To a God Unknown (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
While fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity andthe farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, TO A GOD UNKOWN is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control theforces of nature and to understand the ways of God.
About the Author
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read practically everything by Steinbeck, and this is my favourite.
The story of the brothers who move from the security of New England to the wild west, compares the organised and sanitised religion of the east, with the pagan and traditional religions of the natural world.
As is usual with Steinbeck, there is no conclusion as to which religion is better, morally superior etc. The reader is left to make up there own mind - and if you are left wondering, then I guess that Steinbeck must have done a good job !
This is one of the author's early novels, and once you have read it, you will think about all of the others in a different light.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very dark and thought provoking novel. Four very different brothers take their families and move to farm very lush land, which has a history of droubt. When the dry times come and the land and cattle begin to perish, the family falls apart. Very deep and often quite creepy, this is not a book to read when you need cheering up as there is much death and despare involved. It is compelling reading and, as always, the charactors are brilliantly depicted. Not recomended for vegetarians!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
`To A God Unknown' is the tale of a ranching family in California and how they try to survive in good years and bad on the ranch. The head of the family starts to worship an oak tree on his land that embodies the spirit of his dead father and develops a deep connectedness to the land and nature, much to the chagrin of his Christian brother. This has themes of the rhythms of nature, as well as pagan superstition and the internal struggles of one man as he struggles with traditional religion and his feelings of the purity of nature. Having read much Steinbeck before I was eager to start this book and soak myself in his beautiful prose and whilst that still held true, I did find this slightly hard to get into initially; you could tell this was one of his early books and he was finding his voice. After about thirty pages though I was enthralled and revelled in his writing until the resonant and moving conclusion. Steinbeck has the ability to reach to your very core and make you feel the passions, sadnesses and tribulations of the characters along with them and whilst in less experienced hands you may have trouble believing in and engaging with some of the ideas presented here, with Steinbecks deft touch you not only believe them but you also live and breathe them. This is a worthy addition to your Steinbeck collection and as I have stated on other reviews for his work, I have yet to read a bad Steinbeck book and this is truly no exception. This has a depth and power that will stay with you long after you have finished reading.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Classic Steinbeck
This is pure Steinbeck, full of beauty and also darkness. To me the message was more about superstition and ritual rather than what many would consider religion. Read more
Published 5 months ago by TJA
Flowery Steinbeck.....
The book is a beautifully descriptive story of a family settled in California (like most of his novels). Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kitaj
A highwayscribery Book Report
Purple and brown, dusty wine shot through with wheat-colored sun.
John Steinbeck's, "To a God Unknown," is both love letter and a Dear John to his native Northern... Read more
John Steinbeck's, "To a God Unknown," is both love letter and a Dear John to his native Northern... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Stephen Siciliano
'I am the rain'
I've been a fan of Steinbeck for a long time, since GCSE Of Mice and Men really. But this book took me totally by surprise given how soft and comfortable reading Steinbeck can be. Read more
Published on 23 May 2010 by Mr. D. Drabble
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