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  • In his journal, Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book", and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamilto ... Continue

    In his journal, Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book", and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Caina and Abel. Here is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence.

    

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• ― meganzing said on Feb 20, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • I kept waiting for the story to get started until I resigned that it was a long tale about a journey of families and how they intertwined. I like the idea that it was the retold story of Genesis but I also found that to be a distraction. The last line of the book truly made this story a worthwhile r ... Continue

    I kept waiting for the story to get started until I resigned that it was a long tale about a journey of families and how they intertwined. I like the idea that it was the retold story of Genesis but I also found that to be a distraction. The last line of the book truly made this story a worthwhile read. Steinbeck basically said all that just to be able to finish with a line that makes you say - Ah! Perfect! Yes - the best ending.

    It took me about three attempts to get into this book but once I committed, I was pleasantly engaged.

    

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• ― daisy said on Apr 17, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

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