Is East of Eden worth reading?

[00:00:00]Hi, my name is Carara and today I'm going to be talking about one of my favorite books that I've read this year, which is East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

[00:00:08]I wanted to do a little bit of a summary and then talk about my favorite themes.

[00:00:12]I know that there's already a lot out there on this book, but I wanted to share my takes and things that I found to be interesting. Um, I've listened to a podcast by the book club on East of Eden which was really good and also there's a Netflix documentary or short series or movie or something coming out um about not documentary about East of Eden um which is going to be super exciting and it has Florence Pew in it so I figured that this is a good book to read now. Um, and yeah, so just to get into it, this book was published in 1952 and it's very much a product of its time. There's a lot of sexism. Um, and it was obviously written by John Steinbeck. He's a really interesting guy. I would recommend that podcast especially because it goes into his background and upbringing. This book was dedicated to his sons, but he wasn't actually a great father. So, you can kind of see how maybe he took some inspiration from his own life in the characters in this book, which is really cool. Um, and yeah, so to get a little bit into the plot of the book, this book follows two main families and it opens up with a beautiful description of this Solinist Valley in Northern California. So, his writing is beautiful, very descriptive, but if you're someone who really just likes getting into the action, it might be a little bit of a slow start for you.

[00:01:40]But once that description is over, you kind of get introduced to the two main families, which are the Tras and the Hamiltons. And the Hamiltons are pretty virtuous, and the Trasks are a little bit more interesting in my opinion. And this is where all of the biblical allegory comes into play. On the back of my book, it says that this book is a modern retelling of the book of Genesis, which is true in some sense. There's a lot of inspiration folds, uh, namely in Adam Tras and Kathy's sons, um, what are their names? Cal and Aaron, which are similar to Kane and Abel, and they kind of loosely follow the plotline, but not exactly. So, it's not a complete retelling. Um, so we follow these two families. we learn about their kids and the parents and things like that um and their dynamics together.

[00:02:34]And then um there's also I would say one of the most interesting characters is um Adam Tras's wife Kathy and she is pretty villainous. She was the big villain of the book. She is um kind of monsterike.

[00:02:53]It's described. She's pretty vicious and ever since she was a child, people kind of believed that something was wrong with her. And there's this really famous quote in the book, which I didn't pull, but it goes something like, "Some people are born with physical deformities, so how can it not be true that some people are born with some sort of malformed soul or without a soul and uh saying that to describe Kathy?" So, there's something a little off about her and she is a really fascinating character, but there's also arguments to be made, which I'll get into later. Is that completely true or is that just one way of looking at her? And maybe she's actually just doing her best given her circumstances.

[00:03:35]So, that is all I'm going to say about the plot. There's a lot of interesting plot twists. I find myself kept I kept picking it up because I wanted to know which what happened with certain plot lines. There's kind of multiple going on at at the same time because each of the chapters you are getting kind of a little bit of another family or characters uh story which is cool. So it's not just this one continuous plotline about one family. Um so it keeps things very fresh and interesting. I mean, you get to know all the characters really well and there's a lot of character development, especially with the children being raised.

[00:04:17]But that's all I'm going to say on the plot, but I wanted to get into more interesting bit, which is the main themes. So, this book is super famously known for talking about good and evil, but I wanted to make this video especially because I don't really see it that way. There was mention of good and evil, but it wasn't until page 415 in my edition. And so I think the idea that this book is like the book that discusses good and evil is way too strong of a statement. I think that there's a lot of more interesting commentaries and ideas that are floating around. So I wrote down three of my favorites that I wanted to share. And if this seems interesting to you, then maybe this is a book that you should read. So the first one is the idea in question if sin can be passed down. So going back to kind of the retelling of the book of Genesis original sin you know east of Eden um are we born completely without any sin or are we responsible for the actions of our predecessors? Is sin kind of baked into our DNA? If our parents were bad people does that make us bad people? doesn't make us more susceptible or can we completely deviate from that and there's not any sort of um chance just because of who our predecessors were of us being bad people. So that's something that comes up a lot especially between Kate Kathy um she changes her name and her son Cal.

[00:05:54]Cal kind of believes that because of his mother he has this predisposition to being a bad person. Um, so that's an interesting thing to see him grapple with. And then the second thing is the um topic that people can find meaning in their lives in lots of different ways.

[00:06:14]So a lot of these characters, especially the Hamiltons, as I mentioned, are super virtuous and they're also very pious, but they go about their lives in different ways and they find meaning independently. And that's something really interesting. So I wrote down a few examples. Sam Hamilton's wife, Lisa, is super pious. She's very um productive. She does a lot of chores and she has I think like eight children. And she finds virtue and piety through a very strict regimented schedule and doesn't always prioritize joy, joy of other people or joy of herself. So is that a valid way for her to find meaning in her life?

[00:06:57]And is that a good life? And then also Lee who is Adam Tras's servant who's an amazing character. He's really fascinating. He has this big dream of opening up a bookstore in San Francisco.

[00:07:10]So this big kind of goal to work towards. Is that a valid way to have meaning in your life? And then the third is Will Hamilton who's one of Sam Hamilton's sons. He is super productive in the business realm and he's not super pious compared to his parents. So, is that also a way to find meaning or or is like are all of these characters finding meaning in different way ways equally I guess valid? And um it just I don't know it's an interesting thing to think about. And then the third thing that I wanted to talk about is what makes someone a good person. So, as I mentioned, the Hamiltons are very pious. Is that enough or just because you say you're pious, that doesn't really account for your actions? Um, and Lee, who I mentioned is an interesting character, Adam's servant, is pretty virtuous and very understanding and wise, but he's also a little bit deceitful. So, can those flaws be overlooked or not so much? And then Kate, as I mentioned, who's a complicated character, is she really this monster or is she just trying to make the best of her situation given what she has and use her skills that she has to the best of her ability? Um, and then Adam. So, Adam is the father of Cal and Aaron. He is kind of the god figure in the Cain and Abel retelling. So despite him being a nice father, favoring one son over the other explicitly, does that make him not so much of a good person? Maybe despite his other virtues.

[00:08:57]So those are all themes that I thought were more interesting than the kind of um big headline good and evil that can that um east of Eden is usually defined by. And then I wanted to just put some things down. So, who would I recommend this book to? So, I would say if you're interested in getting into classics, this is a really accessible book. The writing is beautiful, but it's not too intimidating, although it is pretty long. My edition is over 600 pages.

[00:09:32]And I would say that this book is also somewhat plot driven, but you learn a lot about characters and there's a lot of uh character development. So, unlike the book I talked about last time, which is The Robert Bride by Margaret Atwood, there's a lot more development and plot twists, but there is also a fair amount of really nitty-gritty descriptions about these people's lives. Some of the details are mundane, but I think it all really bigs together to make a really well-rounded and interesting book. And yeah, this is definitely one of the best books I've read this year and one of my favorite classics. So, I would definitely recommend this and I'd probably give it a 10 out of 10. But yeah, so if you're interested in reading, I would definitely recommend