I recently had the pleasure of reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Actually "pleasure" might be too strong a word. Steinbeck's prose and storytelling are quite brilliant but his depictions of human suffering and human cruelty and the vast ravenous system that seeks to crush us all are so vivid that reading becomes quite a gruelling experience.
I’m not sure there’s much I could say about the book that hasn’t already been said. I might just set out a few quotes that I picked up and leave you to explore the book yourself... if you feel you might be in need of a dose of hard-ass reality.
P. Julian
13 January 2019
"I figgered about the Holy Sperit and the Jesus road. I figgered, 'Why do we got to hang it on God or Jesus? Maybe,' I figgered, 'maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit—the human sperit—the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of.' Now I sat there thinkin' it, an' all of a suddent—I knew it. I knew it so deep down that it was true, and I still know it."
And the women went quickly, quietly back into the houses and herded the children ahead of them. They knew that a man so hurt and so perplexed may turn in anger, even on people he loves. They left the men alone to figure and to wonder in the dust.
"Yes, you should talk," he said. "Sometimes a sad man can talk the sadness right out through his mouth. Sometimes a killin' man can talk the murder right out of his mouth an' not do no murder. You done right.
I'm learnin' one thing good," she said. "Learnin' it all a time, ever' day. If you're in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help—the only ones.