First thoughts on East of Eden
I just completed John Steinbeck's East of Eden, and I'd like to write down some of my immediate thoughts.
It took me quite a while to read this book. This is not because I am a particularly slow reader, however. Rather, it took about five months for me to truly sit down and start reading this book. Even then, I took a multi-week hiatus about halfway through the book. If I had known how much I would enjoy this novel, I surely would have started, and finished, it much earlier.
The best way I can describe East of Eden is "sprawling." The book takes you on a journey that spans decades upon decades, with countless characters, each introduced and explained and unraveled for you to see. The way that Steinbeck sets up his characters and explains their histories and upbringings injects a real richness into the world of his novel and makes every pay off all the more satisfying.
One of Steinbeck's greatest accomplishments in this novel are the instances of unflinching realism. He speaks candidly and does not shy away from the dark, uncomfortable, yet always true aspects of human nature. Everyone is capable of some evil. Sometimes we enjoy to hurt others. Jealousy, fear, anxiety, despair, depression. These things are mentioned and showcased very explicitly in the story, yet it never feels hopeless. For every reminder of human wickedness, there is an equal and opposite display of the capacity for good that resides within all of us. Indeed, the final declaration of the novel is one of freedom, the freedom to choose the good, the freedom from the chains of what we perceive to be our inherited evil.
The biblical parallels serve to solidify the idea that the truths expressed in this novel are timeless. Stories just like the ones told in this novel have been, and will invariably continue to be, told throughout the ages. Stories of love, loss, betrayal, forgiveness. Stories of people, making choices. Making the choice to be good, or to be evil. Often, we do not know which path we have chosen. The only thing we can hope for is that we have chosen the correct path. I do not know if that was Steinbeck's intended message, or even if it is supported by the actual contents of the novel at all, but it is what I have gotten to thinking about because of my reading this story. That, to me at least, is important.
East of Eden is a powerful, inspiring novel. It is intelligent, and thought provoking. It makes the reader face truths that are both comforting and frightening, and I believe that is one of the greatest things a novel can do.