austin east of eden

okay, to start: 1) i need to read this book at least twice to fully form an opinion. 2) i left my notes on the book at work, so these are things i have been thinking, but i will add more on monday. 3) as we all know, i am very critical. I thought it was a very well written book, i am just going to be very picky when discussing it.

i think steinbeck is too smart to write well-rounded characters. he is very present in every character and he writes his quotables into every dialogue. I made it hard for me to fully understand and have an opinion on a character when steinbeck tells us a character is dumb, but then he says he says something out of this world. i think he did an amazing job with that in of mice and men, but this one didn't convince me.

along with that, i don't understand kate. maybe it is because in order to feel a character, you have to relate to them (so says steinbeck), and since i have no evil inside of me, i can't relate. but she seemed very one dimensional and totally predictable. yeah, all the characters were very predictable. also, why does she have a scar. does steinbeck just give every jerk a scar to symbolize the curse?

steinbeck uses the other character's perceptions to help him add character depth and plot development. it seemed to me that every character had such a sixth sense for the subtle emotions that people have, that isn't very realistic. this is not making any sense. example is when a character would notice how kate would have a slight and sudden dread and then she would regain control of her face or whatever. i don't know if that makes sense at all, but it makes me feel worthless as a human. well not really, but when all the character are really perceptive to emotions of others, it makes it unrealistic.

in terms of parallels between the story in the bible, i thought it was too shallow. this is when multiple readings would come in handy, but i don't really see many similarities between cain and able, caleb and aron, and charles and adam except the obvious (names, scars, general demeanor) maybe i was expecting too much, and it is hard to base a deep character on 16 verses, but i wasn't wowed. at all. too simple. i mean don't insult my intelligence, i can handle it. (only half serious there) this will come back to bite me in the arse if i missed something entirely.

another thought: did anyone get anything out of the interweaving of steinbeck's history? i would have rather he stayed out.

i know waaaaay too much about how to start an early ford.

i wish it would have been more sad. i didnt feel cal was responsible for aron's death. and i didn't care when he died. cuz i was expecting much worse. like cal gets pissy and opens fire on a whole congregation of trasks and hamiltons, killing them all. i sorta discussed this with ali already, but i think the good v evil thing with cal was cool and everything, but i think steinbeck should have chosen either 1) cal kills aron becuase he is evil or 2) cal choses the right. steinbeck chose both.

to conclude: steinbeck should write a philospophy book with overly intelligent characters so he can just leak out, because when every other characters says something incredible, i think he is showing off.

im going to remember something right after this publish post button is pushed and i didn't spellcheck or read this over

timshel