore, be interpreted in a rather convoluted way that Joseph's taking of his own life was a means through which to bring about the drought's end and return to the people its promised land?

*Joseph views a large oak tree on the farm as an extension of the soul of his deceased father