Wednesday, February 07, 2007

East of Eden

It's been twenty years since I first read John Steinbeck's East of Eden, and being older naturally gives me a different perspective. Knowing that oodles has been written about this American masterpiece, I am only going to comment on the two things that stand out most in my middle-aged mind. First, Steinbeck is a dead white guy who didn't seem to think much of women. Second, I do not buy in to the simplistic notion that people are inherently good or evil.

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed this work immensely; however, I don't anticipate reading another dead white guy classic again for awhile. What I need is a good read by a woman of another culture.