# What is John Steinbeck’s best novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281 "2009-09-16T04:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/21 "2009-09-16T19:27:29Z")
East of Eden was amazing and I actually read it twice. And I’d read it again. Wonderful book. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/22 "2009-09-16T19:31:16Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Generally regarded as? _Grapes of Wrath_ > > Actual best? _Tortilla Flat_ Agreed, personally. If you love Cannery Row, then Sweet Thursday as a sequel works, and Tortilla Flat is even better in its magical story about a bunch of rogue Monterey Latinos, loosely modeled after King Arthur (i.e., introducing the group then telling stories about each of the characters…). My parents live on the Monterey Peninsula less than a mile from Cannery Row, where the Monterey Aquarium now is. My dad and I collect Steinbeck first editions, although both of us have sold more than we have now (he sold a signed first Book Club edition of Tortilla Flat - grr.; I still have a 1st of Cannery Row - yay!) I would also recommend his short stories - his collection The Long Valley has some wonderful work, such as The White Quail which is a great story. I gotta run, but Steinbeck is a guy who writes about character and story; he doesn’t have the same level of writing craft as Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Faulkner (the other members of the Big Four of modern American lit, although I would made it the big 5 and add Sinclair Lewis), but man, can Steinbeck tell a story. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/23 "2009-09-16T21:41:33Z")
I would vote for \*East of Eden \*as his best work. I also think Steinbeck is definitely the best American author Those of who who voted for _The Grapes of Wrath_, what do you think of _In Dubious Battle_? I always liked that novel. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/24 "2009-09-16T21:50:59Z")
Word for word, _Of Mice and Men_ is one of the greatest books ever written. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/25 "2009-09-16T22:50:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My favorite is _East of Eden_. I find _Grapes_ a little ponderous and gloomy, and I’ve never thought the ending worked at all. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/26 "2009-09-17T02:32:57Z")
I loved “Tortilla Flat” and “Cannery Row”. I just read “Travels with Charley” for the first time a couple months ago, and enjoyed it greatly. I’ll be checking “Sweet Thursday” out of the library tomorrow, appropriately enough, based on Wordman’s recommendation. I’ll probably grab “East of Eden” and “The Wayward Bus” while I’m there. I couldn’t finish “The Pearl”. It seemed to me that the whole of the book was going to be bad things happening to the diver and his family, and people trying to get his pearl. It had such a crushing sense of doom over it, I decided not to torture myself. Part of what I liked about “Tortilla Flat” and “Cannery Row” was how many of the characters stayed optimistic and took pleasure in the little things despite hard times and bad circumstances, and how they often tried to pick up the spirits of those around them. Wordman, how wonderful to collect Steinbeck first editions. I’ve gotten away from collecting things, but if you’re going to collect something, I couldn’t think of anything better. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/27 "2009-09-17T06:45:40Z")
I’ve only read two, Grapes and East. East was better and more epic. It was also one that was based on the lives of real people in the Salinas area and explains why Steinbeck was hated by his neighbors for writing about them. It is much longer than the James Dean movie, which is excellent by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/28 "2009-09-17T12:34:44Z")
I loved _The Pearl_. It’s a great morality story, and, as the OP values, short. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/29 "2009-09-17T12:39:35Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > although I would made it the big 5 and add Sinclair Lewis) You’re my kind of WordMan. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/30 "2009-09-17T12:48:19Z")
In Dubious Battle is my favorite. No one else seems to have read it. I bought it for a quarter at a used bookstore during University in the 1980’s, and it was one of those “I never would have read it but for the fact it was a famous author and cost a quarter” books that just blew me away. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/31 "2009-09-17T13:24:44Z")
I really liked _In Dubious Battle_. _The Winter of our Discontent_ as well…had forgotten that they were written 25 years apart. And I remember enjoying _The Moon is Down_. I must admit, though, that I’ve only got an audio version of _The Grapes of Wrath_, and I haven’t read _East of Eden_. There was an excellent mini-series made of it back in the early 80s (?) that had so much more in it than the James Dean film ever had. Never seen it repeated, though. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/32 "2009-09-17T17:11:31Z")
