Kathryn H. (katiehenningcallison) reviewed on 8/15/2013

Helpful Score: 3

When I read this in high school I thought it was the dullest read ever. I tried again last year (now in my 30s), and passages literally brought me to tears. Steinbeck switches every other chapter -- first sharing the story of the Joad family, forced off their farm during the great depression only to become migrants, literally living day to day hoping to survive, and the abstract chapters that examine wealth, work, and reason in the USA (and how these affect the different classes of people in "the land of opportunity"). I loved the back and forth. The abstract chapters read like poetry and then you are snapped back to "reality" (the reality Steinbeck has expertly crafted for you), with all of the Joad's familial dynamics and dramas and their collective strength of will. I couldn't suggest a book more highly.

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