Recommendations from our site
“The philosophical question that’s really animating the story isn’t the drawbacks of polarized thinking, but the limits of human freedom. Aron and Cal are only the latest iteration of a moral struggle that has wracked their family for decades. Their role in the novel is to illustrate the possibility that all of us might escape the confines of our original character and circumstances and reach freely toward either good or evil.” Read more...
Helena de Bres, Philosopher
“East of Eden is set in Salinas, California—like so much of Steinbeck’s fiction—at the start of the 20th century. It’s a book with a number of narratives in it, starting off with Samuel Hamilton and his wife Lisa, who raise nine children on a piece of very unprepossessing land in Salinas. Then Adam Trask, a wealthy stranger, purchases a nearby ranch. The main brother narrative within the story is that of Adam and Charles Trask…It’s constantly referring back to the Cain and Abel story. The relationship between Charles and Adam Trask is very murderous.” Read more...
Tim Lott, Novelist
