One of the best swaps I've ever made at Alpha Books - getting rid of three paperbacks for which I had little time and getting a copy of East of Eden that at most had been flicked through by its previous owner (despite a lovely message from a friend on its first page).
I hadn't yet read this novel, despite of my passionate love for Steinbeck, because I was really rather sceptical of its biblical allegories. Granted, I could have done without that, but this book remains so very beautiful.
For me East of Eden doesn’t have the literary significance of The Grapes of Wrath, and Adam Trask cannot compete with Tom Joad (chiefly because he’s just way, way too good). However, it is not too far behind, thanks to its epic family (hi)story and, crucially, the utterly fascinating secondary characters – the evil Cathy Ames, Samuel Hamilton (who, as far as old wise men go, is really second to none), and also Charles, who I was really sorry to see disappear completely after Adam moves west.
And then there is Lee, who might be the best character Steinbeck ever created and who encapsulates so many of Steinbeck’s defining features as a writer – his dry humour, his wisdom, his awareness of the struggles of common people and their desire to do well thanks to their intelligence and skills.
Having finished the book, I really asked myself why my generation (at least in Italy) was raised thinking of Hemingway as the greatest American writer of the 20th century…
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