Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

39 reviews

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

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

We’ll start over. But you can’t start over. Only a baby can start. You and me-why, we’re all that’s been. The anger of a moment. The thousand of pictures, that’s us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the dust years and the flight years are us. We can’t start again.” The Grapes of Wrath

Absolutely breathtaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

chemwhiz95's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emileeandherbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

BAHAHAHAHA that ending!!!!!!!!!!! I could probably go on about how the ending has a deeper meaning, but instead you get my raw reaction haha. 

Anyway. Screw the 1%! Eat the rich! 

Anyway pt. 2. I found this book to be very slow and often times very boring, but when it was good it was really good - and it got me thinking about rich vs. poor, which I’m always thinking about. 

I think the whole message is that we can all choose to be kind, have humanity, and become ‘one’ (hi, communism!!❤️). If we all chose to take care of one another, there wouldn’t be these massive economic gaps that are crippling for the lesser end. I noticed that both rich vs. poor during this book would break ‘societal rules’ / the law but if crime was done by a starving, impoverished person who had trial after trial, I felt it was justified; like stealing or even violent reactions sometimes (how could you not get violent/angry when you’re literally dying alongside your family?) Whereas the rich would shoot people off their property, attack them in the night or call the cops on them. Which is DISGUSTING behavior. Completely uncalled for. I don’t know if what I’m trying to say here makes sense. 

America clearly has an issue with poverty and always has. Which is extremely disheartening. I don’t want to give up though because no matter what, I can help someone somehow. Once we give up, it really will crumble. WE ARE THE MANY! STAND TOGETHER 4EVER!

Lastly, these migrants had it ROUGH! If you want a real, painful look into the Dust Bowl years then read on! If you want a happy book then seriously, go find another read. 9/10 times something bad is happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Racial slurs

asphodelhazel13's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

paddyj's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I read this many many years ago, but wanted to read it again because many of the plot elements have circled around again in America, namely poverty, migrants searching for a better life, hostility and xenophobia, and a monied class all to eager to exploit them.
GoW is approx 80 years old and it remains current and valuable if for no other reason to show how far we have come and what we are in danger of going back to.
The Joad family is forced off their farm by the banks, they travel to California with the promise of work, but find their new home unwelcoming to the extreme.
1930s America has no social safety nets: no unemployment, no social security, no welfare of any sort, no minimum wage, and no labor unions. You worked or you starved. And the owners exploited this desperation, by paying as little as they could. 
It's really an astounding indictment of America, and doubly astounding that there are some who wish to go back there.
Tom Joad gets all the praise, but Ma Joad is the really driving force here. With absolutely nothing - and I mean nothing - she always looked for ways to help people in need. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

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

beautifulminutiae's review against another edition

dark sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Murder

sundayfever's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This read much faster than I expected given how long it is. Interesting and made me reflect. The core issues around class, poverty and respect for the land are still issues today, despite the age of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs

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