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.