A Five Paragraph Review on Grapes of Wrath

No house, no food, no money, no work, these are the basic problems that millions of familys faced during the depression. The book The Grapes of Wrath focuses on the fictional Joad family in their struggle to survive in the heart of the great depression. The Grapes of Wrath is written by a very talented famous American author by the name of John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck's style of writing is so realistic that when you are reading you feel as if you are there with the family and each person is very unique and developed in a way sometimes not even achievable in real life. The book is very extensive but not at all monotonous. Each chapter has a new shocking event or twist that usually ends up further incapacitating the Joad family. The Grapes of Wrath is definitely a suspenseful kind of book.

First of all, John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors. He is world renowned and has several famous novels including of mice and men, "East of Eden", "Cannery Row", "Of Mice and Men", and of course my favorite, "The Grapes of Wrath". In "The Grapes of Wrath" John Steinbeck describes everything so vividly and thoughtfully that the words become like a painting in your mind. For example here is a small excerpt from the book, the family huddled on the platforms, silent and fretful. The water was six inches deep in the car before the flood spread evenly over the embankment and moved into the cotton field on the other side. During that day and night the men slept soddenly, side by side on the boxcar door. And Ma lay close to Rose of Sharon. Sometimes Ma whispered to her and sometimes sat up quietly, her face brooding. Under the blanket she hoarded the remains of the store bread. Every character no matter how important or minute have their own specific individuality and qualities. In the book many similes and metaphors, as well as other literary devices, are used to further enlighten the story.

As a result, the characters in "The Grapes of Wrath" seem to step out of the page. By far my favorite part of the book is getting to know the characters and understanding their pleasures and more often feeling their grief. Since the story is based on the great depression you know that what happens to the characters has happened to people in real life so the book seems even more serious. One of my favorite characters is Casey the preacher who is a very intricate person just like everyone else in the novel.

Finally, "The Grapes of Wrath" is a very suspenseful story with many ups and downs. When the family hits a pitfall and runs into a problem such as a death or a loss of work you can feel their sorrow. When the family meets a new helpful friend or find a farm that needs workers you feel the joy that the family thrives on. As the story goes along there are dozens of completely unexpected twists that make you want to read more even after the last page.

I would definitely suggest The Grapes of Wrath to anyone who is willing to commit themselves to a large intricate book. Its story line is amazing, shocking, and also very interesting to read. In fact because of how much I liked The Grapes of Wrath I plan on reading all of John Steinbeck famous novels. I hope you will take time out of your day to read this book.