A review by angiegruggett
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

challenging emotional funny reflective sad fast-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

4.75

This was a fantastic novel. This is my first full Steinbeck, and I really enjoyed it. First of all, I loved his writing style and storytelling ability. I was sucked in from the first chapter, and although it was a long and detailed novel I wasn’t bored for a second. The story itself was quite unique, I’m not sure what I expected  but it wasn’t what I thought it would be, the whole time I just kept thinking where is the going? But in a good way. Every character was so interesting, so deeply human, apart from Cathy/ Kate who is portrayed purely as wicked. But I found myself by the end being attached to the various characters and rooting for them despite their obvious character flaws. I was at times surprised at how honest Steinbeck was in writing about different evils in the culture of the time the story took place, as well as the internal evil in the hearts of the common people of the story. Obviously this is on par with the overall theme of the novel, the good and bad in all humans and our choice to act on one or the other, but still, it felt ahead of its time and very relevant to American culture today in some ways. I do think at times the way the themes of the storyline were a bit too on the nose, but also the book is supposed to be a retelling of the book of Genesis so it makes sense.