The first book I read that I didn't need a teacher to tell me "the big picture"

"But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed--because "Thou mayest."

The first time I read John Steinbeck's East of Eden was when I was a junior in high school. I read it over the summer, and it took me quite a while, and when I finished it, I just felt so accomplished. Accomplished because it was well over 700 pages, and accomplished because the ending had illuminated my mind, and it felt fantastic.

I love this novel for many reasons. One of them is Steinbeck's thorough and vivid character development (a reason why it took me so long to read it). This was the first novel I had read that really had me get to know these characters so well that I understood their thoughts, and I understood their actions. I knew their histories, and I knew what drove them. It was a completely different kind of reading experience for me, and it changed me as a reader.

You didn't have to be an academic scholar to appreciate or recognize the symbolism in East of Eden. The Adam/Eve, Cain/Abel allegory was adapted by Steinbeck to modern times to the modern family ("modern" being the early 20th century). And he does it so vividly and colorfully that you become absolutely engulfed in the story.

When I read a book that I immediately love, all I want to do to share my passion about it is to give a church talk about it--something, anything to share with people what makes the book so relatable to us. I still hope to do this about East of Eden...maybe someday! For now, I can just share with you here on my humble blog about what this novel reminds us of--because all novels refresh us somehow on some truth that we already know. East of Eden explores the glory of the freedom of choice. It illuminates a section of the Bible for us, which, as a King James version reader myself, I always appreciate a reading of a Greek or Hebrew translation to remind me that we can sometimes understand the Bible better by doing so.

Here's the most popular example from the novel: "Don’t you see? . . . The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open.”

I still have yet to research this word "timshel" and if it really is an authentic claim, but either way: I love this book.