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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I hated this book when I read it in high school, but I bet I'd think differently about it now.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's a classic for a reason. The writing is beautiful and captures the challenges of the time and strength of the characters
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the great American novel.
4,5/5
Geweldig deprimerend boek. Steinbeck is een van m’n favoriete auteurs geworden
Geweldig deprimerend boek. Steinbeck is een van m’n favoriete auteurs geworden
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would, ig I was originally put off bc I just knew this as an American High School Book, but it was really beautifully written and had a good, full exploration of capitalism’s affect on land and community
When I was in school our teachers taught us about “specialisation in the economy” as if it were the big advancement of our recent times. But here, laid out, is how it destroyed farms and fields and lives. And still does so. I wonder how, in American schools where I understand kids read this book as part of the curriculum, they teach this book alongside the “glories” of specialisation? How it gets taught in a place where people distrust migrants? Steinbeck rebukes all of it.
I couldn’t help but think about the current migrant crisis going on across the world, but particularly the many Venezuelan’s making their way across the American continents. Chapter 17 perfectly captures this. Though the circumstances are different, the way Steinbeck paints a human picture of a mass movement, the rules that govern the travelling societies, the dramas (tragedies AND joys) contained within them - these make the novel enduring and timeless. But also, Steinbeck captures the other side, the hatred towards migrants (Chapter 21), the defensive judgements about them, the view of them as inhuman, needful criminals. And so he says a lot about our present day world.
Steinbeck’s descriptions of the land are stunning. Sometimes Steinbeck sounds like Wendell Berry - though I know that comparison should go the other way around. He writes the land as a character. The paragraphs at the beginning of Chapter 11 are gorgeous. They make you want to be outside, touching dirt. But like Berry he wants you to know that for “advancement” we are ruining not just our connection with the land, but the land itself. “There is a failure here that topples all our successes” (p365).
Glad to have finally read this classic and to have discovered why it is one.
I couldn’t help but think about the current migrant crisis going on across the world, but particularly the many Venezuelan’s making their way across the American continents. Chapter 17 perfectly captures this. Though the circumstances are different, the way Steinbeck paints a human picture of a mass movement, the rules that govern the travelling societies, the dramas (tragedies AND joys) contained within them - these make the novel enduring and timeless. But also, Steinbeck captures the other side, the hatred towards migrants (Chapter 21), the defensive judgements about them, the view of them as inhuman, needful criminals. And so he says a lot about our present day world.
Steinbeck’s descriptions of the land are stunning. Sometimes Steinbeck sounds like Wendell Berry - though I know that comparison should go the other way around. He writes the land as a character. The paragraphs at the beginning of Chapter 11 are gorgeous. They make you want to be outside, touching dirt. But like Berry he wants you to know that for “advancement” we are ruining not just our connection with the land, but the land itself. “There is a failure here that topples all our successes” (p365).
Glad to have finally read this classic and to have discovered why it is one.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It’s crushing