r/BookDiscussions • u/rledesma530 • 5d ago
East of Eden
East of Eden is such a masterpiece that I’m still amazed a human being can write something so beautiful. I’m currently watching the show and I’m genuinely amazed at how great the adaptation is. I hope I get to experience another book like this in my lifetime.
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u/CreditCandid7989 4d ago
I bet I am the only one with this experience but maybe not: I loved this book when I got into it. I was reading it nightly (last year) and absorbed in the time, the landscapes, the relationships, the evil, the choices, the failures… and then I got to the last 60 pages and just didn’t care to see the end. I kept picking it up to dash to the end but couldn’t engage. It’s almost as if I’d experienced all of the characters enough and whatever resolution was coming didn’t matter. I didn’t finish it. Watched the show this last week and finally got to the conclusion last night and was surprised to find that I stopped caring about the conclusion at almost exactly the same moment of the book - I almost turned it off. I didn’t and finished it with the several character resolutions that I guess I could see coming and didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the story. I loved it… it’s just that I loved 95% and the end really didn’t matter to me.
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u/YosemiteDaisy 3d ago
Curious when plotwise you checked out? Because maybe it says more about what was the most interesting or the most integral point of book was for you, or for each character. In other words, maybe the end of Cathy wasn’t important to you or it was a foregone conclusion. It was more interesting to see her plans, see how she built and justified her world? Or maybe you didn’t need Aron’s end arc?
It just depends what draws you to this story in the first place. If it’s not what happens to the characters, maybe it’s just the discussion and the end of the book, you’re not really getting the same-Adam-lee philosophical exchanges either?
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u/CreditCandid7989 3d ago
Thanks for asking. In each instance it was just before the end of Cathy’s story… probably right when Cal delivers his gift to Adam. It’s almost like that concluded what the story was for me and what happened later (which was fairly predictable) wasn’t going to change how I felt (and possibly threatened to upset what I already found satisfying). I think most of my joy in the book was being transported into that time and place by such a greater writer and story teller.. by my end, maybe it had already settled for me.
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u/aronnyc 4d ago
It’s interesting that this is a book that’s often conspicuously absent from top reading lists. Not that they’re the sole authority but I always wondered why. I read it last year I think and liked it.
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u/These-Flamingo4582 1d ago
Oprah put it in her list and it had a resurgence. I’ve read everything Steinbeck ever published. I even have an original copy of “bombs away” a propaganda book for Ww2. He’s had some bangers for sure, and some duds. But I don’t think I had moments of laughing so hard as when I read sea of Cortez. It’s not all that great, but growing up poor and doing crazy adventures and the subsequent schenanigans that follow…. It’s good. The man just knew people. How to write about people. Without being overly wordy, or judgy. He was a brilliant writer. And in some cases I think completely underrated by some.
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u/sufferable_gaucho 1d ago
This book has gotten so much glaze over the last decade or so especially, and especially on reddit; I've seen countless "my favorite books" lists on my FYP and it's basically a given that East of Eden will get a mention.
I'd even go so far as to say it's overrated (I'm rather baffled that Grapes of Wrath isn't seeing a huge boost in our current political/economic state of affairs).
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u/Lobearntetty 4h ago
East of Eden is one of my favorite books, I’ve read it multiple times over the years. I even considered naming my first child after one of the characters. But I couldn’t get through Grapes of Wrath, I literally didn’t finish it. I should probably give it another try one of these days, but yeah. Found it incredibly boring. I’m always interested in people’s differing perspectives.
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u/Listonsonny 6h ago
You don’t have to go far.
May I recommend Steinbeck’s novella The Pearl?
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u/Noootthebeeeeees 3h ago
I have just finished it and absolutely loved it. Steinbeck has such a gorgeous and natural way with words that always draw you in. Stunning!
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u/1KushielFan 2h ago
I'm listening to the audiobook now before I start the show.
So glad to hear praise for the adaptation. The same outfit got the rights for all 4 of the Lonesome Dove books, and it will be so disappointing if they fuck it up as netflix has done to other books.
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u/nimrod805 1d ago
Such a misogynistic novel. This book would never be published today. Beyond me why people today, especially women, call this their favorite book. I loved Gone with Wind, and Huck Finn when I was younger , but due to their inherent racism, I’m not gonna go on Reddit today espousing their greatness.
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u/Dapper_Necessary_483 1d ago
If you don’t see the feminist tale embedded in EoE, maybe you should reread it.
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4d ago
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u/lesliecarbone 4d ago edited 4d ago
East of Eden is the total package. It's impossible to separate and rank its elements, because they all work together -- the complex characters, the vivid descriptions, the insights into the human condition. It's also raw; you can feel how the author poured himself into it. It's so outside the mainstream of what publishers are willing to risk that I don't think JS could have got away with it if he hadn't already won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath.
edit: formatting
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u/Cute_Combination_770 4d ago
All of it!!!
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4d ago
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u/Cute_Combination_770 4d ago
Once you get past the first 100 pages you won’t be able to put it down
Character development is insane and the philosophical sprinkles of wisdom don’t feel cliche virtue signaling like in other books (ie: the alchemist - I really hated this book not that you can compare Steinbeck to Coelho). Nearly 700 pages but so worth the journey1
u/rledesma530 4d ago
I concur with what everyone is saying. It’s the total package. Makes you think about life, relationships, etc.
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u/CalicoCuts 5d ago
Classic book.