I had never read the book, and I hadn't seen the film or even known what the story was about besides it being something about a poor white family in the 1930's. I didn't know that it is a very pro-communist story, and that surprised me.

The structure of the book — alternating between a chapter of "general" experiences or a bird's eye view of a situation and a chapter of what happens to the Joads — is lyrical and interesting. I thought the generalized chapters to be poetic and powerful.

The weakest part of the book is the dialogue. It's choppy, repetitive (though I could argue this to be a stylistic choice to carry the poeticism of the book, or perhaps it is to show the characters' singular mindset of survival), and oftentimes unrealistic in naivety and brevity.

I learned so much about 1930's America. I don't know how accurate Steinbeck's lens was, but I feel like I really entered into that world while I was reading. I like reading books that taste very American; this is one of them.