John Steinbeck: East of Eden

For our classic month in book club, this was our pick. This is a really long book, so I'm shocked that I managed to finish it in time!

East of Eden follows the complicated life of Adam Trask. Adam's father served in the Civil War, but was discharged in an early battle after a battlefield injury. He had two sons, Adam and Charles. Adam was forced to join the army and ended up serving out west, fighting against the Native Americans. Adam eventually got out of the army and went home, but he and Charles didn't always get along. Then, a girl showed up at their doorstep, injured and alone. Adam fell in love with the girl, Cathy, and nursed her to health. After she was mostly well, they rushed into a marriage, and Adam moved them to California. Cathy wasn't really as enamored with the relationship as Adam, and it was a marriage of convenience for her rather than love. She finds out she is pregnant with twins, has the boys, then disappears. The story continues to follow their storylines until Adam's death during World War I.

This story is really complicated, and there are lots of moving parts. First, it follows three generations of Trasks: Adam's father, Adam himself, and then his sons: Caleb and Aron. Then, it also follows Adam's wife, Cathy or Kate as she is known later in the novel. Finally, it follows the Hamilton family who befriends Adam after moving to California. Steinbeck himself is supposedly descended from the Hamiltons, and the story is meant to feel as though it's a part of Steinbeck's own history. Because of this, the summary above is largely incomplete. This is what makes this book so long, but also is hard to keep all of the characters straight.

I did not like Steinbeck's treatment of women in this book. The women in the book were not well-rounded characters in the same way that the men were. Additionally, women in this story are either married or prostitutes, and there wasn't much in-between for them. Kate is depicted as conniving, and evil, and she has no other angle to her.

The narrative also bounces around quite a bit. The story covers a large span of time, and sometimes a decade would pass in between chapters. This was not always initially clear, and sometimes hard to track.

I rated this book ⭐⭐⭐

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