Book Report: February 2014

East of Eden 
by John Steinbeck
★★☆☆☆

I can't even believe I hated this book, but I hated this book. The writing was superb and the story was initially engaging, but I just couldn't get into the story after the first few chapters. I did like the clear and excellent use of biblical symbolism.

The story itself was possibly a bit too "soap opera" for me. Murders, STD's, wars, affairs, S&M, prostitutes, corrupt city officials, stealing, false rape, house burnings, murdering your parents, compulsive lying, home abortion, etc. This many dramatic twists and turns seemed to take away from the story a bit for me. It felt wandering and not concise enough for my taste.  Also, there needs to be a balance of some sort of truth and beauty in books with this much drama. And there wasn't. The characters who were even remotely moral were also completely weak and easily manipulated.

Someday, Someday, Maybe
by Lauren Graham
★★★☆☆

Pretty good 3/4 of a book. And then it ended. Where was the last 1/4? I am not someone who needs every, single, end tied up in a neat, little, bow. But this book ended abruptly with almost no resolution of any kind. 

Very disappointing since the book itself was pretty good. I wish she had added 20 more pages and honed in on a conclusion that made more sense with the flow of the book.