Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

11 reviews

nina_mk's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Blood, and Colonisation

elissa_t's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is my second Steinbeck book and I’m starting my third tomorrow. I will not lie, this book is thick and I was super intimidated by it, but the sorry captivated me and the themes are still very relevant in 2025. I like how the chapters were broken up by small chapters that described tbe scenes, the mood of people and the economics of the time. That helped illustrate the story even more so, along with the characters and dialogue. As someone who lives in California who’s grandparents immigrated here like tbe Joads, I had an extra layer of empathy and understanding. And also sadness. The shear magnitude of how poor, desolate, distraught, worried and lost these characters are made me very emotional. The ending was also perfect. Sad. But perfect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

corvusthore's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is such a good book. From the very focused world building to the deep characters, nothing to hate, a lot to love. It's definitely not a comfortable read throughout, but I wasn't expecting that either. Also a very interesting story for any communist or otherwise leftist person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Car accident, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

kristiniad's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

gabriella_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

God, what a great read.
Let me start with the problems.

I have some critiques. First -  I felt like it didn’t capture the breadth of displaced Americans for the time. Second - It was very white-centric and seemed to buy into Manifest Destiny shit. I take major issue with both of these. These are my narrative issues 

Clearly not as pressing but the pacing at point was inconsistent and dragged on. But I know at points that was the point.

Now the pros. 
I really loved the way Ma and Tom were characterized throughout. The family relations at points felt complex. There were really moving moments throughout, and great commentary that’s still relevant now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

the_annia's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Police brutality, and Classism

Minor: Blood and Murder

carpetconcretecrocodile's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

(4.5 Stars)

One of John Steinbeck’s greatest writing strengths, to me, is his ability to craft realistic scenarios that connect with people and encourage examinations of human life. And despite my love for East of Eden, I find that The Grapes of Wrath truly exemplifies that strength the most, and it makes perfect sense that it was banned upon release.

The way economic and social disparity is described in this book is often harrowing. The way each character in the Joad family portrays different personalities’ reaction to these disparities is part of what makes it so harrowing, as often times you can relate these characters to people that may be in your life, or perhaps even yourself. And I believe that’s how Steinbeck riled so many people up with this book- showing average, realistic people taking on the horrors that the Great Depression befell onto them, which allows for a much deeper connection and emotional response to the themes.

I found this book amazing, and it’s hard to describe in detail why that is. So I implore anyone who hasn’t to read it, and find out themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Police brutality, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs

fierymoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

i had to read this book for school so that kind of ruined the experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Blood

annapox's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The story was good. The writing was so detailed as to become boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury