Reading Envy Readers discussion

Next week (date still TBD, please take poll in planning thread) we will be having an online meetup to discuss our readalong! Whether or not you are brave enough for that, please feel free to contribute discussion questions. You should assume spoilers may arise (I personally am going to ignore responses until I finish!)

Questions from Sara, copied over from another thread:

Not once did this book feel as long and epic to me as it actually was. That being said, I do wish there had been a bit more about the Hamiltons to fill in some of the larger gaps. But, overall, I was deeply impressed by Steinbeck's deft & lovely treatment of such a sweeping story. I'm ready now to read everything he wrote!

I suppose this will come up in the final discussion, but I'm wondering how everyone felt about the character evolution of Lee. It was his wisdom that introduced the concept that carried through and tied up the story (timshel), so his significance to the story is undeniable. But did his life story do justice to his importance in the end?