a celebration of the spirit of individuality - east of eden

East of Eden

John Steinbeck



Towards the end - when the storyline of Samuel's family ended - the writing became trackable and the turn of events predicatable. Now characters started to deliver powerful ideas, without the aid of "flesh and blood", and their lives rode along the predestined road, dictated by the parallel story in the Bible and the passionate belief of the author's... And I signed off mentally long before the last page was turned.



Still, what a fascinating and inspiring book. The autobiographical part of the book was among the finest ever written. Grandpa Samuel Steinbeck, with a magnetic personality, represents the ideal of individualism the author preaches. No less significant is Lee, the Chinese servant. And talk about an "ideal", Lee is the Chinese version of Sam. Both are intelligent, scholarish, kind at heart, and, with effort and help from each other, have learned to overcome self limitations and bring out the best out of others.

The fictional part of the book, stories of the Adam family, was more dramatic and fun to read, but from time to time, bordering on absurdity. Here, the author has a story, a big story, to tell and he does it heavy-handedly.

But my affection for the book is beyond description. Not only do I identify with the author's thoughts but also share his sentiments, almost to the last drop. Dont' remember feeling such strong a connection with any other great writers, not even with Steinbeck himself in his other books. How odd yet how satisfying.

Notes on the notebook - the Golden Notebook

The Golden Notebook
by Doris Lessing

I do not know what to make of this book. I very much enjoyed the reading but my mind exited suddenly just before the book ended. Now it's become difficult for me to form any cohesive opinion because my brain refuses to think. Here are some fragments of thought before the book is all gone.

All stories about Africa, as lived by the four young English youth, are beautifully written. The pigeon shooting (to make a pigeon soup) scene is exceedingly mesmerizing (I do hate this word): the wildness, the melancholy, the desolation and the insight. And this story was preceded by a description of a city scene showing how a pigeon was cared for in a civilized England years later.

Lessing is very good at creating incredible tensions in seemingly mundane human interactions, mostly through conversation. The beginning of the book is a good example, so is the part after Tommy's fateful action.

Towards the 2nd half of the book, I became quite interested in the private life experiences of Anna, the heroine, which are complex, casual, chaotic but purposeful. Very foreign to me but intriguing. Especially her relationship with Saul. Don't think it was well written though. The description was abstract and robotic, and repetitive. I basically gave up visualizing them but took in as concepts: OK, here are two highly intellectual people with all sorts of mental struggles and attractions....