East of Eden, Steinbeck- B+

                                         Thank you, Lauren, for this gift of literature on my birthday. I look forward to many more.  For me the distinction between  fiction and literature is the author's ability to wordsmith. The classics' authors that I think highly of, write in such a way that I marvel at their words. And here Steinbeck is in the same league as Dickens and Hemingway. The places are seeable and the characters so well-defined.  Since I much prefer the great storytellers, like Michener, Uris or LeCarre, when I come across classic writing, I slow down to take it in. After all, finding out what happens is not the point.
                                         Now as to what happens, that gets complicated for me because I do not see to the depth of the scholars or even students of the tale.   In the last paragraph of Chapter 34, Steinbeck says:  "We have only one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue is immortal. Vice has a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world."
                                         Although this novel spends a great deal of time on the story of the Hamiltons, all the complexity and the main story is that of the Trasks. Adam and Charles have a tortured relationship with their father,  Cyrus, a mean lying cheat.  Cyrus' stolen fortune, however, allows both, particulary Adam,  to make his life choices.  His most fateful  choice is to love Cathy, a woman so depraved (certainly by mid-century American standards) that she shoots her husband, walks out on her twin sons and turns to running a house of ill-repute as her vocation.  Both sons love Adam, but the tension between Adam and Cal is a constant strain. Whereas, Aron can do no wrong. Cal tells Aron of their mother's circumstance, driving Aron to a move of despertion, enlistment in the Army. His death causes Adam's stroke, leaving Cal devastated by the consequences to his family of his actions. His father forgives him.
                                      So ends what the introduction calls "Steinbeck's other big book."  Grapes of Wrath was rejected by mainstream America because it was an indictment of the system.  This was rejected because of Cathy's brazen sexuality.  Both stand as masterpieces.