East of Eden - John Steinbeck

⭐8/10

Even before the Netflix show was announced, this book was garnering a ton of attention and having a bit of a resurgence in popularity. It's a bit of a booktok darling, and after reading it it's easier to see why. It's a chunky classic that looks impressive on your Weview, but also super accessible and has a sunnier view of humanity than most stuffy classics. In truth, this book was kinda what I needed in life, and I thought this one would be just what the doctor ordered. For that reason I was probably a little let down by my sky high expectations. I was counting on this book to change my life, and that's a lot to put on a book. 

It's a multigenerational story where the questions it asks are very clear - in fact they are written directly on the page. Can people choose to be good, or are they doomed to repeat the sins of their forefathers (or in this case... foremothers?).  The ol' nature vs nurture argument, and it's a question examined with a lot of thought and a lot of heart, all through the lens of the Cain and Able story. I truly loved this aspect of the book, an argument I sorta needed to hear. Again, I know I bring up my work a lot, but when I'm exposed to so much mental illness, neurodivergence, personality disorders, brain injuries, etc., it's refreshing to hear a story of humans thinking critically of their choices in the world. 

So all of that was pretty great. The writing is all excellent and wonderful, I'm not exactly in a position to evaluate John freaking Steinbeck's prose. But it's mostly written in a simple, understandable way, but then occasionally turns up the dials for some more poetic, thoughtful passages. 

I guess my issue then is that I was never super compelled by the narrative. I won't even go that far, because the plot is not the point, and it's more a matter of how invested you are in the characters. So I guess my issue is that I was never too moved by the characters. I found Cathy's chapters to be tough to get through, mostly because I found her one-dimentional and unrealistic. Yes, yes, I know, women can be evil, though as a woman-respecter I hate to admit it. But I found her motivations to be pretty puzzling and uninteresting. She is sorta the embodiment of evil, so I get it, but when you're getting her POV, I guess I'm just not sure that's how evil people think? 

And aside from her, again I found most of the characters pretty unconvincing. I will say that there is one character who I fell in love with immediately, one of the great characters in fiction, and I almost wish he was in it more. But the "main" character is a bit bland, the sons sorta lack strong or identifiable personality, and I'm a little afraid Lee, who rocks, is a bit of a caricature of a mystical monk who holds all the secret wisdom of the Orient? 

So it's hard to know exactly where to come down on this one. Clearly it's a brilliant book, but even better than that it's a book with a good heart. Still, I was rarely moved by it, never shed a tear, and although I was happy with the philosophy, I can't say it really altered my worldview in a meaningful way. I still would say it's easy to recommend and I think others mayest enjoy it more than me (Eden heads will love that last line).