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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment