Novel Whore

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East of Eden is one of those classics I always meant to read but never found the time, until Oprah brought it back to my attention with her book club. I’m so glad she did. For the past 6 years I’ve picked it up every summer the first time we head to the beach and immerse myself in the characters. I hand Steinbeck’s most loved novel off to every friend that asks for a book recommendation, and almost every day remind myself that I have the choice, Timshel.

The reason I love books so much more than movies is that the author always has more time to develop the characters. There is nothing worse than a movie that skips character development *cough*Twilight*cough*. Steinbeck takes his time in East of Eden introducing us to generations of fathers and sons, mothers and whores, taking us from one coast to the other, through a time when wholesome painted a picture, but whorehouses were still en vogue.

There are so many characters it’s hard to pick a favorite, although Cathy always immediately comes to mind. It’s amazing how sociopaths never recognize what they are missing even though they are often extremely bright *cough*O.J.*cough*. Cathy begins life innocently enough by seducing young boys and then yelling rape, charming. She quickly moves on to murder, seducing older men, abandoning her children, murder again, and becoming the madam of a whorehouse that caters to the fetishes of high society, with a blackmail plan of course. I adore her.

On the other end of spectrum we have Samuel Hamilton, an Irish immigrant, perpetual inventor, and intellect. His wife fills the role of uptight frigid God fearing spouse who finds humor in nothing, well until he dies and she discovers why God invented alcohol. Mrs. Hamilton bares nine children that come to rule the Salinas Valley in various ways. Mr. Hamilton is asked for advice on everything from well drilling to naming children, and recognizes when he is about to die. While I typically hate the way books and movies portray everyone as either all evil or all good, I admit I cry every time Mr Hamilton dies. Every. Time.

East of Eden obviously invokes the Bible reference to the Garden of Eden. While the novel isn’t remotely religious, you can’t ignore the ties between good and evil, and the parallel of Cain and Abel, especially when you have twins named Caleb and Adam. The central character Adam, Samuel Hamilton, and Lee, Adam’s Chinese assistant, take a long journey to discover the real meaning of the Bible story of Cain and Abel. In the midst of their studying, Lee says something that has stayed with me through more novels than I can count:

If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule – a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting – only the deeply personal and familiar.

In nearly every novel, movie or story I’ve heard over the years, the ones I return to over and over again, contain portions of me in each character. The reason I fall in love with East of Eden every summer is that there is good and evil inside of me, I could play each character Steinbeck brought to life.

East of Eden

Novel Whore Rating: 5 Notches on the Bed Post

Wine Pairing: Bonterra Organically Grown Syrah 2006

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