Sunday, February 10, 2013

Timshel




            I’ve found that going back and reading classic books can be a bit of a gamble.  Sometimes it is the unfamiliar language that throws me off making the book too difficult for me to enjoy, and other times the story is so dated that I have a tough time relating to the characters.    And so, when I first sat down to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck, I was little cautious and skeptical.  So many people had already told me so many great things about the book that I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it, or worse, I wouldn’t get it.
            My fears quickly disappeared within the first few pages.  Steinbeck’s style had a familiar and relaxing cadence to it.  The story opens in the Salinas Valley of Northern California beginning in the late 1800’s.   There was a strong feeling of optimism at the time as settlers ventured into a new land intent on claiming their portion of the American dream.  It was easy for me to get caught up in the time period and relate to their excitement as they braced for the new century.
            But what makes East of Eden a true classic isn’t the setting, it is the cast of dynamic characters.  From beginning to end, the story spans several generations of the Trask family beginning with Cyrus Trask.  Cyrus has two sons from two different mothers, Adam and Charles.  The two boys are polar opposites of each other.  Adam is an all-around good person while Charles has violent tendencies with a very short fuse.  Their contentious relationship forms the backbone of all the events of the novel. 
            Supporting characters also give a lot of life to the book.  Samuel Hamilton, an Irishman with a love for life and father of nine kids, proves to be a great source of entertainment as he sneaks around his overly strict firecracker of a wife.  And then there is the Chinese American known simply as Lee.  Lee is incredibly smart and wise, though he chooses to hide it from most of the world by opting to speak pidgin instead of English.  Lee does this partly as a matter of convenience to blend in.  Being Chinese in a foreign land he is noticed less when he speaks as people expect him to.  For much of the novel Lee proves to be the glue that holds the Trask family together and a source of constant wisdom.
            East of Eden is filled with great moments that are worth reading multiple times.  The intro to Part 2 of the book is nothing short of a masterpiece.  It occurs as the events in the novel cross into the 1900’s.  Steinbeck uses this opportunity to flex his literary muscles and deliver an eloquent description of what the 1800’s amounted to and the feelings people had as they stepped into the new century.  The chapter is short, not even a full 2 pages.  If reading it doesn’t make you want to read the entire novel than nothing I could possibly say would convince you to.
            Many of the subplots of the novel parallel stories of the Bible, from the fall of Adam and Eve to the relationship of Cain and Abel.  These biblical similarities do add depth to the novel, but not overly so.  You do not need to be a theological scholar in order to unwrap the references, which was a fear I had before I read the book.  And even a person completely unfamiliar with the teachings of the Bible can still fully understand the choice between being good versus evil and the price of redemption.

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