Author: John Steinbeck
Length: 464 pages
The Grapes of Wrath
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Description
“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. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.”
Janet Dore –
Don’t let the fact that this book is usually required reading for high schoolers scare you off. Steinbeck is easy and exciting to read. His characters are palpable and his stories rich. Okay, his stories are definitely not uplifting…enlightening and entertaining are more fitting.
While East of Eden made my 5- star list, Grapes of Wrath just missed it…by a hair. It does, however, hold the honor of being one of two books that had a tremendous impact on my stance concerning the rights of migrant workers. I never did forget the final scene since I read it about 37 years ago. For this reason, I think it should be required reading…once in high school and again as an adult. (The other book is The Tortilla Curtain.)