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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Painfully beautiful. One great big soul . . . Scarcity mentality . . . Love . . . Fear
That closing scene hit close to home on multiple levels
That closing scene hit close to home on multiple levels
The Fall Of The House Of Joad
I know The Grapes Of Wrath is supposed to be Steinbeck's big deal master performance, but I honestly found it to be among the less insightful of his works. The sweeping structure of the novel is well done and its characters are endearing, but the plot slows down along the way like a broke down jalopy coming to a sagging final resting place on the side of some California desert.
Witness the family Joad as they are unjustly uprooted from their generational homestead (which was previously stolen from Native Americans) by American big business. Watch as they join the flood of American working people from the middle west as they rush toward the orange groves and cotton fields of California. See the social upheaval and insidious corruption on all levels as the Joads face cruelties from everyone from the fellow displaced to the local population to the police to the authorities over the entire state. Listen as every working man trying to keep his children alive is called a Red Communist by those who was labor cheaper than financially feasible. Watch as babies with distended bellies writhe and die in a ditch while their parents are kept away from excess fruit in the fields at gunpoint by the police working for the Farmer's Association. Witness the slow separations, by death or murder or broken heartedness, of the members of the house of Joad.
Reading The Grapes Of Wrath is like choking on a chicken bone. I'm not one to turn my head at a depiction of injustice or depravity or suffering, but something in the style of this book makes one feel like a fish on a line, being played along with little upturns of fortune between each thousand foot descent. The novel ends up feeling like a despair thriller, in which the reader constantly wants to shout "Look out behind you!" as soon as the Joads find a stroke of good luck. Most of Steinbeck's books make the reader feel intimately acquainted in the relationships at hand, but the intentional breaks for a sweeping overview of the state of the nation help to make this one feel remote and keeps the characters at a distance. Those breaks are really well written and drive home a powerful point, but they drive this novel into a realm of total despair that makes it hard to feel enlightened in any way.
The plot shrivels up and nearly dies in the end, so that the final glimpse of the endurance of the human spirit feels like the opposite of a crescendo. It almost reads like Steinbeck overwhelmed himself with the desperate plot and couldn't figure out how to end it without driving the Joad's truck off a cliff. It would have probably been a more appropriate ending considering the novel as a whole.
There is one thing this novel accomplishes with a resounding and reverberating clarity. If you believed that the United States is a place where rule of law was supreme and justice is meant to be served, where corruption is in a greater minority that elsewhere and ideals of human dignity are held to a higher place of honor than elsewhere, this novel should shake that notion right out of you. It is strange to read this story and know that it is all based on historical facts, to see it in light of all the other atrocities happening throughout the past couple of centuries and to run your nose bluntly up against the fact that the US isn't better than any other country when it comes to caring for rights or justice. It might in fact be worse, because we advertise for the help that we plan to imprison.
I know The Grapes Of Wrath is supposed to be Steinbeck's big deal master performance, but I honestly found it to be among the less insightful of his works. The sweeping structure of the novel is well done and its characters are endearing, but the plot slows down along the way like a broke down jalopy coming to a sagging final resting place on the side of some California desert.
Witness the family Joad as they are unjustly uprooted from their generational homestead (which was previously stolen from Native Americans) by American big business. Watch as they join the flood of American working people from the middle west as they rush toward the orange groves and cotton fields of California. See the social upheaval and insidious corruption on all levels as the Joads face cruelties from everyone from the fellow displaced to the local population to the police to the authorities over the entire state. Listen as every working man trying to keep his children alive is called a Red Communist by those who was labor cheaper than financially feasible. Watch as babies with distended bellies writhe and die in a ditch while their parents are kept away from excess fruit in the fields at gunpoint by the police working for the Farmer's Association. Witness the slow separations, by death or murder or broken heartedness, of the members of the house of Joad.
Reading The Grapes Of Wrath is like choking on a chicken bone. I'm not one to turn my head at a depiction of injustice or depravity or suffering, but something in the style of this book makes one feel like a fish on a line, being played along with little upturns of fortune between each thousand foot descent. The novel ends up feeling like a despair thriller, in which the reader constantly wants to shout "Look out behind you!" as soon as the Joads find a stroke of good luck. Most of Steinbeck's books make the reader feel intimately acquainted in the relationships at hand, but the intentional breaks for a sweeping overview of the state of the nation help to make this one feel remote and keeps the characters at a distance. Those breaks are really well written and drive home a powerful point, but they drive this novel into a realm of total despair that makes it hard to feel enlightened in any way.
The plot shrivels up and nearly dies in the end, so that the final glimpse of the endurance of the human spirit feels like the opposite of a crescendo. It almost reads like Steinbeck overwhelmed himself with the desperate plot and couldn't figure out how to end it without driving the Joad's truck off a cliff. It would have probably been a more appropriate ending considering the novel as a whole.
There is one thing this novel accomplishes with a resounding and reverberating clarity. If you believed that the United States is a place where rule of law was supreme and justice is meant to be served, where corruption is in a greater minority that elsewhere and ideals of human dignity are held to a higher place of honor than elsewhere, this novel should shake that notion right out of you. It is strange to read this story and know that it is all based on historical facts, to see it in light of all the other atrocities happening throughout the past couple of centuries and to run your nose bluntly up against the fact that the US isn't better than any other country when it comes to caring for rights or justice. It might in fact be worse, because we advertise for the help that we plan to imprison.
No better picture of the tragedy of the dustbowl. Prepare to be depressed.
I had to read this in college. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Quite possibly the worst book I have ever had to read in high school, and the longest!
I love the way Steinbeck includes the details of everyday life especially in mechanics and food. It makes everything feel foreign yet very nostalgic.
This book swept me away. I’m stunned at how deep and powerful it was. Like rain. Like love. It’s mysterious how history repeats itself and how we still see the Stranger in the Other.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm just boggled that people still talk about the great American novel like it's a thing of the future.
Gripping to the very last paragraph. Every word, every sentence, every idea is just incredibly meaningful and rich. A true classic.