I've just read this - finished it yesterday. I'm very glad I read it - and it's great to watch this video as it's vividly bringing back moments of the novel to me. I enjoyed it. I think you say in this video the book is more 'straightforward' than you expected - that was my immediate impression, too - and not in a bad way - I just found it very accessible. I enjoyed pretty much everything about it - I particularly liked the turn of phrase of some of the dialogue: at one point the word "jackassin' " is used as a verb - I think it's the one-eyed guy who Tom accuses of jackassin'. Not BEING a jackass, but jackassin'. I love it. I found the whole book to be gripping, powerful, engaging - a little blunt at times, but that's not really a criticism, it probably needed to be. Very, very glad I read it, and it's only because I've seen you talking about Steinbeck so much that led me to reading it. And that passage you read out - when I was reading the book, I stopped and reread that passage, I thought it it was so beautifully written; I enjoyed those short chapters, setting the scene and painting a bigger picture, between the ongoing travails of the Joad family. So thanks for turning me onto this book, and I think I'll read East of Eden at some point in the near future. And although I haven't seen the film, it's very interesting to hear you talk about it - it's good to hear that the film does justice to the book.

I appreciate your passion about the book. I just finished it, my first John Steinbeck novel. You're right, he's a master writer. The characterization, the plot, the details reign, but my favorite parts were the lyric "inter-chapters." Now I'm eager to see the film. It was interesting to see that you introduced yourself as incompetent -- and spent lots of airtime on that. You almost convinced me to click on a different video. I'm glad I didn't.

Excellent review and now i will reread Grapes of Wrath and watch the movie again. Your reviews motivate me to read the books. Thank you.

thank you for this video!

Love the trivia tidbits from the movie. And the problem of separating art from those who make it might be worth a video one day. This is another excellent comparison.

Fun fact:Steinbeck preferred the film from the book and was friend with Fonda. "John Steinbeck loved the movie and said that Henry Fonda as Tom Joad made him "believe my own words" Zanuck (the producer) ,Steinbeck said, has more than kept his word. He has a hard, straight picture in which the actors are submerged so completely that it looks and feels like a documentary film and certainly it has a hard, truthful ring. No punches were pulled -- in fact, with descriptive matter removed, it is a harsher thing than the book, by far. It seems unbelievable but it is true."

blessings!

Only book that has ever made me cry.

I didn't like the way they changed the ending in the movie The Book didn't have a happy ending

I read the book in my teens then saw the movie, both are great. Tom saying goodbye to his mother at the end is the saddest scene I ever saw.

Man, this was really a good book. I haven't seen the movie yet.

I just re-watched Kenneth Branagh's "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", the movie most faithful to the novel. No Boris Karloff or Hammer Studio bs.( yes, Frankenstein's creature speaks quite philosophically. Read that book as well as "The Invisible Man" and "Dracula" when I was 13 and 14, really amazed at the depth . Same with Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men".. Different classic cinema versions are fine, but yep, "the Book always Wins"!. Reading is more interactive, and Movies are mostly passive consumer stuff. I learned and understood Empathy for others thru books. But some movies are equally powerful. I just re-watched "Hunchback of Notre Dame" movie with Charles Laughton. I still cry.....

Winning!

Would you ever do a book vs movie on east of eden by John Steinbeck and the 1955 movie starring James dean or the miniseries starring jane Seymour 🤔

I’m kind of surprised they didn’t remake Grapes of Wrath. Why do you think that is Laura?

John Ford is one of the most fascinating assembly of contradictory beliefs. He was a registered Republican, but functioned as a New Deal Democrat. He was the progenitor of the modern myth of the American West, and all the hallmarks that come with it (Indians as noble savages, the good guy with a gun, manifest destiny, etc.) but held a deep respect for Native Americans, who in turn embraced him. He captured humanity as beautiful despite being a misanthropic, combative, drunken asshole. A great artist, and a true original.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the book but I did like the film adaptation starring henry Fonda he was really good in the film

The film was a disappointment for me! When reading the book we imagine the characters and the environment of the story that is not well told in the film.

Don’t spend the first five minutes of your book review with self deprecation

Didn't hear a word she said.

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