Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1131 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Synopsis
Shocking and controversial when it was first published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic remains his undisputed masterpiece. Set against the background of dust bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of the Joad family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel West in search of the promised land. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires and broken dreams, yet out of their suffering Steinbeck created a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision; an eloquent tribute to the endurance and dignity of the human spirit.

Customer Reviews

Unfortunately 5 is the highest
else this and Ulyses would be the only 20th century works I'd give more. Joyce for his epic poetry, Steinbeck for his enlightenment. Read him and understand where you live!

Steinbeck strikes again
I am going to go against the grain here and only give this book three stars. I am not doubting the quality of the book and as always Steinbeck has provided a vivid account of American life. My main problem with this book is that it is rather a miserable book. I know if you had been evicted from your land and forced to work for a measly sum you would also have very little to laugh about. I also had trouble with the local dialect and I almost stopped reading after the first 100 pages.

Heres the thing, after the first 100 pages the accent really grows on you and the story really takes shape. There is very little mention of the plight of the black population in this book which might have been nice of Steinbeck to mention.

The ending is weird, I wont spoil it, I think Steinbeck was going for some level of enduring human spirit, no matter how you square it, it really is just a little odd.

Where have the world's great writers gone?
There are very few books that can be classified as truly magnificent, but this is one of them. You don't have to be American, you don't have to have lived through hard times.

Just marvel at the perfection of Steinbeck's work. It was truly tragic when I finished this masterpiece, for there were very few works of brilliance left to discover.....