Author: John Steinbeck
# of Pages: 464 (paperback)
Genre: Classics, Historical Fiction
Rating:★★★☆☆
Synopsis: First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads-driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.
Review: Although this book exceeded my low expectations (I did not find Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men or Cannery Row particularly memorable), the shock value of the ending was lost on me. A friend had assumed I was never going to read the book and spoiled the ending years ago.
While this book reveals the shocking conditions of the migrant farmers during The Great Depression and emphasizes the importance of unity within family and community, the repetitious scenarios Steinbeck uses to enforce his message seem excessive - I am confident that he could have had the same impact without at least a hundred less pages.
As it is an important and well-known piece of literature, I would recommend that everyone should read it at least once in their lifetime. However, I do not plan to read it again in the future.
