Timshel: one of the many themes of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. It means "thou mayst" according to Steinbeck, who translates the meaning of the story of the Fall of Man to his readers through a Chinese man named Lee, who alternately speaks pidgin and waxes philosophical in contemporary English. How fantastic is that?
East of Eden is the first Steinbeck I've read and it had me from the start. You know how some pieces of "literature" require you to force yourself through the first few chapters before you get to the meat? Well, let me tell you, East of Eden is not like this at all! It caught my attention early and held it throughout the book, while I wondered which path each character would choose to follow. Such a rich, great story!
Now, it is a mighty large tome; my copy is over 600 pages, but come on: we all know you've read Twilight which pushes 500, and trust me, East of Eden is so rich in layers (and layers) of themes, and ends beautifully in poignant closure which modern works usually lack (although I'm admittedly a fan of Meyer's books).
In my searches, I've found that there was an EoE movie adaptation back in the 1950s which starred James Dean. Can someone please, PLEASE make this into a movie today?? PLEASE?? I'd love to see the trials of Charles and Adam, brothers in the Northeast and their discovery of the nearly beaten to death Cathy, whom Adam falls madly--and foolishly--in love with. Adam and Cathy's venture to California and the CRAZY drama there. Adam's sons: Caleb "Cal" and Aaron "Aron" (because two a's are too fancy) and their re-living of the oldest story of man. Ahh!! This would be fantastic!! You don't even know...unless you've read it, of course!
Plus, I'm sure R-Patz could pull off the moody, self-depreciating, dark Cal. I could definitely stand to see him in another movie... [daydreaming]
Er, anyway...sorry about that!
Also, just wanna throw this out there since this post eventually wound its way to R-Patz/Twilight. Stephenie Meyer has a new novella popping up on bookshelves June 5th, just in time for die-hard fans to read before Eclipse hits the Silver Screen. And, I'm pretty dang excited about The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.
Meyer grew so much as a writer (which happens like every art) as she wrote the Twilight Saga and The Host, and I think it's pretty safe to say that the books got better. Well, maybe until Edward and Bella finally got it on; the inertia/suspense/etc. kinda died at that point...but whatever. So, I think Bree Tanner has a lot of potential and will be a fun supplement to Eclipse.
On that note, you know whose backstory I wanna have in novella form?? Jane and Alec. THAT would be juicy, bloody stuff. Oh well. A girl can dream...
Oh, and domo arigato, Amazon.com for the pics!!
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