Liked the main plot and some of the characters were real and likeable, but some of the vignettes felt a bit glued on. For some reason I just simply didn't like this despite its redeeming qualities. I don't know, everything just shuffled and the writing was very factual (the opening chapter was nice, though). This is by far the most different Steinbeck novel I've read, so if you want to try his works, you might not want to start from this one.