Have you all read East of Eden? I'm about 2/3 of the way through it now. I think that no literary character has so terrified me as Cathy Ames. Scary stuff, folks.
(I was hesitant to post this...wasn't sure if sufficient time had passed and we're allowed to post non-China-related things again.)
13 years ago
12 comments:
Ha, ha! I did all that work and not one lousy comment. It did force me, however, to organize the photos and label them.
Is East of Eden by Steinbeck? At any rate, I've never read it. Maybe I'll add it to my queue.
Mom
East of Eden is by Steinbeck. It's absolutely horrifying. I have chills just thinking about it. Shiver shiver shiver.
I'm not educated enough about China to comment on any your posts. It goes without saying that it's all fantastic--the places themselves, and the fact that you saw them in person.
I re-read my post, and realized that, if read in a certain light, it could have been interpreted as rude. What I meant was that I didn't want to post something until I was sure you weren't putting up more China posts, so that they could all be posted consecutively to maintain structure and organization.
I'm still having trouble believing I was really there. I've been a few nice places - but I've never stood almost transfixed in amazement at where I was, which was my feeling every day. By the way, Scott, a few of the terra cotta warriors are coming to visit a museum in Santa Ana in a couple of weeks for the summer. Look up terra cotta warriors on Wikipedia - I think that was where I read about it.
Mom
The terra cotta warriors are coming to visit a museum in Santa Ana? Holy Crap! I would have thought they were all long since dead, having been buried under dirt and all for thousands of years.
Hopefully after visiting the museum they can hit Disneyland or some of the other nice attractions in Southern California.
I will look and see if I can request a copy of East Of Eden from the library.
Let me know if those Terra cotta warriors defeat California and start heading to the East Coast.
Before you jump into East of Eden, let me just say that it is a truly disturbing novel--and I don't mean depressing like some of Steinbeck's other works--I mean disturbing in the way that makes me have nightmares.
To be completely honest, I am not sure I'm going to finish it. The plot is really compelling and I'm extremely curious to see how things end, but this is a very upsetting novel.
I had thought through the first half of the book that it's an amazingly well-written book that is also disturbing; now I think it's an amazingly disturbing book that is also well-written. Not all well-written things are worth reading.
You've all convinced me. I'll go get the book from the library and read it. The other Steinbeck books I've read were all disturbing. I haven't read any since high school/college, but I remember that much about them. Then we can see who's the most disturbed!
Mom
Fine by me. I ain't your daddy. But just consider yourselves warned.
I am now 50 pages into East of Eden and am already a little afraid.
I won't read any more Steinbeck. Or Faulkner for that matter...
As I look at the "What We're Reading" list and see two more people reading East of Eden, I can't help but feel like I've damaged the family somehow.
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