About this title: Ethan Hawley, descendent of an old and proud New England family, is working as a clerk in a food store owned by a family of Italian immigrants. His wife is restless and dissatisfied; his teenage children are troubled and discontented, hungry for the material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Viking Press, New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. 281 p. 22 cm. "A serial version of this novel appeared in McCall's. " read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780140062212ISBN:0140062211
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. unmarked but tanned, some cover wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Bantam, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Acceptable. 1967 Paperback acceptable condition thanks for looking at our books we ship fast and we guaranntee books we sell. 16th printing of 1967 book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780140062212ISBN:0140062211
Description: PAPERBACK: Some edge wear and sp in PAPERBACK: Some edge wear and sp jacket. PAPERBACK: Some spine creasing and edgewear. Daily shipping, large selection! ! ! read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam, New York
Date Published: 1967
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. g-or better. may have price &/or rem marks on book. slight cover wear all pages very readable! 298 p. 19 cm. read more
"I haven't read a Steinbeck book since hs/college days and I now regret that. This book was stunningly written. Steinbec's turn of phrase was concise, descriptive, humourous, and engaging. The plot of this book is not as important as the writing and the moral dilemma that Ethan (the main characther) faces and that all of us face at one time or another. Here is an example of STeinbeck;s writing:
"June is painting and clipping, plans and projects. ... In June the happy seed of summer germinates. "where shall we go over the glorious Fourth of July?... It's getting on time we should be planning our vacation." June is the mother of potentials, ducklings swim bravely perhaps to the submarine jaws of snapping turtles, lettuces lunge toward drought, tomatoes rear defiant stems toward cutworms, and families match t the merits of sand and sunburn over fretful mountain nights loud with mosquito symphonies."
this book was written in 1961 but in many ways is timeless. I highly recommend it."
"Steinbeck's last work of fiction is a truly great American novel. There is a great deal of terrific introspective thought here via the main character of Ethan. (Chapter 3 alone had me very close to tears in recognition.) Ethan is a man who, on the surface, tends to keep everything light and sociable - whether he's with his family or the general public. Yet, scratch the surface and the 'well' opens up.
He is grappling with morality issues which, as he looks around (and at) himself - at loved ones and at his community - are sensed to be the equivalent of an endangered species.
What will people do to get ahead in life? Do they have the backbone to not follow the greedy pack? How does one maintain dignity in an increasingly undignified society? This, to me, seems the heart of the novel.
It's not a perfect book. Midway there are a few plot-driven chapters in which the writing - well, it doesn't falter as much as shifts to automatic pilot to further the story. As well, the last few chapters are in need of some extra concentration to a degree, and you may have to approach the conclusion in a separate kind of meditative state.
That said, overall it's a powerful book and one that already resonates for me."
"Ethan Hawley descends from a wealthy family but the wealth is gone. He makes a fateful choice to turn his fortunes around. Of all of Steinbeck's wonderful books The Winter of Our Discontent is the one that sticks with me, that I think about most often. I probably read it thirty years ago and yet the image of a man's light going out--that level of despair--based on choices he made, remains.
"I don't know for sure how other people are inside--all different and all alike at the same time. I can only guess. But I do know how I will squirm and wriggle to avoid a hurtful truth and, when finally there is no choice, will put it off, hoping it will go away."
We pay attention to the big decisions made by powerful people because that is what the media focuses on and what we relish. I've come to believe that those big choices never happen in a vacuum. There are many small choices by many unknown people that precede everything; it is all, we are all, interconnected. A tsunami that destroys people and communities is the culmination of many small factors leading up to it, impacting it. A president of the United States decides to declare war. We want to blame him when things go awry. Yet he is us. We are him. And I am Ethan Hawley. We're all part of the way things are in the world. And yet we are alone in our despair.
"It isn't true that there's a community of light, a bonfire of the world. Everyone carries his own, his lonely own... My light is out. There's nothing blacker than a wick."
The funny thing is I don't find "The Winter of Our Discontent" depressing the way the foregoing sounds. You'll find yourself in Ethan Hawley. And if you don't avoid hurtful truths I believe you'll also find hope."
"Steinbeck is one of my favorites and I enjoy everything of his that I read, but there was something about this one that just made me think something was missing -- either by '61 his themes had been a bit exhausted, or after reading 7 or 8 of his books in the past 2-3 years I've become exhausted, or more probably, I think, there just wasn't as stellar characterization and sharp dialogue as I'm accustomed to with the rest of his oeuvre.
That being said, it was still a decent book. I still love Steinbeck's belief in man and the situations in which he places his characters, the challenges he presents them with. I was actually a bit surprised that he pulled a 180 with his normal trajectory of character development, but in the end his world view remains steady.
Despite a lot of (what seemed to me) "lazy writing" or "silly comments" that weren't funny or silly, cheesy dialogue, and supporting characters that merited no empathy or concern, Ethan was very well developed, and the main plot was very Steinbeckian in that battle between good and evil, right and wrong, but placing it in more of the "grey area" -- debating morals, money and "business," secrets, manipulations that may or may not be considered "criminal," the things we (may) do to please and take care of others -- I thought his development of these ideas are what saved this book and kept it at the level of achievement he set so high so long before."
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