A haunting, evocative portrait of the 1920s dustbowl and its impact on a family of good people. A manifesto of the effects of capitalism on the hearts and souls of a nation. A masterpiece of prose and perhaps the quintessential American novel.
Steinbeck's writing is heartbreakingly beautiful as he paints the landscapes and people of 1920s America. His descriptive chapters are almost poetry, almost jazz in their staccato imagery interspersed with bits of dialogue heard un passing. The chapters where he drills down to a single example, the Joad family, among the nation's teaming millions—these chapters are filled with tender, daring character studies of good people facing problems they cannot, could not overcome. The power of the Joads is that they continue to try—to the very last syllable they continue to push forward and to help their fellow men.
This is a book that is at least as powerful now as it was when it was first published. The problems with rampant capitalism and greed have never been solved and threaten our nation again. Everyone should read this book.