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This summer (next three months) we will be reading East of Eden by Steinbeck:-John Steinbeck, East of EdenQuote:
It would be absurd if we did not understand both angels and devils, since we invented them.
Please post your opinions and questions on the book here
Book Club Procedures
looks like i will be reading it again....oh well. i suppose i could dust off my, list of "read before i die" books, lol.
I'm off to a rousing start. I finished the first chapter.
Was Steinback a genious? I have read first six chapters and I have really found them brilliant. First of all, writing style is extremely good and the story line is very well-constructed. If the story will remain like this, it is going to be my favourite book. I am really excited about the later chapters that I don't want to go to sleep. Either I want to read it or discuss it. Ah, poor Adams, how his father forced him to the army, it made me really sad and Samuel Hamilton is going to be one of my favourite characters if he is really like as author has described him. I have loved the writing style of Steinback actually, hoping that it would remain that good even in later chapters!!!! This man, Steinback is really good with words!
Spoiler
Oh, and I have found out now that the narrator is the grandson of Samuel Hamilton. I thought that he would be related to Trask Family, ah my poor guess but this is more exciting. I even have a little pity for the brother of Adam (ouchers, I have forgotten his name) though he might not deserve it, but what can we do about that if we just feel it. Did anyone else feel pity on him?
I am still waiting for my copy to arrive. Can't wait to start!
Oh yeah, it is fun Scher! I hope that your copy will arrive soon!
Right now, I am going to start 15th Chapter and still it is fun. The thing which has most attracted me is the style of the narrator. For example, look at this sentence:
On some places, narrator's style is funny or ironic and on others, it is very serious but this is what I am liking about it.Quote:
Liza Hamilton was a very different kettle of Irish. Her head was small and round and it held small round convictions. She had a button nose and a hard little set-back chin, a gripping jaw set on its course even though the angels of God argued against it.
Liza had a finely developed sense of sin. Idleness was a sin, and card playing, which was a kind of idleness to her. She was suspicious of fun whether it involved dancing or singing or even laughter. She felt that people having a good time were wide open to the devil. And this was a shame, for Samuel was a laughing man, but I guess Samuel was wide open to the devil. His wife protected him whenever she could.
Originally posted by me:
Ah, I guess that now, this guy (Charles) really deserves some pity, he is no harm infront of Cathy, wife of Adam. That girl is a b****. (don't like the word but can't help myself from using it for that woman) Poor Adam, too simple to understand the cleverness of Cathy... I wonder what's going to happen next in the novel but huh, I want a break to make my own story that what will happen next.Quote:
I even have a little pity for the brother of Adam (ouchers, I have forgotten his name) though he might not deserve it, but what can we do about that if we just feel it. Did anyone else feel pity on him?
This novel is engaging!
So far I have no pity on charles. Well maybe a little after the letter that Adam recieved...But still he did beat up adam (twice) let alone come after him with a hatchett.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pensive
can't wait. :)
But papaya, you have not seen Adam's father's funeral yet. When you will look at the attitude of Charles after his father's death, you might/will start to pity him, I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
Oh, I have finally reached Part 3 (Chapter 23) of the novel. It is pretty good, very good indeed, the novel.
Uptill now, I have loved the character of Samuel, so free, knowing things, so interesting and a character which can never make you feel bored while reading it. I have not got only one thing and that is, why does Samuel call his wife Liza, "Mother?" Can anyone explain this to me, please?
That part where Samuel came to Adam to name his twins was really funny and worth reading.
Generally, A husband will use Mother as a pet name. As in the Mother of his children. In this case it is a lable. He could call her "wife," for instance.
OK, I do feel a little bad for Charles, especially whe he starts question about his father.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pensive
I told you, didn't I? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
I finished the novel last night, oh no, in the morning. In the last twenty chapters, it grew so much interesting that it really gripped me. What a pity that Samuel died? Oh well, there were other interesting characters as well such as Amra, Cal, Aaron and Dessie (oh yeah, I loved the sound of Dessy)
And Lee, the china man, sometimes he interested me even more than Samuel did. His tales, stories, philosophy, I found it all interesting.
What really made me angry while reading the book was Kate (Cathy) calling Adam Trask, Mr Mouse but then I liked the way Adam left her, poor him, he took the first bold step. Oh well, I think that there was no other choice as well.
There were other touching moments in the book as well for example when Cal meets Katty for the first moment and the way characters in the book acted after the death of someone.
Cathy was a complex character to me, indeed very complex. This book contains some of the very interesting but complex characters I have come across. This should be a must read. :D
Your done already???? Holy Carp!
So far my favorite line is (and I'm paraphrasing here):
The chowder blew out both ends.
Which chapter are you reading Papaya? Have you met Lee yet? How did you find his character?Quote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
I'm not sure what chapter it is but I just got to the part where Cathy asked Mr. edwards for a job.
Oh ok, so you are in the very start. I can't wait for others to complete it. I wonder if Scher has got her copy yet...
wow, Pensy, you made me curious.. i didn't vote.. was sleeping ;) but now i want to read East of Eden, too. i'll get it next week or sometime...
