East of Eden by John Steinbeck REVIEW

What do Steinbeck's most ambitious book and a classic historical novel from the Italian 19th century have in common? Quite a bit actually.

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[Pretzels]

Timshel made a lasting impact on me. What a gorgeous book

[mattostovitz]

this is one of my favorite books of all time. it is without a doubt a "masterpiece." the characters are amazing. the message is timeless. the story itself is so intriguing.
i could not put it down and the best part...
the ending actually felt purposeful and landed on a perfect 10/10 high note.

[Booklover-coffeelover]

I've read over 400 books so far and no other literary work has made me feel like East of Eden. My all time favourite novel.

[jh]

I loved East of Eden so much that I abandoned it somewhere in the last 100 pages because I didn't want it to end :D

[hanaalfayez]

I read East of Eden 18 years ago and I still remember scenes in it. It is truly a masterpiece and it is so due for a reread.

[nolandost]

Great review! My childhood home was out in the canyons mentioned in Pastures of Heaven, my first job was in Cannery Row. Steinbeck was my idol author and a local icon for my town. I'm so glad that he's continually enjoyed by everybody, his works are so important and they mean so much to me.

[aliarobinson]

east of eden is my favorite american literature of all time! I can't even say what it means to me. I couldn't praise it enough if I tried.

[Kaje]

'East of Eden' is THE Great American Novel.

[jam-ncut]

If I could only keep one book, of all the books I've ever read in my 43 years, it would be this one.

[marianap.goncalves]

I really liked this book when I have read it some years ago so it was interesting to re-visit it in your words. I felt at the time that what he really was interested in talking about was the brotherly love that eventually turns to jealousy and murder that seems to permeate all the character's lives in this. The biblical analogy is a bit on the nose sometimes but he makes up for it with some amazing sentences really. Thanks for bringing this up again! It's been a while since I have thought about this book

[megalawr]

One of my favorite books. Amazing characters.

[Тимофей-яо]

I just finished East of Eden and I love it(one of my favourites of all time), this is first novel I've read from him .

[b.kennedy]

Hadn't enjoyed a single Steinbeck book until East of Eden, and that has become one of my favorites! Thank you SOOO much for the review.

[hendrixman]

I definitely hear what you're saying about the novel being a bit too ambitious for its own good, but there are just so many mindblowing passages and great characters. It isn't a perfect book because it isn't totally cohesive, but it's still pretty damn great

[VolkerZander]

A wonderful, beautiful work and a masterpiece. Made a deep impact on me when I read it the first time long ago. Had a german translation first and immidiatly after reading I had to have the english original. All the characters have an immense richness and are held together by some questions, for which different answers stay possible. So mit is even more a universal book, explaining christian questions, then a christian book, explaining universal questions. Me, as an atheist, can love this book, because those questions are in the end raised by every human beeing, by every religion.

[dustywaxhead]

After East of Eden I would recommend Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion. A great American novel that shifts narrators and incorporates stream of consciousness

[Amy-vryt]

I'm half way through and so far I'm not blown away like I was with Grapes of Wrath- the first chapter of that was so amazing I had to immediately re read it twice

[ali_west]

This is one of my favorite novels, if not my favorite

[anastasiasafronova]

Ayyy! I am subscribing for your channel right away (I just found it!). I will be watching this video later. I finished this book 2 days ago (and loved it!), but I will be discussing it with my little friend's bookclub in a week, so don't want to be bias before it. I will save this video to watch later, after my bookclub. I'd love to know what you thought of it and what you have to say.

UPD: now after i watched the review i want to add two things. About the plot not being clear and different characters in different parts - i think this is very typical for a novel where several generations of a family is described. I can think of Tolstoy or Marquez as examples. This is a clear structure to me :) another thing is about your comment that the book is only good for Steinbeck’s fans. I just read it with my bookclub and 3 other people didn’t read Steinbeck before at all, and they all loved this book!

[dahliamartinez]

12:05 looove the honesty on that… the whole “it’s a retelling on the book of genesis” i’m liiiike, do i really need to read this like i thought i did?
but you made me feel much better about it, so thank UUU!!