Cain Went and Lived in the Land of Nod...

And now for an entry in the "You've never seen it, but it is REALLY good" category, combined with an entry in the "You should read this" category.

Both have the same title.

East of Eden.

First, the book. This is a great book. John Stienbeck creates superb characters, well drawn, well motivated, very different from each other, yet similar where they need to be. Superb story, sprawling, covering 3 generations living in the Salinas Valley of California, yet tightly told. Wonderful themes, well spun.

Basically, this is my favorite book. The story if VERY hard to synthesize, but it is basically a creation story, following the Biblical account at points, with a Cain and Abel story... or rather a few Cain and Abel stories. It deals with evil, and with whether a person who is, as Cain was, prone to do evil MUST do evil. Is there a choice? It has one of the best analysis of the Cain story I have read.

The characters are great. Samuel, the patriarch who is good, but not motivated all the time to act. Adam, who is good, but can't understand evil, and reacts badly when it happens to him. Kate, who is "a monster" in Stienbeck's words. Cal, who is the center of the book, a boy who wants to do good, but is prone to bad. Aron, the brother of Cal, who is like his father, not able to realize that people aren't black and white, they are grey. The Chinaman who helps Adam to care for the two twins, Aron and Cal.

Along the way, there are observations about all sorts of things, from the names of places, to stories about Stienbeck's own family (he says he is decended from Samuel) to observations about life.

Anyway, I really love the book, it is just a great, well told story.

The movie, which stars James Dean in his first starring role, is the last 3rd of the book, the Aron and Cal story. Basically, Cal and Aron are the sons of Adam and Kate. Kate has run off, and Adam is a distant father. Cal wants desperately to please Adam, but always seems to get shot down when he does something for him. Aron gets all the praise. Aron sees people as good or bad, something like his father. What is set up is a wonderful, tight, film. It is directed by Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire).

Anyway, the book has been in print for a while (it was the book that revived Oprah's book club) but the movie hasn't been available for a long time (years). So... check it out!