The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was a descriptive and powerful book, which stayed with me for a long time. Steinbeck with his amazing talent for character development, made me feel like I was part of the story - enduring all of the hardships of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era.
The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joads, a very close-knit family of sharecroppers, who's lives and family are ripped apart by the Great Depression. The story opens with Tom, one of the sons, getting out of jail on parole, only to find his family packing up to go to California to escape the hardships of the Dustbowl. It shows Tom and his family's journey to the "promise land" of good jobs and high wages. Instead, when they finally arrive, they find out that there is really little work and low pay. The abundant flyers that had attracted them, where merely greedy landowners trying to recruit an excess of workers to bring wages down. They struggle to find work, and eventually, find temporary comfort in a government camp rekindling their hope for a better life. Unfortunately, disappointment and hardship continue to follow them, leading to their family falling apart.
The character development was excellent, I really felt like I was in the moment. John Steinbeck was very good at describing the characters, I could really see in my mind what they were like. There were so many primary as well as secondary characters that he developed throughout the story.
Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was so good that I want to read other books that he has written as well as it spurred my interest in the Dust Bowl era.
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