East of Eden

by John Steinbeck

Hardcover, 601 pages

English language

Published Aug. 4, 2002 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 9780142000656
OCLC Number:: 48177186

(42 reviews)

In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in …

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

--jacket flap

64 editions

Sergeant Cat reviewed East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Review of 'East of Eden' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It really speaks to the human condition, about good and evil. I enjoyed the references to Genesis in the book. I have an interest in religious studies so it was wonderful to think, this is like X from Genesis, and then have the author drop an almost word-for-word quote in.

I think my favorite character out of all of them is Lee, and I was fascinated by the inclusion of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations as something Lee was highly interested in. It's actually on my short list for books to read this year.

I feel like this could be one of the few books I read more than once.

Siddhartha reviewed East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Review of 'East of Eden' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good".

A beautiful and at times heartbreaking story of good and evil and the shades in between, and how our choices ultimately make us who we are. I was getting tired of seeing posts of "Wow, I read East of Eden and was blown away!" on reddit and finally decided to take the plunge and dive headlong into the saga, and I'm a little ashamed to admit that I belong to the same category. This was a beautiful book and I don't want to read anything by Steinbeck for a long time - because I want to savor this age-old ripe wine and shine in the afterglow.

I love to fall asleep while reading a book, but this might be one of those rare books that made me apprehensive about the ordeal while at the same time getting me excited for what comes next (the other one would be "House of Leaves"). I used to dread reading it at night because I knew somewhere down the line, there would be a chapter on Cathy, and I would get nightmares of her evil doings after that. It sounds silly when I say it out loud, but in my eyes, that speaks for the brilliance of this book. The length of the book allows it to explore each and every character to its core and oftentimes lead to conversations that would make me close my kindle and just think about what I had just read. The most illuminating pick of all those interesting conversations would be the one where the father-figure-cum-servant of the house discusses "Timshel" with one of the characters.

"Thou mayest"

I think if I ever get a tattoo (which might not be too distant a future), Timshel would surely feature prominently on my skin.

Matthew M. Conroy reviewed East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Review of 'East of Eden' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Excellent. A very well-crafted story with some exceptionally developed characters.

Lacking in prominent, strong, sane, female characters, though.

Sean Bala reviewed East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Review of 'East of Eden' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

My review of this book will be a little more personal than I normally write but I feel compelled to offer not just my objective opinion but more how the book made me feel. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck was a deeply affecting novel. I rarely come across a book that I feel is "perfect" as it is. "East of Eden" is a masterpiece of English prose and tells an American story on a universal scale that testifies deeply to the human condition it all its strength and promise, its violence and frailty.

Steinbeck's use of symbolism and Biblical metaphor is clear but do not overpower the reader. And his characters are for the most part three-dimensional and human. I do not think that I have ever read a novel that I feel was so carefully and lovingly crafted by its author. I am tempted to give more description about its contents but I really want to simply encourage you to read the novel and allow yourself to be pulled into its compelling narrative. Unusually, I found myself marking pages with soaring, lyrical passages. Frequently, I put the book down to simply to think. Even more unusually, it is a book that I immediately wanted to read again. "East of Eden" is one book I can unequivocally say will stay with me for the rest of my life and I believe I should be rightly considered a milestone in not only American literature but literature as a whole.