5.36k reviews for:

The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck

3.78 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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: Complicated

An essential read for 2025. Brilliant. Listen to the penguine classics recording on your commute. It is all about organized labor and the agricultural industry in the 1930s, but it transcends its time and space brilliantly. Mostly because so much has not changed across many large industries. 

Also, if you have any maga relatives, recommend to them this book. Again, the recording is great.

"No - the stars are close and dear and I have joined the brotherhood of the worlds. And everything's holy - everything, even me."

Quite possibly the Greatest American Novel.
challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
dark emotional sad 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
challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Mind blowing tale that's worryingly relevant today.
challenging reflective slow-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

Slow read due to heavy dialect, but about halfway through you realize you are reading an important history lesson and getting a hard reality of the Dust Bowl Migration. I’m sad to read that my California treated migrants so poorly and had no empathy.

The end is just a killer. Wow. Glad I read it. What a journey it took me on!