I lost my innocence my junior year in high school, and it started with reading this book. The rose-colored glasses I had developed during the first 16 years of my life were shattered by this book. I think Steinbeck intended to shake the world of his readers, and he accomplishes it with his usual mastery.

The family in this story might be fictional but the tale it told was true. How capitalism has exploited the working poor thru out the history of America. The stuff with the peach picking and pitting one starving group of workers against another were why unions were born.

Now instead of pitting Americans against Americans our jobs are being sent over seas because those workers will take less and won’t ask for crazy things like healthcare and a retirement plan.

Another ploy is letting Illegal immigrants cross over and do the jobs “Americans won’t do”. Yeah we won’t do them for 5$ an hour with no benefits. The answer is not to look for a cheaper labor source but to actually pay a fair wage and only trade with countries that do the same.

Still after all this you almost feel like crying when she offers the dying man her breast just after the loss of her child. I felt emotionally spent after this book.

An all time great!!!!!!!!

A must read, one of the greatest works of fiction of all time.

Going to need to put this down for a bit. I think I’ll pick it up some other time. Having just finished East of Eden, I think this may be a bit to heavy for now.