Book Review: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

An odyssey borne out of the oldest tale in the oldest book in the world, Cain and Abel. Very rarely are well worn fables resurrected like new, but this book succeeded in telling an age old tale of fraternal rivalry across several generations, with a far more generous view of Cain.

The characters in the book represent major moral themes, from pure Biblical evil, as represented by Cathy. Pure angelic goodness in Adam and Aron. And finally, human moral frailty in Charles and Cal. The characters absorb you in their machinations, their trials and their triumphs till you are finally hanging on to every page. Yet, this book is no railway station page turner, it draws you in with the sheer weight of its story telling. The sheer beauty of its mundane moments. And the intellectual heft of characters like Sam Hamilton and Lee. We are treated to deep moral debates about each of the characters actions and Lee, in particular, draws on several pagan sources to supplement this very Christian tale. One cannot help but feel this book rewrites Genesis through Cain’s eyes. And one feels for the rejected offering, one also feels the anger and jealousy that inevitably come with being the less anointed child. The titanic internal struggle for goodness against these carnal feelings. But only in this darkness can human nature be born. Our visceral dislike of Abel’s unnatural goodness shows that we (I) are Cain’s progeny after all.

The language in this book is simple, and spills off the pages. At times chapters seem written in frenzied haste and at others each word is weighed as if by St. Peter himself. This book must have been a Herculean task, but the author proved more than equal to it. More Steinbeck to come!