East of Eden | John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck’s East of Eden was a masterpiece of literature. Simple prose, beautiful story, love of nature, deep meaning and rich themes.

The character’s lives in the novel mirror the story of brothers Cain and Abel, from the book of Genesis. Cain offers some produce from his land to God, while Abel offers his best sheep (or some other animal). Abel’s gift is praised, while Cain’s gift is shunned. In a rage of jealousy and rejection, Cain kills Abel. Cain is then destined to walk the earth alone, accompanied only with his evil thoughts.

East of Eden chronicles the lives of two families: the Hamiltons and the Trasks. Sam Hamilton has lived his entire life with high values, earning only enough to survive on barren land during the pre-World War I era in Salinas Valley, California. Adam Trask moves to Salinas and buys the best land available, with the inheritance he received from his father, who was a prominent government official.

Adam’s wife Kate, births two sons – Caleb and Aron. Caleb is highly intelligent, but also possesses wickedness and evil intentions. He continually punishes himself for outbursts, and Steinbeck does a great job to show his internal struggle to reconcile his belief in doing good with his evil actions. Aron is the naïve brother, beautiful and innocent. The two characters parallel the lives of Cain and Abel, with interesting results. In the end, Caleb is offered a choice based on a revised translation of a line in the book of Genesis. As readers, we can only hope he chose the correct path.

Some of the themes include good vs. evil, rejection, self-preservation, importance of family and choice. One of my personal favourite discussions revolves around the concept that there are no longer any great men in society, only specialized men – a theme that becomes more true in North America, day by day.

There is way too much to chronicle here, in this short synopsis. John Steinbeck has definitely created an Epic, in every sense of the word. The novel is long, but nearly all the content is relevant to fabricating the tale. Steinbeck creates a landscape and community that you feel you belong to, characters that you fall in love with and cry when they feel pain and a story that somehow is able to inspire hope in your ability to choose your own path.

The story is still as relevant today as it was in 1952, and its magic will stick with you well after it is read. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, I would encourage you to give this novel some attention.

The Satanic Verses | Salmon Rushdie

This novel made me feel like I was on a rollercoaster. I was scheduled to finish it by September 24th for my book club, but ended up taking another couple of weeks to get to the end of the 550 pages. There were times where I hated this book beyond any other (mainly due to wordy language and disjointed storytelling), and times where the novel was able to sustain my interest and keep me reading on.

It was evident that the book poked fun of religion, unabated devotion for things which had a root in ignorance. Stories were told about leaders who used religion to keep their people under their power. Perhaps this is why Rushdie was given a death sentence for creating this novel.

The book questioned concepts of the devil and messengers of God, and peoples belief in both parties respectively. It used imagery and dreams, to an extent where you were never sure if you were in "reality" or within a dream. The problem with the writing was... I really didn't care. There were parts in this novel where I had no idea what was going on. Rushdie is an imaginative writer, but he also seems to lose his points and go off on tangents which made things hard to follow. Read Hemginway's use of run on sentences in the Old Man and the Sea, and they seem to work. In Satanic Verses, they just added to the confusion.

There was also a theme revolving around the concept of 'home', specifically how it relates to "your people" or the place you grew up in. Rushdie, however, did little to make this stand out amongst some of the other great books of our time. In this theme, The Kite Runner faired far better.

The more I read the book, the more I thought it was created solely for entertainment value, not for religious reasons (althought I could see where it would upset some of the deeply devout). I didn't find anything about this book as transcendent, it was more or less a beach book with far more difficult language. That being said, I doubt I was Rushdie's target audience, and I must admit my ignorance when it comes to the religions of the world. However, Rushdie did little to teach me about anything, but if there was one saving grace, it would have been Rushdie's use of images. At times I was transported to a world which was unlike any other I have yet experienced, and for that... this book was at least worth some of the time I put into it.