**East of Eden** is my all time fave. Steinbeck was an amazing writer. You can almost settle in with a bucket of popcorn and a cherry coke and just enjoy his prose and his storytelling ability. Words. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/33 "2009-09-17T20:27:46Z")
Add one more who has EofE on his all time top list. Steinbeck is one helluva writer. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/34 "2009-09-17T20:39:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My favorite is _East of Eden_. I find _Grapes_ a little ponderous and gloomy, and I’ve never thought the ending worked at all. I find the final image more grotesque than inspirational. I’ve read _East of Eden_ probably 6 times; chain smoked it all through highschool. The last time I read it, several years later, it struck me as exceedingly contrived and melodramatic; almost precious; almost naive. I’ve never made it through _Grapes of Wrath_; bogs me right the hell down every time. But I’ve read, I think, everything else Steinbeck has written, mostly in my _East of Eden_ years, and then later just to finish off the list. Also because I was named after his poodle. (Actual true story; my mom was a bit of a Steinbeck geek.) But the only one I ever go back to is _Tortilla Flat_. By laying a pastiche of heroic mythology over his portrayal of a group of poor migrant fishermen, he somehow strips all sentimentality from the story. I’m not sure how he did it, but he combined the epic with the earthy in such a way that he somehow created one of the most human–and humane–novels I’ve ever read. The peak of his output, with almost no close second, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/35 "2009-09-17T20:55:27Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I’ve never made it through _Grapes of Wrath_; bogs me right the hell down every time. So you’ve never read the ending, which I could not freaking believe, even for our day let alone the 30s. Perhaps it was less amazing then than it is now. The ending’s not massively intrinsic to the plot, but **Please put any responses to this in spoiler boxes if you know what I’m talking about**. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/36 "2009-09-18T19:24:21Z")
Steinbeck is my son’s favorite novelist. _East of Eden_ is his favorite novel; with _Of Mice & Men_ a reasonably close second. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/37 "2009-09-27T05:22:28Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > So you’ve never read the ending, which I could not freaking believe, even for our day let alone the 30s. Perhaps it was less amazing then than it is now. The ending’s not massively intrinsic to the plot, but **Please put any responses to this in spoiler boxes if you know what I’m talking about**. the ending didn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/38 "2009-09-27T06:13:17Z")
If you liked Cannery Row, and then you read and like Sweet Thursday as suggested by many, then next is \*The Log from the Sea of Cortez. \* My personal fave. But then, I am/was a marine biologist. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/39 "2009-09-27T17:09:18Z")
My favorites are The Red Pony and Cannery Row, since Steinbeck’s talents were best used in describing kids and bums. I really liked the parts of East of Eden that were likeable, but disliked the 60% of the book that had to be slogged thorugh to get to them (and despite having it explained to me in a earlier thread, still can’t understand how to play “peewee”) I agree with Gore Vidal’s assesment of Steinbeck: he was cursed with a gift for writing “high school classics.” What sets him apart from the Realists of his generation - **WordMan’s** big four/five (who themselves looked to their big two: Twain & Dreiser ;)) by his use of sentimentality. But that was the paradox that some Realist writer was bound to discover and mark as his own territory: realistically, people’s lives are often guided by sentimentalism. BTW, every conversation I have with a Unitarian is mostly me listening to a list of what universe-opening, morally-improving books they’ve read, and this always includes Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth.” I always have to resist the urge to say aloud that although Campbell never won the Nobel prize, he did manage to cuckhold John Steinbeck, who had. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281/40 "2009-09-27T20:21:58Z")
If you want to have a good laugh from time to time, go for _Tortilla Flat._ And stay away from _The WInter of our Discontent_ … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-john-steinbeck-s-best-novel/510281.md?page=3)