and this might be the best first hundred pages of a book i've ever read.
i almost didn't even start it because of its length – its been sitting on my desk checked out from a library for over a week and i haven't picked it up until today, and now i cannot wait to read every word. i might even finish it tonight lol (that would be ridiculous – people have lives. they can't just stay up and read all night!)
holy cow i had no idea steinbeck was such a literary savant. the imagery, the character development, the setting, the thoughtfulness of the plot, i'm absolutely blown away. and i didn't realize how adult the themes and topics were going to be, just amazing stuff. i read grapes of wrath as a high schooler and loved it but revisiting his full length novels is something i should have done long ago.
what should i read next?
(i have also read of mice and men this year but it didn't blow me away the way this book has thus far)
by RackCitySanta
2 Comments
East of Eden is my second favorite novel. Other reads that squeezed my mind grapes in a similar way are Pachinko (my first favorite), A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I am a sucker for a generational/coming of age tale.
I love East of Eden but my personal favorite Steinbeck novel is Tortilla Flat. It is set in Monterey and is about some hard drinking Paisanos who have their own peculiar sense of values. A short easy read which I do every five years or so; Danny and the boys.