Get your hands on it and you won't regret reading it. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by SleepyWitch
Now I'm just mad!!! Of all the houses cathy could have crawled up to why oh why did it have to be adam and Charlie's!!!!!!!!!! I may not continue on I'm so mad!!!!!!!!
To make the story more interesting, Cathy crawled up to Adam and Charles house. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
Now starts the interesting part of the story, papaya!
This is a great story. But i dont think i want to read it again. at least not yet, :lol:
Yeh it's one of my favorites,but I'm afraid that I just don't have the time to read it again.Perhaps another day.
i've just taken it out at the library :)
maybe i can get started on it tonight :)
(hum... prepare lessons for tomorrow or read???)
So, we have the book....
Goodluck reading it, everyone! I hope that you guys will enjoy it as much as I did, or even more!!!
Hi guys!
I haven´t posted anything for quite some time now. I have to learn to better manage my time so I can dedicate more to reading.
Well, I´ve finished "Middlesex" and I am on the last a hundred and so pages of "The Impressionist", but since I saw the movie "East of Eden", with James Dean as Caleb, based on the book by Steinbeck, that I've been wanting to read the book but I dont have a printed copy and I dont like to read on the computer, there's no texture, you know, the feeling of paper between your fingers!
But I've also been wanting to read "To an unkown GOD", from Steinbeck, of wich I own a hard copy.
I dont seem to be in sintony with the book club and I really miss the discussions about the books! Maybe next time, right guys!
Enjoy your readings.
Best compliments,
Lizzie
Ei! Maybe everyone in the book club could comite into reading together and discussing the last "Harry Potter"! It's just a thought. What do you say?
Bye,
Lizzie.
I will read this book too. Thanks for the advice. :)
i've got started on the book :) have read 5 or 6 chapters...
at first i found it a bit difficult to get into it, what with the description of the landscape, flowers etc....
from the second chapter on it's cool though :)
Oh this was the description in the very start which I really liked a lot but I am glad that you are liking other chapters. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by SleepyWitch
Hi Lizzie,Quote:
Originally Posted by Lizzie
Thanks for your suggestion but this year we are reading only the books of certain authors (voted by members), a list of which you can find here.
Ok, now that some have finished the book, let's actually start talking about it :-)
By the end of the book, Steinbeck gave me the impression that Cathy began regretting the fact that she lacked the "something" everyone else had.
Ending Spoiler
Either she regretted it or she actually experienced a little of it when she saw Aron, the son that resembled her. She became reflective and a little sentimental. Living all of your life without bonding and then suddenly given a hint of it might have been enough to cause her to take the morphine and kill herself.
What do you think?
Nah, I don't agree with the first option but the second option seems fit on her situation, I think...Quote:
Originally Posted by ominousluv
Don't forget to put spoiler qoutes and Plot warnings, for those who havent finished the bookQuote:
Originally Posted by ominousluv
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asa Adams
I put it in the title bar. Should I put it in the body as well?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pensive
I loved the first chapter!
"Once a woman told me that colored flowers would seem more bright if you added a few white flowers to give the colors definition. Every petal of blue lupin is edged with white, so that a field of lupin is more blue than you can imagine. And mixed with these were splashes of California poppies. These too are of a burning color - not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies."
"Then there were harebells, tiny lanterns, cream white and almost sinful looking, and these were so rare and magical that a child, finding one, felt singled out and special all day long."
Was anybody else thrilled that Cathy finally got beat up?
I was happy for awhile when she got whipped badly by her father, but wasn't fully satisfied. Steinbeck made me feel a lot better later on. I would have been okay with just a good beating; I was eminently suprised and pleased with the broken arm, broken ribs, cracked jaw, bruised and dented face, and especially the cracked skull.
Though she obviously hasn't changed; at this time she is currently deceiving Adam and the sheriff. Charles suspects lots of things though. I feel sorry for Adam because the book mentions that while he is taking care of her "he was never any happier."
Cathy is horrid. Steinbeck calls her a 'monster' but also tries to lessen her own liability, I think:
"Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or less degree. You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous. It is my belief that Cathy Ames was born with the tendencies, or lack of them, which drove and forced her all her life."
Some favorites so far (off the top of my head - I am in Chapter 11)
---How Alice thought that Charles was leaving her presents rather than Adam
---The description of the hobo existence at the start of chapter 7
---How Steinbeck mentions that Adam absconds from his second prison sentence 3 days before his scheduled release, and doesn't explain that fact until 60 pages later.
I am greatly enjoying this book!
These are also two of my favourite events.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoutGrace
I also liked it when Cathy was beaten but the beating did not do her any good...it never does...
Oh! Well, then I will get a little ahead an suggest "Our Mutual Friend" by Charles Dickens when the time comes to read Dickens - I see he is on the list.
Thanks for the heads Up.
The best compliments,
Lizzie. ;)
some people might not notice the title so it would be ok to put it in the body aswell. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by ominousluv