The 306 Greatest Books #130 - The Grapes of Wrath

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This book can be found on the Sybervision, BBC, and My Book Lists.

Often, when I start out reading a book, I set goals for myself, such as 10 pages a day, or a chapter a day. The purpose for this is to keep me on pace and finish in a reasonable amount of time. I had done that with The Grapes of Wrath as well, setting my pace at 20 pages per day. One of the first things I noticed about the book, though was how easy it was to read. Twenty pages would fly by and I would keep on going, partially due to the ease of reading the story but also because I had become enraptured with the characters and the story. My page goal almost became a moot point, with the story drawing me along. The story is about a family from Oklahoma during the 1930's dust bowl, who believe they will find better fortune in California after being run off their land due to unpayable debts. And that is it. The family moves around during the Great Depression trying to find work and dealing with the situations that are happening all around them. This story became a cultural and political wake up call to the US government about how bad conditions had become in the country. I don't believe Steinbeck set out to write a social commentary, mostly because the worst of the things that happened to many of the migrants happened only to the auxiliary characters, or were isolated to portions of the text not following the main plot. In many instances the main characters thrived in situations where a normal person would have been dealt a bad blow. They managed to get into camps that just happened to have an opening, or find ideal jobs when others are getting half the pay they get. I felt that Steinbeck played it safe with his primary characters in instances where today an author might not. It was the ending that really got to me though. Reading through this whole novel, I started to wonder where it was going. I felt that the characters could go on in this fashion for a long time, but clearly the novel is drawing to a close. It is when I hit the final two pages that I realized where Steinbeck was going. The ending provides the quintessential essence that the new generation must support the old, because they have become unable to do it themselves. The layout of the story was interesting, with every other chapter focusing on the main characters and the other chapters giving a parallel story not focused on the main characters, but written as a commentary on the social problems of the time. Overall, I felt the writing was fantastic, which produced a smooth read through of a fantastically well-written story. A high recommend. 

The 306 Greatest Books #1: Of Mice and Men

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The first up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book can be found on the Sybervision, BBC, and My Book Lists. 

While I had read this book in high school and I consider this the first book I have read on my list, I have since gone back and reread it. And my, what a depressing story this is. It has a very strong Great Depression vibe to it as well, although the Great Depression is never mentioned in the story. The plot follows two companions, one of which would be considered to have a learning disability today, Lennie, while the other individual, George, is the one that takes care of him and tries to make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Which doesn't always work out the way that he hopes. While the story is very short and follows only one instance of them as traveling farm hands to a new farm, the story itself delves into racism, ableism at the time, and in some instances men's mental health. It is a profound reading experience coming at it from a 21st century mind frame. I don't think I got anywhere near all those details in high school and this is one I was happy to travel back to. A must read in my opinion.