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dennatannen 's review for:
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
If I were not forced to dissect every single detail of this book, I might have liked it a bit more. However, I am biased against the underlying theme of the novel. Yes, unions were very necessary during the Industrial Revolution, but they are obsolete now. The overall message of "The Grapes of Wrath" (as my liberal English teacher was so apt to point out) is that big businesses are corrupt and that they starve normal, hard-working, deserving families out of a job and out of life. In this novel, Capitalism is the enemy of the American people and those "saints" who would move more toward Socialism are "wrongfully persecuted".
But now I shall step off my soapbox and talk about the few redeeming factors of this book. First of all, while some readers might beckme confused by the intercalary chapters, I myself rather enjoyed them. I'd never read a book that went from telling about a specific family to describing situations that apply to everyone. For example, the infamous "turtle" chapter. And if you wanted to really read into it and decipher what everything symbolizes, as I was made to do, you can. But if that doesn't appeal to you, this book is still worth a read, even if only to say that you made it through this American classic.
But now I shall step off my soapbox and talk about the few redeeming factors of this book. First of all, while some readers might beckme confused by the intercalary chapters, I myself rather enjoyed them. I'd never read a book that went from telling about a specific family to describing situations that apply to everyone. For example, the infamous "turtle" chapter. And if you wanted to really read into it and decipher what everything symbolizes, as I was made to do, you can. But if that doesn't appeal to you, this book is still worth a read, even if only to say that you made it through this American classic.