Hey ya’ll! So, time for this The Grapes of Wrath readalong thing that Laura is hosting!
Right, so… I don’t know much bout Steinbeck. I’ve only read one book by him ever, Of Mice and Men. And in all honesty… it kind of sucked. I was a bit bored, and it was one of those “…why is this a classic?” reactions. And that was only like 100 pages, and it felt like it took forever.
Apparently The Grapes of Wrath, or GoW for short (which is also how I abbreviate the video game God of War, which makes me laugh a bit) is about some Oklahoma family being forced to move west towards Cali during the Depression. Let me be blunt – I’m not expecting to enjoy this book. I’m half-expecting it to bore me to tears, which would suck. But I love these little readalongs, and it makes me happy to say that I’ve read a classic that I haven’t before, so here I am!
I’m hoping for one of two things to happen here – I’m obviously hoping that I end up absolutely loving it and being all surprised by how good it is. If that doesn’t happen, I’m hoping that it sucks a lot and I really hate it, because it’s always fun to talk about books that are just insanely bad. We all know how much fun it was for me to make fun of Norwegian Wood and Murakami’s love of ears and pervert-y ways.
What Laura has to say about Steinbeck leaves me optimistic - that he was all political and leaned toward the left and stuff. Maybe this’ll make me a Steinbeck fan after all.
The one I’m reading, cause it’s what my library had. I think its pretty though.
So, is anyone as apprehensive as I am?
~Sarah
I can totally see being apprehensive, but I think his longer books are better than his shorter ones. His vision is pretty expansive, and long books suit it. But yeah, we’re gonna cry. Pretty sure about that.
Crying is good though. That means strong emotional reaction to the book, which would be nice.
I am as apprehensive as you are. I read it back in high school and the only thing I remember about it is that I was super bored with it. I’m hoping teen me was stupid and this is better than I remember.
Its times like these that I’m so glad I didn’t go to a normal high school – there wasn’t really any required reading of classic novels, and so I’m just kind of experiencing them all now that I’m in my 20′s and more able to concentrate and think deeper thoughts about them.
*weeps over your lack of love for Of Mice and Men* But the ENDING, Sarah! The ENDING!
I do agree with Alice though, and also in this one? Way more politics, only in a totally fitting into the story instead of shoved down your throat kind of way. Or at least I think so…
Yeah… Of Mice and Men just wasn’t my jam…
Politics in a novel are nice, as long as their not too blatant but also not so subtle that you’re digging for it.
I’m quite apprehensive. I tried it when I was younger and really hated it but I’m thinking I might just have been too young for it? :-/ Hope so anyway! I quite liked Of Mice and Men, although only the last few pages. The rest dragged a lot.
YES! Hopefully we’re all at the perfect age now to appreciate it. Or so I hope.
I really enjoy Steinbeck. That said, good luck with this one. It feels ten times longer and it’s incredibly dry and slow.
In college I had to see the opera (it was doing a trial run in Pittsburgh) for a class and fell asleep THREE times.
Oh no, now I’m worried again. Well, hopefully all the hilarious discussion & GIFs will make it better
I really miss the Norwegian Wood readalong… So many excellent things to mock.
I’m excited about the politics, too. Steinbeck seems like my kind of guy. Plus, as Laura pointed out, he was pretty dishy. I had no idea until she posted that picture… I always kind of imagined him to look like the dude on the cover of my copy of GoW.
Riiight! He did have a dark mysterious thing going on that I did not realize!
“But I love these little readalongs, and it makes me happy to say that I’ve read a classic that I haven’t before, so here I am!” – Yes to this. And ditto.
I’m certainly a bit apprehensive. I’m just not willing to commit too much of my brain to what I’m reading these days. But I think reading it with everyone here will make it FAN. TASTIC.
Me too! I’m just hoping that I’ll have something to say, other than… “So, some stuff happened…”
I’m apprehensive, but mostly because I have a lot of reading commitments over the next few weeks and I’m worried I won’t be able to give this the attention it deserves! Or also because maybe it will be boring and I don’t want it to be; so many people whose opinions I respect call it one of the greatest novels they’ve read that I am now terrified of disappointment.
But c’est la vie, I suppose!
I have a lot of other stuff I want to read this month too, so I’m really really hoping that GoW isn’t boring, or the whole time I’m trying to read it I’ll just be thinking “Ugh, I wanna read “blank other book” instead.”
I can enjoy, seriously, the most BORING book as long as the writing is good. And I’m fairly confident in Steinbeck’s writing abilities, so I’m probably covered. But I can see what you mean about his stuff being a little dry. His themes are subtle and his characters are quietly powerful, I think. And that’s not for everyone, for sure.
MAYBE if you end up enjoying this more than you expected, you should give Of Mice and Men another try? *casually slides book in your direction while looking the other way*
I’m only about 3 chapters in to it now, and while part of me is like “WTF, that was a weird, boring chapter” the other part of me is like “Yeah, but impressively it still seems important and relevant to the story…”
Yeah, I’m gonna have fun trying to figure Steinbeck out. And maybe, MAYBE, if I enjoy this I can re-try OM&M.
BTW, Disqus won’t let me comment on your blog! I don’t know why- it says I have to upgrade my browser but I already have IE 9, so I’m not sure what the issue is
YES. That’s exactly it. I keep getting to the end of a chapter and being mildly annoyed with Steinbeck for going on about nothing for several pages and making me ENJOY it. He’s a tricksy one, that Steinbeck.
Bummer about Disqus. I tried to investigate, but I have no idea what I’m doing. I just checked and unchecked some boxes and spoke soothingly to my computer. I guess we’ll see if it worked.