The Grapes of Wrath // Book and Movie

I recently finished reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I rented the movie and watched (most of) it. I have so many thoughts and at the end of the day debated what to rate the book. Here are a few of my thoughts!
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - Synopsis
1:14 - Initial thoughts
1:40 - Things I loved
5:24 - Things I didn't love
9:19 - "That's the way things were back then"
10:17 - Steinbeck's realism
11:13 - my rating
12:07 - the movie
14:05 - dropping into history
15:36 - content and trigger warnings
15:53 - outro and bloopers

[@itsmimiduong]

The synopsis and the morals/themes of the book seem SO good. I feel like that itself is something I would enjoy. But I agree with you how you didn't enjoy the writing. That seems a little chaotic; and I feel like I wouldn't be able to keep up with the flow. I think its so interesting how writing and perspective of the world is really prevalent in older books vs now; and it makes me wonder how our writing/books today will be viewed at in the future. I have to say I'm thankful for your video because you gave a lot of food for thought 🥰 Because personally from your description of the book, while I could take away a lot of the themes/discussion of the book, I feel like getting through it will be hard for me

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

It is quite interesting how so often the whole tenor of older books is different than today's. I think there is benefit in both. I definitely think that Grapes of Wrath had so many great perspectives to consider. I was just disappointed in the style personally. :/ But clearly there are still many people who enjoy it!

[@ellenmadebookclub]

Johnbeck!! 😂 The staring!! 😂 This was a great discussion! I haven’t read or seen this story, but it all made sense to me anyway. And I’m so sick of people telling other people what a “good” or “serious” reader is. What it usually means, is that if you don’t conform to the standing ovation to old men with outdated thoughts, you’re no good. And I don’t care if they were good for their time, or can write well, or have some hidden message that I (or anyone) missed. If the message didn’t come across, that’s not my fault 😅 And there are plenty of other thinkers and writers who manage to get their points across without being some pretentious a** and making other people feel less than for “not getting it”. You rate the book however you like, you’re the reader and you get to decide if it provided you with anything you appreciated or not. What it did for someone else is up to them to decide. I probably want to read Mice and men at some point, just to have read it, but other than that I’m not particularly drawn to Steinbeck.

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

The Johnbeck made me laugh. My brain was moving too fast for my words! 😂 Oh my gosh I love that! You worded it so much better than I did. 😂 I do love so much classic literature. But there are also so many things that are important to note (outdated thoughts, differences in readers, etc) when considering the material. And sometimes there are great themes in them and sometimes I read what someone has said about hidden symbolism and I don't see it at all. 😂 I love what you said about each reader deciding for themselves what any given book provides. If you do get to Mice and Men, I would be very curious to hear your thoughts!

[@ellenmadebookclub]

​@@BonnieNicoleWrites Haha I know the feeling ^^ I think you worded it great! I'm not opposed to outdated thoughts either, I mean I don't want people to keep acting on them, but reading a book where they are expressed is just learning about how people used to think and what the consequences of that were and how it's changed (or not) since then. And that doesn't have to mean that book itself is bad. But it doesn't mean we have to enjoy it either 😂 I also think it depends so much on what else we have consumed or learned before reading a particular book. For one person it can be mind blowing, because it's their first time grasping the concepts, and for someone else it's old news and just gross. So not getting the hype could mean you're not getting the symbolism (or whatever), or it could mean that you've just evolved further and moved past that already. One half of the book is the author and the other half is the reader, basically 🤷‍♀😂 And I'm very curious to read Mice and men now, so that's just typical! 😄

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

@@ellenmadebookclub Yes, I think there can be value in reading about viewpoints or whatnot from other times. It's often quite thought provoking to think about how far we have come and how far is often yet to go. Definitely agreed as well about how that can vary for different people depending on previous reading or exposure. That's a great and succinct way to summarize how it's partly the author and partly the reader!

[@readingwithkaylav]

I loved the way you broke this down 💗 I am firmly in the camp of "real life can suck enough and I want to read about things not sucking" lol - reading feels like escapism for me and I'm almost always chasing a happily ever after, but I wonder how my tastes will continue to develop as I branch out.

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

Thank you! I totally agree with you about escapism. This season of life I have definitely needed that. I intersperse some nonfiction or "heavier" books, but I generally have to be in a certain frame of mind to be able to read those. I almost never like sad endings, and I rarely like ambiguous endings. lol I need my happily ever afters! But agreed, tastes can change and life seasons can change. That's one of the great parts about reading!

[@user-pk4gy9ic6c]

These classics don’t get talk enough about in booktube and I’m not saying that as a old lady I’m 27 I just feel like I would love the classics to be talked about more

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

I definitely agree! I have loved classics for years and would love to see them discussed more. I plan to start featuring one classic book a month on my channel!