Blog #26: The Grapes of Wrath

My initial opinion on The Grapes of Wrath was very negative. I heard people say that is was just a long, boring book you have to read for English class. So I judged the book before even reading it. I guess in the end, it definitely was not my favorite book of the summer reading, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I think the adventure is really what intrigued me. I liked the plot because it was pretty much based on fact. Many people traveled for jobs and for food. I also liked the characters and they all pretty much tied together. Most of them were family, but then there was not just random characters that I can recall. Everyone was somehow related. It was not necessarily family related, but they one knew this one who knew another one and so on. I also like kind of the tragedies in the story. I know that sounds a little weird, but I like a little suspense. When tragedies happen, it makes it more realistic because that is the way life is. Some authors lie to sugar-coat everything and then you do not really get the whole thing. I like when things are to the point and are straight on. I guess this novel just is just kind of intriguing to me. Like I said, it was not my favorite, but I really did not think it was that bad. I really liked Tom Joad. He was such a bad boy, but yet I thought that he (most of the time) acted with good intentions. I really enjoyed him. Kind of going back to things being sugar-coated, I liked how there was genuine hardships. People of this world need to know things. They can not just hide in the shadows of the world. They will never get anywhere. Overall, The Grapes of Wrath was not what I expected, but I still enjoyed it.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. NY: Penguin, 1939. Print.