My Five-Star Bookshelf, Part Twenty-Three

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

I read this book for the first time in 1985, as a required text for English 20. I read it in a weekend, caught up in the family saga, the astonishing characters, the Biblical exegesis and the American philosophy. Reading this book encouraged me to discover other Steinbeck novels, to study existentialism, and, by extension, to become a student of literary Modernism. I can almost draw a line from this novel to my master's work in English, and I can confidently relate this novel to so much of the reading I've done since leaving high school. This is truly a central text in my personal canon.

And I ADORE the character Sam Hamilton. Having read the novel so many times, I feel I know Sam personally. Sam is probably my favourite character in literature, and I urge you to read the novel simply to meet this astonishing figure.

This was my second high-school Steinbeck novel, the first having been Of Mice and Men, which my English 10 teacher required us to read the year before. I have of course read The Grapes of Wrath, as well as several of Steinbeck's lesser-known novels. That said, I've managed to miss some of his other high-profile books, a terrible admission from a self-professed Modernist specialist. But there's time to go back and read those that I've missed. (I'm more into the women of Modernism, and the ex-pats, anyway.) I imagine, however, that I will continue to reread East of Eden every few years for the rest of my life: it is always poignant, striking, vivid, and inspiring.