The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck

[Hope15]

This book irritated me slightly at first, because of those cute sweet talks between Ethan and his wife that felt so sticky, especially coming out of a writer like Steinbeck. Then I decided to get over that prejudice and plunged into the book, although it was a lot harder than his other books like Grapes of Wrath and his collection of short stories. Only after I finished the whole book, I saw the mastery with which Steinbeck has captured the realities of life, such as how Ethan betrays his Italian Employer, subtly manipulates his cousin to death in order to obtain the flatland for building airport, and how deftly Ethan turns the banker’s trick back on him, and ultimately, feeling miserable, tries to commit suicide in ‘his secret sacred place’. What’s really great is that Steinbeck leaves an impressionist fog over all this, leaving each reader to interpret the situations in her own way. A less skilled writer would have tried to make the situations too much clear, thus killing the lifelike quality of the story.
Have you read this book ? What do you think about it ?

[Azrevread]

I read the book. The theme of John Steinbeck's novels are similar- stories about everyday people who have to decide between benevolent or destructive at times, then living with the choices that were made. The main character, Ethan is someone who tries to support his wife and two children by working as a grocery clerk. Although the book was written in the 1960s, the novel still has relevance to the average person's life. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy well written novels.
The rating I gave to the book was 4 out of 4 stars.