Why do YOU love East of Eden?
14 Jul
As most of you know (because I may have screamed it from the rooftops), I finally finished East of Eden in June after starting it waaaaaaaaay back in January. It isn’t that I didn’t like the book. In fact, I thought it was beautifully written and contained thoughtful insights. But I just couldn’t get through it. Eventually, Jen from Devourer of Books had to badger me into reading a chapter each day via twitter. That’s what it came to.
I don’t want to write a review because, honestly, I’m not really sure how to do that. And while I thought East of Eden was a very good book, I did not fall in love with it like many peopledo. So I want to know why you, the East of Eden lovers, adore this novel as much as you do.
*Passes mic to you and waits patiently for comments.*
I am in total agreement with you no matter how great a book is, if I don’t like it for whatever reason, I won’t review it.
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Twitter: avidreader12
I’m with you on this one. I liked the book, but didn’t love it. I do love some of Steinbeck’s other books (Travels With Charley and Cannery Row) but I just hated the majority of the characters in East of Eden, so it was hard to care about them.
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It’s been ages since I read East of Eden but it is one of my favorites. My sister read it and felt more like you guys did. In fact, I am not sure she even got through it. I think I have a thing for emotionally damaged young men who have parental issues. LOL. But I think now I am inspired to re-read it so I have a better reason.
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I saw on She Is Too Fond Of Books that you were in GSP – if you ever come back, let me know, so we can get together!
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Michelle Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I thought of you when I was there but I was actually headed to Asheville. Is GSP near you?
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Im reading this next month so it was interesting to see other opinions, this will be my first Steinbeck book.
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I loved East of Eden for the prose and Cathy’s awesome villainy. However, I didn’t fall in love with it completely and I do think The Grapes of Wrath is a far superior book. Plus, it’s much faster to read (ie I read it in 3 day as opposed to 3 months like with EoE).
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Totally loved the book. But it is one of the very few books of which I prefer the cinema adaptation. Unforgettable. Ciao. A.
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Loved East of Eden. It’s been a long time but the characters really stayed with me for a long time. I agree that the movie was an excellent adaptation.
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I haven’t read ‘East of Eden’ before. Actually I haven’t read much of John Steinbeck before. I remember reading bits and pieces of ‘Of Mice and Men’ when I was younger, but it was too serious a book for me at that time. I will try reading ‘East of Eden’ sometime and come back and comment on your post
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Twitter: irisonbooks
I haven’t read this but I just wanted to say that I am so happy for you that you finally finished it. And also, that I like the idea of twitter being such a help in supporting people while reading a difficult book.
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Twitter: Vasilly
I’ve first read East of Eden years ago and it became one of my favorite books of all time. I love it for the author’s meditation on free will and also forgiveness. I love Steinbeck’s descriptions of California, how he takes biblical stories and makes them into something modern but still relevant. I love how he has questions about life and uses those questions to explore human nature. I love how I can feel his book’s purpose, something I feel that many books publish today lack.
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