The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very good tale of a store clerk and those that also live in his New York town. The reflections of life and it’s sentient inhabitants are the heart of the greatness of the story. There is also very clever plotting that must have an engaged reader or else all is lost. Seems to me the average American would have trouble getting through this book today.

It seemed to me the writing of this book was one of indecision. As i read, I kept getting the impression author Steinbeck had other intentions for pathways of the story. There seemed to me little literary pot holes that suggested editing and re-editing. One that stood out for me was the whole thing involving a gun that had obvious reasons, but it’s insertion into the story seemed odd and then how it is handled later is also odd. Though the story is well written, I found fluidity to be bumpy.

The characters are all, from front stage to back, so well written, it will be hard not to associate them to someone you know or have seen. I concur it is odd that I strongly associated the main character, Ethan, to W.C. Fields. Author Steinbeck writes Ethan as Fields spoke, with typical asides and witticisms. I guess for that reason I associated the next door bank pal with Jerry Lewis, who also was mostly written as Lewis performed. I would suggest not carrying that with you should you read the book. 🙂

The story is a light one heavily decorated with the life of the characters involved. It’s the interaction of these characters and consequences that rise this story above most other books. It has been well observed that the best books are the ones that start characters at one point and, by the end, have them at another. This book certainly does that.

The setting is described, but mostly involving the main structures and the interiors of those.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 9 out of ten points.

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