East of Eden (Netflix) Teaser

It seems like Florence Pugh is in everything and I don't really get her appeal.

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It seems like Florence Pugh is in everything and I don't really get her appeal.

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Great timing for my post

She’s not my type, and I can’t explain it, but I think she’s hot. Also think she’s a decent actress, but by no means elite.

I've never read the book, but I've also never seen a single book be so unanimously praised on the book board here. So I'm interested to see the reception of the show.

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I cannot think of an actress better suited for this role.

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I agree completely. She is the only reason I am okay with shifting it to Cathy’s perspective.

I like the actor that is playing Lee too.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. The book is one of the best I've ever read, a true masterpiece as you said yourself. So I feel like my only reaction to this will be that it didn't live up to it. Granted that's my own fault for setting my expectations high, but I feel that's warranted considering the elite quality of the source material.

11/22/63 by Stephen King is another one of my favorite books that I couldn't put down and I thought the miniseries was just kinda...ok. The biggest thing to me on this is I hope it stays true to the source material. I HATE reading a book then watching a screen adaptation and they've change or flat out removed major key pieces of the story.

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Nothing special, a little pudgy, not attracted to the real short hair. King Arthur couldn't pull me out of it. Makes no sense.

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Exactly!

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I've never read the book, but I've also never seen a single book be so unanimously praised on the book board here. So I'm interested to see the reception of the show.

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It is certainly worth a read. Only this and one other book has ever weighed on me so heavy after finishing it. I remember I was on a plane when I finished it and I just sat there in silence for I don't know how long after. For literal WEEKS I'd be reading a book and thinking about whether not I should just put it down and reread East of Eden.

The characters weighed on me heavy but also no book has ever put me in to a time frame so well as Steinbeck did with this. I have never been to that part of California but i legit felt like I was living in the Salinas Valley in the late 1800's when I was reading it. I think the beginning of the book is maybe why some have given up on it too soon. It is just setting up a timeframe a describing the land and area so much but it is setting you up for a better journey throughout the book by taking the time at the beginning to set the tone.

Also some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read. Just an example, when introducing one character...

"I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. Some you can see, misshapen and horrible, with huge heads or tiny bodies; some are born with no arms, no legs, some with three arms, some with tails or mouths in odd places. They are accidents and no one’s fault, as used to be thought. Once they were considered the visible punishments for concealed sins.

And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?

Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or a less degree. As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential of conscience. A man who loses his arms in an accident has a great struggle to adjust himself to the lack, but one born without arms suffers only from people who find him strange. Having never had arms, he cannot miss them. Sometimes when we are little we imagine how it would be to have wings, but there is no reason to suppose it is the same feeling birds have. No, to a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself. To the inner monster it must be even more obscure, since he has no visible thing to compare to others. To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish. You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous."

Man, it doesn't get much better than that.

LINK

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East of Eden, a modern interpretation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, will explore the multigenerational saga of the Trask family, focusing new attention on its indelible antihero, Cathy Ames (Pugh).

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Cathy is in no way a hero, anti or otherwise. This "modern interpretation" is going to blow.

East of Eden is the single greatest American novel ever written. It stands alone.

I hope they do it justice.

I saw the movie with James Dean and Julie Harris. Does it stay pretty faithful to the book? James Dean was the "rebel" while his brother and father were the "straight and narrow". Then his brother went nuts when he found out their mother was a prostitute.