John Steinbeck was on my list of authors to read before I die. I feel like I was supposed to read "Of Mice and Men" in high-school but I'm certain that I didn't. So when I noticed The Grapes of Wrath in the buy 2 get 1 free bin, i figured why not.

The story is actually pretty relevant to current times considering the occupy wall street scenarios around the country. The Joad family, like many others have been forced off their farms which they initially owned but bad crop seasons forced them to sell them to banks. They live on their once owned land until the banks and corporations decide they can bottom line better if they just get rid of the tenants and streamline the farming process.

So the Joad's (which look like the Beverly Hillbillies in my mind) decide to head to California as they hear there are fruit and cotton picking jobs to be had out there. More than half the book really focuses on the trials and tribulations of the western trek.

The plot changes a little bit when they get to California as they realize when they get there that there are way more people than jobs and as such the California farms are paying unlivable wages.

I enjoyed Steinbeck's writing stylistically. He is very good about being descriptive when talking about the land or the various living conditions the Joad's find themselves in but he is quick to let go of the visual imagery when action and dialog kicks in. I appreciate that as some authors that excel at describing things don't know when to stop (I'm looking at YOU Herman Melville)

What the book is offering both actually and symbolically is the concept of "nothing to lose". The swarm of people heading west or 'Okies' as they are hatefully called have ditched any and all strategy and concentrate solely on the next best move to get a meal.

The book also has a recurring sub theme where people who have nothing will always give half of what they don't have to people who have less than nothing.

My only real gripe about the book is the lack of a definite protagonist. The book starts with one initially, an older son of the Joad's named Tom. No emotional relationship, however, is ever really achieved between Tom Joad and the reader and he kind of falls into a muddled place with the rest of the characters.

Lastly, I get what you were going for Mr. Steinbeck, but that ending was creepy no matter how you spin it.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wasn't a classic lit aficionado and that probably leaves me as the last one to read it. But if you are into that thing or you plan on fighting Wall Street and want some loaded quotes, The Grapes of Wrath will suit you.