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A review by jjupille
East of Eden / The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
5.0
God, how do I love Steinbeck? Love love love love love this book.
There were passages throughout, but especially in the last hundred pages or so, that took my breath away. Wow.
I lived in Monterey County for two years, and drove Highway 101 a fair bit for five years before that. Steinbeck takes me right back there, I can feel it and smell it. Wonderful.
I am too uncultured perhaps to take the measure of how truly obvious this is, but this is very much about men and how they make their way in the world. While Cathy/Kate obviously plays a big role, the women are much less fully drawn than the man - Steinbeck is like Lee, or, rather, of course, vice-versa. There are a lot of threads of the various families and their histories that I am not sure I have woven tightly together in my head, and I find Aron to be a little opaque. Obviously he and his mother are are opposite ends of the spectrum, and Aron's pole doesn't resonate much with me. The messy middle is what it's all about, and Steinbeck's presentation feels perceptive and "right" in some way in terms of that.
I am obviously not a lit crit, so I'll stop there. Love Steinbeck. Want to reread [b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388188936s/4799.jpg|824028][b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388188936s/4799.jpg|824028], soon. In the meantime, thank you, John Steinbeck. Thank you, Salinas and California and the West and America. Thank you, human genius. The feel of this one will be with me for good long while, I think.
There were passages throughout, but especially in the last hundred pages or so, that took my breath away. Wow.
I lived in Monterey County for two years, and drove Highway 101 a fair bit for five years before that. Steinbeck takes me right back there, I can feel it and smell it. Wonderful.
I am too uncultured perhaps to take the measure of how truly obvious this is, but this is very much about men and how they make their way in the world. While Cathy/Kate obviously plays a big role, the women are much less fully drawn than the man - Steinbeck is like Lee, or, rather, of course, vice-versa. There are a lot of threads of the various families and their histories that I am not sure I have woven tightly together in my head, and I find Aron to be a little opaque. Obviously he and his mother are are opposite ends of the spectrum, and Aron's pole doesn't resonate much with me. The messy middle is what it's all about, and Steinbeck's presentation feels perceptive and "right" in some way in terms of that.
I am obviously not a lit crit, so I'll stop there. Love Steinbeck. Want to reread [b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388188936s/4799.jpg|824028][b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row|John Steinbeck|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388188936s/4799.jpg|824028], soon. In the meantime, thank you, John Steinbeck. Thank you, Salinas and California and the West and America. Thank you, human genius. The feel of this one will be with me for good long while, I think.