Philosophy and drama

Loved the narration, kept my interest throughout. Great book and the narrative makes you draw parallels in your own life with its weaving of biblical paradox’s and the human condition throughout an epic story. Excellent

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A classic must read

Timeless classic, leaves a lasting impression with deep moral questions and vivid characters and story line.
The narrator is easy to listen to.

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East of Eden

A moving saga spanning decades and families, even though a vintage read, still had some excellent moments

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Got a lot more out of this than I expected to!

Quite a comprehensive story, and I really enjoyed seeing how all of the events played out to affect other characters’ lives. Gripping narration performance with great attention to different voices throughout meant that that it was only some of the language choices and perspectives that reminded me I was ‘reading’ an old piece of literature. Still an enjoyable tale today, but admittedly with my bias as a cisgender white male. Some scenes, dialogue and narrative perspective are definitely problematic for multiple groups of people (still way better than a Mark Twain though on that front!).

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A timeless classic

A fantastic book read well. Recommended to anyone who hasn’t read it or has read it a hundred times

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Classic Steinbeck, epic story (pity about the narration)

I first read East of Eden years ago, in the late 60's, and have re-read it a few times over the years. I consider it to be one of Steinbeck's best works.
This was my first time listening to it in audiobook format.
I found myself straining to find the same recognition and enjoyment I had experienced reading the book, but it was so difficult getting past this narrator's voice and forced accents!
Why did Simon Manyonda, a British actor, feel he had to assume an unreliable American accent to narrate this book? That unnatural accent jarred from the very beginning and it got so much worse when he attempted to voice other regional accents, eg Sam's Hamilton's Irish or another's French accented English.
But, the worst, the most insulting to the ear, were Manyonda's various female voices! Screeching or whinging or nasal, none of the female characters' voices 'worked' and some of them (eg Dessie's) were positively painful to hear.
Perhaps it would have been better if Simon Manyonda had simply narrated in his own pleasant voice (which we can hear in the credits), but we will never know, unless he tries again. He needs to improve his performance of female voices and widen his ability to produce regional accents.
As it stands, this audiobook does not do justice to John Steinbeck's great words.

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1 person found this helpful

Loved this book! Will read again for sure.

The book itself is beautiful but I think what really made me connect with this book is was the narrator. Simon Manyonda was a perfect choice to narrate this book. Will definitely read this again.

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Amazing

Everyone has already written about how great this book is and I stand with them in agreement. What I would like to pay particular attention to is the impressive narration by Simon Manyonda. Just when I thought Steinbeck’s work couldn’t get any better, Simon comes and elevates the book to new heights. The life he brings to his reading; the accents, the emphasis, the storytelling - absolutely superb. Well done, Simon.

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Awesome story but...

This story is one of my all time favourites, however this narrator tries to do voices and accents. They shouldn't. Some of his female voices could be made more pleasant by replacing them with nails scratching a chalkboard

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2 people found this helpful

A great book, deserves better narration

The book deserves its classic status, but is more approachable than many classics. interesting treatment of nature vs nurture, with free will thrown into the mix.

The narrator starts using a flat "this is important " tone on most every sentence, but gets better over time. His character voices irritated me, especially for female characters and Lee.

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1 person found this helpful