By John Steinbeck
Rated ★★★★
"Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families -- the Trasks and the Hamiltons -- whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel." - Blurb from library site.
I ended up feeling very ambivilent about East of Eden. There were things about it that I really liked - his ability to put me into the place and time so that I felt like I was right there - and also the fact that it was a big fat family saga because I really like big fat family sagas so that I wanted to give it a five star rating in my journal.
But then there were some things that really bothered me about it. I felt like he belabored the "Cain and Able" anology thing. Maybe it's because I am a glass half full kind of person but I thought he was pretty cynical about human nature and made everyone a little worse than they needed to be.
So if I just looked at that part of the book I could only give it a three. I think I am going to compromise and give it a four.
