Has anybody read East of Eden?

[E20]

This is the 1st part of my summer HW, I haven't started reading it yet, I acutally don't have the book :lol and it's due on the 1st day of school which is Monday. Also, can anybody give me access to an online version with page numbers and chapters? Or any quotes from the book involving page numbers? :lol

[leemajors]

i considered recommending you read it, but it's probably not worth it. steinbeck is great... read to achieve. go youth of america!

[Jimcs50]

You will really like it. I read it a few yrs ago, and I just read Tortilla Flat last month, and could not stap laughing. His California based novels are all great


I think they are making the movie East of Eden, I read that somewhere...maybe you can wait til it comes out. :)

[leemajors]

there's always cliffs notes too.

[Sportcamper]

East of Eden (1955) (My favorite James Dean Film...Dean plays "Cal Trask") :smokin
aka "John Steinbeck's East of Eden"

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/21/east_of_eden2.jpg

[Spurminator]

Wasn't that a Dan Ackroyd/Rosie O'Donnell movie?

[1369]

Wasn't that a Dan Ackroyd/Rosie O'Donnell movie?

Try Exit To Eden which featured Dana Delaney.

[Spurminator]

Try Exit To Eden which featured Dana Delaney.

I know, I was kidding. ;)

[ShoogarBear]

Do they still have Classics Illustrated? Those were great.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I had to read EOE in high school. I hated it. 800 pages of repeating the story of Cain and Abel over and over and over again.

[Bob Lanier]

I dimly recall that the woman was the only likeable character in the entire book.

Try to read as little of Steinbeck as you possibly can. Since you're (probably) in high school, you should be able to get away with faking it.

[Mr Dio]

I honestly don't know if I'm East or West of Eden but I have read quite a bit.
Nothing lately though.

[E20]

I'm so lucky. They misplaced me and put me into regular English instead of AP, no East of Eden for me, instead just a very easy year. My schedule rocks.

[Solid D]

I read it in High School. It's a classic.

Look what I found on the internets!
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmEastEden02.asp

[E20]

I read it in High School. It's a classic.

Look what I found on the internets!
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmEastEden02.asp
From the Chapter summaries I read online. It is a very good book. It has murder, sex, adultery, drama, etc. and put in a unique way. I guess the climax of the book would be when Caleb says his famous line borrowed from Cain.

[ShoogarBear]

"Who, me?"

[ChumpDumper]

I'm so lucky. They misplaced me and put me into regular English instead of AP, no East of Eden for me, instead just a very easy year. My schedule rocks.Keep reaching for the stars.

[E20]

Keep reaching for the stars.
LMAO
I'm in my senior year, so I'm happy that I have an relatively easy schedule, my only hard class is Calculus AP. Thank God it's nothing like my junior year, it was so stressful that I couldn't play basketball because of the work.

[Darrin]

"What wrong with those guys?"

I hate John Steinbeck.

[Mark in Austin]

Steinbeck blows. He makes the Debbie Downer character from SNL look like Richard Simmons in comparison. Here's the gist of East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl in three sentences:

The only certainty in life is that it will get worse, and you'll suffer; no matter what choices you make. By the end of the story, you will die either physically of spiritually; sometimes both. And the world won't even notice - much less care - that you're gone.

[ShoogarBear]

You forgot Of Mice and Men.

I sorta like Steinbeck. But he is the most overrated of the Great American Authors. Well, next to Fitzgerald.

[leemajors]

You forgot Of Mice and Men.

I sorta like Steinbeck. But he is the most overrated of the Great American Authors. Well, next to Fitzgerald.

i like steinbeck too. i don't see how someone who had seen the bad side of the depression could write anything but depressing literature. i liked cup of gold too, but that's more of an adventure novel. i would go with one of the big modernists for overrated personally, or jack kerouac

[Darrin]

You forgot Of Mice and Men.

I sorta like Steinbeck. But he is the most overrated of the Great American Authors. Well, next to Fitzgerald.

Don't mess with F. Scott.

Of Mice and Men -- let's grapple with true evil and where it exists in our society. Is it in this stupid man Lennie who kills a woman? Is it in Lennie's best friend George who kills Lennie? Is it in the indifferent assholes working the farm who seem to have no compassion for innocence (the old man and his dog, the puppies, and Lennie)? Is a man always responsibile for the evil he commits in his life? What is the relationship between compassion and evil?

And someone tell me this -- I didn't read this book in a lit class. What the hell is the significance of the color red, blue, and green in the book? Is it 'evil,' 'death,' and 'life?'

I hate this book.

[ShoogarBear]

:lol Actually it sounds like you liked it. Certainly put enough thought into it.

It's been a long time since I read it, so I can't help with any answers.

Although I can say that science has now proven that Lennie was actually smarter than George.

[leemajors]

i liked the great gatsby, but my lit professor in college went on and on about the lamp at the end. his terrible teaching and grating manner almost made me dislike the book. this is the same professor who made his analysis of as i lay dying required reading for the class though - total jackass.

[Melmart1]

I am of the opinion that the combination of vanity and Lit professors turn people off to a number of good and/or great books that would otherwise go appreciated.

[Darrin]

:lol Actually it sounds like you liked it. Certainly put enough thought into it.

Just because I can intellectually get the point Steinbeck is making, does not mean I like it. I'd much rather study a similar theme with Hamlet as he struggles over the decision to avenge his father's death right before the play. After the old dog and the mouse were killed, the rest of the book was predictable as hell. It could've been 50 pages shorter.


Although I can say that science has now proven that Lennie was actually smarter than George.

Yeah, I saw that. Then Lennie is the truly evil one -- he manipulates George into taking care of him, he kills a puppy, a mouse, almost rapes a woman, and kills another.

[leemajors]

I am of the opinion that the combination of vanity and Lit professors turn people off to a number of good and/or great books that would otherwise go appreciated.

true, but it's worth enduring when you get a good one the next semester or have a great prof at the same time as a bad one. my lit criticism professor taught a great class on milton the semester after i had the modernist class. i had his previous class on literary criticism at the same as the class that required as i lay dying and gatsby, and the two professors did not like each other at all and made it clear to me during their respective classes, which was odd but highly entertaining.