Рецензия на книгу

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  an-larina26 июля 2013 г.

  I came across that book in my early teens. Not the book itself but a reference to it; you would never guess where – in a girlie book series. The reference was no more than three sentences: one heroine was compared to Cathy from ‘East of Eden’, and that’s it. It is hard to explain; although I knew nothing of the plot and setting, but somehow the book stuck in my mind and more than a decade latter I finally laid my hands on it. And blessed the nameless ghostwriter of the above-mentioned teen series.

  When I bought ‘East of Eden’, I already knew that Steinbeck was a renowned author, a classic of world literature, a Nobel laureate. The titles like ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ sounded familiar, at least from the university course of British and American literature and from the various lists of 100 best novels ever. And naturally I felt kind of shy when taking the first dive into ‘East of Eden’. No matter how many classic novels I’ve read, I still feel apprehensive, because for me they fall into three categories: those of great style and technique but boring plot, those of wonderful plot but unimpressive technique – and those who unite both intrigue and manner of narration. When I start a book, I read it till the end no matter what – but reading a classic novel, I find true joy (and not kind of duty) only with the third category.

  Okay, no more preliminaries. As the title suggests, there’re quite a number of Biblical motives in the plot. Some are obvious, like two generations of Cain and Abel. Some are less explicit, for instance, comparison of the Biblical Adam and the Steinbeck Adam – the latter refused to ‘fall’ but not in the Biblical sense of sin. Adam Trask was an idealist, and this was his core, his blessing, and his plague. Was his happier for this trait of character? I believe, Steinbeck’s answer is ‘no’. He was a good man but his life was not a happy one.

  Coming back to the theme of sibling rivalry: Steinbeck created a controversial picture of brothers’ relations, but what surprises most is that it rings true. It’s not hatred alone or love alone; it’s the mixture of both. Charles could beat Adam to pulp but at other times he felt protective about his puny brother. Cal was smarter than Aron and could think of different ways to hurt him but still he loved his angel of a brother and tried to smother his sibling jealousy. For the author, love is the most inexplicable feeling. Why did God reject Cain’s gift? Why did Cyrus prefer Adam (who never loved his father) to Charles (who worshiped everything about his dad)? And then Adam, who knew from his own experience how unjust a parent can be, repeats the same error in relation to his own sons. All this reminds one of a vicious circle: that our lives are pre-destined and we can just follow the script never having right to change it. To overthrow this idea, Steinbeck introduced the philosophical motive of ‘timshel’ and even put it in the final page of the novel. To cut the long story short (and to save the pleasure for those who will decide to read the novel), it’s the idea of choice: that we do have some starting point in terms of our family, our character, our life situation, but it’s up to us to decide, which road to take.

  One of the things that I liked most about the book is its rich palette of characters. Even some supporting roles and scenes turned out to be a special treat (like Olive taking a flight – reading it I laughed so hard that my flatmates came to find out what’s up). Three characters earned my preference: Sam Hamilton who even in black letters on white paper seems so real, so humane, warm-hearted, full of youthful glee and wisdom at the same time; Cal who was the ‘dark’ brother, who needed love and recognition and who suffered from their absence, who had thought of himself as bad until he found that he was imperfect only as all humans are; and (unexpectedly for me) Lee, a Chinese servant who is loyal and kind and, in my opinion, lives mostly for other people, since he sacrificed his plans and dreams to stay with the Trasks (although it can be regarded as a habit and dread of change as well).

  And of course, I cannot end this review without a few words about Cathy. After all, it was her short description that caught my eye more than 10 years ago. Well, Cathy was really a monster, no two opinions about it. Sometimes I even began to wonder where Steinbeck didn’t lay it too thick; but since we believe in existence of saints – people of purest nature – probably we could accept that there can be such monstrous aberrations like Cathy who are like demons in flesh? I must admit that her suicide remained a mystery for me. She was a fighter, a survivor, and the ‘Ethel/Joe-problem’ was below her standards. Could it be that she… became tired of a struggle? And her will – could that mean that she took liking to the son who looked like her on the outside and was the opposite of her on the inside?

  As for the setting: I’ve been to California once, worked there for 3 months. Reading ‘East of Eden’ gave me a stroke of nostalgia for hilly towns and warm summer with no rain – where the cloudless sky stretches from horizon to horizon and the land with its golden beaches, magnificent mountains and a jewel of a Lake Tahoe seems to be Eden itself.

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