Tremendous in scope- tremendous in depth of penetration- and as
different a Steinbeck as the Steinbeck of Burning Bright was from
the Steinbeck of Grates of ??th. Here is no saga of the
underprivileged - no drama of social significance. Tenderness,
which some felt was inherent in everything Steinbeck wrote, is
muted almost to the vanishing point in this story of conflict
within character, impact of character on character, of
circumstances on personalities, of the difficult acceptance of
individual choice as against the dominance of inherited traits. The
philosophy is intimately interwoven with the pace of story, as he
follows-from New England to California over some fifty odd
years-the two families which hold stage center. There are the
Trasks, brothers in two generations, strangely linked, strangely at
war the one with the other; there are the Hamiltons (John
Steinbeck's own forebears), a unique Irish born couple, the man an
odd lovable sort of genius who never capitalizes on his ideas for
himself, the tiny wife, tart, cold-and revealing now and again
unexpected gentleness of spirit, the burgeoning family, as varied a
tribe as could be found. And- on the periphery but integral to the
deepening philosophy which motivates the story, there is the wise
Chinese servant scholar and gentleman, who submerges his own goals
to identify himself wholly with the needs of the desolate Adam
Trask, crushed by his soulless wife's desertion, and the twin boys,
Cal, violent, moody, basically strong enough to be himself - and
Aron, gentle, unwilling to face disagreeable facts, beloved by all
who met him. In counterpoint, the story follows too the murky
career of Adam's wife, Cathy- who came to him from a mysteriously
clouded past, and returned to a role for which she was suited,- as
a costly whore, and later as Madame in Salinas most corrupt
"house", where the perversions of sex ridden males were catered to-
and cruelty capitalized upon. Shock techniques applied with rapier
and not bludgeon- will rule the book out for the tender- skinned.
But John Steinbeck, the philosopher, dominates his material and
brings it into sharply moral focus. (Kirkus Reviews)
'There is only one book to a man' Steinbeck wrote of East of Eden, his most ambitious novel. Set in the rich farmland of Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love and the murderous consequences of love's absence.
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