Sunday Synopsis - East of Eden

 

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book follows the Trask family and one member of that family in particular, Adam Trask. There is a lot of lead-up to the part of the book where Adam moves from Connecticut to the Salinas Valley in California where he can start anew after facing multiple problems in his life. He and his new wife Cathy, move to California. She gives birth to twins. The boys then become dominant characters as they are quite different from each other. Many have compared them to Cain and Abel from the Bible, but it is VERY loosely connected. In California, Adam meets and befriends the Hamilton family who also have intricate relationships that demonstrate the major themes of the book.

The main theme is good versus evil. Through characters and events Steinbeck explores how man's humanity is flawed, the power of free will over fate, and redemption. The author tackles some big existential issues. The characters are not put in a mold, save one, that is purely good or purely bad. There is only one character who fits solidly in the bad guy mold.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone because it truly is worth a read. The ending is a little ambiguous, and the author did this purposely to show that redemption isn't always about others forgiving you, rather that you can find redemption for yourself.

I'm surprised I graduated college with a major in English and never had to read this book. It would make for a great literary analysis. I'm glad to try and catch up with reading classics that were not assigned to me. Just because. If you read it, I hope you like it.


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