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East of Eden (New Oprah #1)

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East of Eden (New Oprah #1)

by John Steinbeck

Penguin Group USA, Inc | June 1, 2003 | Trade Paperback

In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

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    Rating: 3/5

    Great

    Tyrone Estrada

    3 weeks ago

    The novel East of Eden is about the sides of good and evil in society, and the novels explores a great deal of themes such as depravity and love, to name a few. What is also quite interesting is that the novels has a great deal of parallels with the Book of Genesis, specifically Cain and Abel. It is certainly the magnus opus of John Steinbeck.

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    Rating: 5/5

    Gripping Read

    Willa

    5 weeks ago

    You can never go wrong with Steinbeck and this is one of his best works. It is gripping from beginning to end and impossible to put down, and a book that everyone should read at some point in their life.

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    John Steinbeck’s East of Eden talks about who people really are inside- the good, the evil and all those in-between. In fact it was clear that one could not say for sure certain people were purely evil or good but there was a certain understanding why someone was someway. John Steinbeck took you into the heart and soul of each character so you could understand why people are the way they are. East of Eden is really a story about life-even if it doesn’t directly apply, the events in the book do not specifically happen to you, you can relate to each character because they are symbols of different people in our society. But the part the grabbed me the most was perhaps the most important part in the book. At the end of the book when Lee asks Adam to forgive his son Cal by saying his name before he dies of his stroke Adam speaks only one word: “Timshel!” and dies. Timshel is the Hebrew word for “Thou mayest.” It was discussed earlier about the translations of the fourth chapter of Genesis. The King James version has “thou shalt”, which was apromise that Cain would conquer sin. But the American standard bible had that part listed as “Do thou” which was an order. But it was discovered that it was “Thou mayest rule over sin,” which suggests choice because you may but you may not. At the end Leee asks Adam to forgive his son so his son does not have to carry the guilt of Aron’s death but all Adam says is ‘Timshel” which suggests to me that Adam is giving his son Cal a choice whenever or not he will forgive himself for it. This is a good book if you want to go deep into the philosophy of life.

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      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    Shocked!

    sasksunshine71

    6 years ago

    I was pleasantly surprized when I read East of Eden. I didn't know what to expect, I hadn't had much luck with other "oprah book club" books. I read Grapes of Wrath in high school and apparently that was a little too deep for a 17 year old because I hated it. My friend told me that I NEEDED to read this book and I'm glad I did. I may not have liked the characters but I cared about what happened to them. This one is a keeper.

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Details

From the Publisher

In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

About the Author

No writer is more quintessentially American than John Steinbeck. Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures.

Edition Details

Oprah's Book Club

Trade Paperback

608 Pages, 5.68 x 8.58 x 1.62 IN

June 1, 2003

Penguin Group USA, Inc

English


0142004235
9780142004234

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