2005: East of Eden

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

When we began our club in May 2005, we decided to tackle a classic: East of Eden. This was an easy start because it was Oprah's Book Club Book at that time and there were lots of fresh resources to use. Our plan was to split the book into parts and meet every two weeks to discuss the assigned section. It was a great way to start off because it required a big commitment from each member. No one joined the group who wasn't ready to put the required time in.

It took all summer to read this book and we all felt a great sense of accomplishment at the end. Of the 6 people who participated, two gave it a 7, one gave it an 8, two gave it a 9, and one gave it a 10. That averaged into an official rating of 8.3.

This was a challenging book for many of our members. It provoked much discussion ... although I can't say about what, as I didn't start taking notes until 2007!

After finishing the book, several of us got together to watch the movie version starring James Dean. Boy were we disappointed! The book has so much depth and spans so many years while the movie just takes a snippet of that to dramatize. The character of Kate was especially lacking in the movie. None of us liked it at all, although we might have had we not read the book.

PS. Once I get into 2007's books, I'll have more detailed info about our discussion to share.