I do not understand why more people don't read this (and why it's not on more curricula, certainly instead of The Pearl and maybe in addition to The Grapes of Wrath ). If I remember correctly this is one of Steinbeck's last novels, and it explores his discontent with "The American Dream" as it was constituted in the 1950s (2.5 children, stay-at-home wife, more home than you can reasonably afford, and constant "keeping up with the Joneses"). Fearful he may lose his modest hold on this dream, Ethan Hawley suddenly "takes a holiday from his own scrupulous [moral:] standards," as the book jacket describes it, not to mention a leave from his senses. Steinbeck subtly builds unbearable suspense as he slowly let the reader in on Hawley's plan. Can it work, or will he pull back? Should we even want him to succeed?