east of eden (john steinbeck): a review

 East of Eden (a review)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is my third time reading East of Eden, and it is maybe the only classic I would universally recommend to anyone who has read a book in recent memory. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who never reads because it is long and intimidating. I would recommend it to basically anyone else, though, since the writing is accessible, the plot moves reasonably expeditiously, and it's one of my favorite books.

The plot is difficult to summarize because it takes place over the course of more than 50 years. Essentially, it's a generational saga that follows two families—the Hamiltons and the Trasks, but mostly the Trasks—as their action form an allegory of the story of Cain and Abel. If you aren't familiar with the story of Cain and Abel, that's okay, because they read it in the middle of the book. 

Something really neat about this book is that the Cain and Abel allegory occurs twice, once in each generation. Only in the older generation, the story ends in (relative) disaster, and in the younger generation, they get the ending right. Readers familiar with the story of Cain and Abel will be wondering how it's possible to "get the ending right," but things do actually work out about as well as could be expected.

The top three things I look for in a book are a pretty setting, girlbosses, and nice people being nice to each other. East of Eden fulfills all three criteria. The setting is the Salinas Valley in California, and let me tell you, John Steinbeck loves describing the Salinas Valley. I would classify the Salinas Valley as a pretty setting, and even if I didn't, John Steinbeck sure would. East of Eden is also rife with girlbosses. Every female member of the Hamilton family (excluding possibly Lizzie) is a girlboss. Olive Steinbeck (formerly a Hamilton) is an absolute girlboss. Cathy, a major antagonist and a member of the Trask family, is possibly the ultimate girlboss. Cathy gaslights, gatekeeps, and girlbosses her way through this book. She has a kill count of at least 3 and possibly up to 6, depending on how you define what counts as a kill. 

The nice people being nice  to each other criterion is a little more complicated, because this book has some trash individuals in it who are mean to each other, but that's also the point, and it facilitates the nice characters. Two major themes in East of Eden are the struggle between good and evil and the freedom to triumph over evil. Characters being mean really sets up other characters to try to become better people. East of Eden is a book about the struggle to be nice to other people, which is, if possible, better than a book where nice people are nice to each other.

Besides that, there are a lot of wholesome relationships. I mean, first of all, all of the characters are super well developed and for the most part very loveable. The entire Hamilton family—there are eleven of them—all have distinct personalities, and their collective dynamic is very fun. The patriarch, Samuel Hamilton, is universally loved by pretty much everyone because he's a wonderful person. Samuel helps out Adam, the most important Trask, with his personal problems, and they become friends, which is very mutually beneficial. Adam develops a close friendship with his housekeeper, Lee, who is hands down the best character in the book. He basically holds the entire Trask family together, and towards the end, he has sort of a parent-child relationship with Abra (Aron and Cal's love interest. Aron and Cal are the Trask children). Lee and Abra are the most wholesome part of the whole book.

The rest of this review is super spoilery and ~analysis~ (such as it is) and you should stop reading here if you actually want to read the book.

Every character from the first Cain and Abel allegory has an equivalent in the second Cain and Abel allegory. So obviously Cal is Charles because Charles tries to kill Adam and Cal accidentally gets Aron killed. But I think Abra is Cathy, but better Cathy, just like how Cal is a better version of Charles. Cathy and Abra are romantically involved with Adam and Aron respectively, and then they get with Charles and Cal respectively. Both of them are also flawed—Cathy is (possibly) a monster, and Abra tells Lee towards the end that she didn't want to marry Aron because she didn't think she was good enough for him, and he expected her to be perfect (which, incidentally, also mirrors how Adam idealized Cathy even though she wasn't actually how he imagined her). I mean, personally, I think Abra is a perfect girlboss, but her self doubt regarding her morality is supposed to link her to Cathy. So when Abra and Cal get together at the end and both of them are freed from the baggage that was holding them back (Abra when Lee tells her that now that she doesn't have to be perfect, she can be good; Cal when Adam forgives him for getting Aron killed), it represents the triumph of the human spirit over sin or something. 

East of Eden is just a great book in every way all around. It's one of my comfort reads. The characters and their interpersonal relationships are top tier. The writing is very good. The themes are clever, but not so clever I can't understand them. I am incapable of having a conversation in which I don't try to get someone to read East of Eden. The upshot is that you should read East of Eden or else I'm going to hunt you down.