Aaron Schmid’s Reviews > East of Eden > Status Update

Unformed. Uniformed. Uninformed. Children. I can't imagine being Adam. Either this or the first... Sending sons. And yet, this is life. Death. They must be sent. Choose death or choose death. Pick the right kind. A pleasing sacrifice. What is Steinbeck even doing to me? This stuff is wild and I don't even know it until I step back, but it's so deeply and thoroughly layered. "Hide from the ugliness--in the evening."?!

I know by now. But I should've remembered that every happy moment is paid for in sorrow. I was thinking, 'This is fun!'... But of course. Cal's prayer was heart-breaking. Kate's "blindness" is staggering. Adam sees her, though! Wow! Then Dessie and Tom... I wonder when he burned the poetry. The way Steinbeck circles back to earlier details is amazing. Throwaway lines blossom into deep, meaningful, breathtaking cuts.

This book is going to break me. I feel it coming. Samuel. My man. So Timshel. Much wow, haha. The themes are pretty solidified now. The through-lines are there and I'm all about it. This is a top-five book, probably. I'm lost in it, and loving every page. I think the timing was perfect for this. I keep thinking, 'I wish I could get a Steinbeck description of myself,' haha, 'of my life, traits, and family history!'

Catherine... What a devil. I like how the narrator sort of walks back his theories about monstrous individuals. But it's especially notable because the monstrous behavior only escalates. It is amazing, competent she is, and how uncomfortable I get because I can relate to her (or at least admire her skill) and how the narrative makes room for that bond and forges it. I love Samuel though, and I'd like to get off Kate.

Wow. This book is amazing. The violence floors me, and even a sentence about breakfast or the smell of whiskey begs me to bring out the flags, haha. The characters are amazing. The landscape is wonderful. The interiority and social commentary are genuine and incisive. The narrator isn't omnisciently trustworthy, but he seems honest, even if we don't always agree. If he keeps this up, it'll get 5 stars. It's amazing.