East of Eden is a fantastic book

Definitely in my top 5

My Master's Thesis was on Steinbeck. His body of work is pretty impressive and a lot of it gets overshadowed by Grapes and Of Mice and Men.

East of Eden is an absolutely wonderful epic work. I really like a lot of his earlier shorter works like Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle (subject of my thesis), and To a God Unknown which is his most underrated work, in my opinion.

Log from the Sea of Cortez is also a great read that shows what a scientific mind he had and how that science informed his fiction. Then of course, Travels with Charley is one of the best road trip books ever.

I read it at the start of the year for the first time. It was very good but I read it right after blood meridian and I feel like blood meridian stuck with me more afterwards than EoE did. However, there were 2 chapters that really hit me hard

One was when they dissect the story of Kane and Able from the Bible. As a Christian, it was very intriguing

And the other was when Sam and Liza decide to move in with their kids, and silently acknowledge that they can’t take care of themselves anymore and are going there to die. As someone who’s parents are starting to get old this hit me in the frickin feels. I was reading this chapter in the waiting room of a dealership while getting a tune up on my truck and had to take a break for a sec lol

"You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow."

This quote hit me hard and I think about it a lot.

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some of the lengthy narrative descriptions of the farmland just didn't do it for me.

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This is what made it so great!

Cathy = tGOAT

Also shout out Lee

My mom has always said this - I think it’s one of her favorite movies, too

I gave up on Steinbeck after Grapes of Wrath in college

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I read Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden back to back last year and loved them. I'd imagine if I had read them in college I wouldn't have enjoyed them as much, but reading them now in my 30s I found them quite worth the while. Could be worth it for you to give them another try!

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Same exact thing for me. I enjoyed East of Eden a good bit more and it jumped up to one of my all time favorite books. I was seriously blown away and was a book that I thought about for weeks after. I'd be reading another book and thinking about East of Eden.

Plan on reading it again soon.

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I recommend everyone read it at least once.

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I’ve read it multiple times. It truly is “ the great American novel.” Take the story of Cain and Abel and set in in the Salinas Valley of California in the early days of the 1900’s and bang! Such a great story. Cathy Ames is one of literature’s great villains.