I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK!

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I never read this book before; how did I miss it? I LOVED it! I listened to the Audible version and the narration was outstanding. I read this with my book club as a "long read" for the 2nd quarter of this year. The discussion was really interesting and everyone's opinion was that they loved it. The characters were ALL so well-drawn, I think; I feel I knew them all so well. My favorite was Lee (also Samuel Hamilton) and my least favorite was Cathy, although she was very interesting and creepy. I want to know - who was the father of the twins - Adam or Charles, or did both contribute their sperm, lol? I guess we'll never know.

I did not realize that the Steinbeck family mentioned in the story was John's family and that HE was the narrator - that the Hamilton's were HIS family (Samuel was his mother's father)!

The book is an allegory to the Cain and Abel story from the Bible and this theme weaves through the book, in both generations. I see Cathy as the devil and Lee as possibly God.

The writing in this book is magnificent, the back story was fascinating, the characters were mesmerizing, the sibling rivaly stories were engaging, and the whole story was just wonderful.

I can say that this is my number 1 read of 2016, so far, and in my top 5 of ALL TIME! I will probably read it again, but this time actually read it, although listening was so captivating! I couldn't wait for my commute every day, just to get back into the story.

I highly recommend this book.

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