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The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man's fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman's stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women in the transformation of an entire nation, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an American divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plain-spoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.

First published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath summed up its era in the way that Uncle Tom's Cabin summed up the years of slavery before the Civil War. Sensitive to fascist and communist criticism, Steinbeck insisted that "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" be printed in its entirety in the first edition of the book -- which takes its title from the first verse: "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck's fictional chronicle of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s is perhaps the most American of American Classics.

Steinbeck chronicles the trials and tribulations of one particular family that is affected by the unimaginable economic loss of The Great Depression. Tom Joad gets out of jail only to find that his family has lost its farm and nearly forced west in search of work.

The book is written beautifully, and I am amazed at the level of detail the author brings to the era. The only information I really have on this time period is old anecdotes my grandmother used to share. Her stories were nothing compared to what the Joad family, like so many others, had to endure. I had never downplayed the tragedy of The Great Depression, however I feel now that I have a strong(er) appreciation for the survival instincts exhibited by so many people. The will to live is an incredible force.

Unfortunately, however, it was not long into the book that my opinion of it soured. It seemed as my understanding of the conditions and quality (or lack there of) of life grew, my pleasure found in the book dropped. The story follows from the perspective of one family, as I had mentioned before. From this point of view we see so many different stages of the Depression; living in tents along the highway between days of driving, eating nothing but fried dough, the treatment received by others, the Hoovervilles and the government camps. I was basically halfway through the book when I realized that the point could have been made in a lengthy magazine article. I could have learned as much about what people had to live through (or in some instances die from) and not found myself wrestling with the second half of 450 pages to finish the book.

At 100 pages remaining I realized that there would be no resolution to the book. The Joad family could not immediately come into economic prosperity, nor could the author kill them all off. In either case, no one would read the book and it certainly would not have reached the level of "classic" literature.

The book had to just end. Which it did. I will ignore my own complaints with the actual ending, as I will freely admit that I could not write one better.

From a factual standpoint, to obtain a certain level of knowledge of the era and do so with John Steinbeck's panache, The Grapes of Wrath was a good book. From an entertainment standpoint, to read a book that masterfully grips your attention unwilling to release until you've read each and every word, The Grapes of Wrath cannot even be considered in my opinion.

I feel somewhat bad suggesting that you do not read a novel that is considered "classic" American Literature, but I stand by my feeling. It turns out I had the right idea in opting against reading The Grapes of Wrath in high school when so many other people read it.

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