The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

This was the final major entry on my mental “books I’m embarrassed not to have read” list, so I’m glad I’ve read it for that reason. I’m more glad, though, for the fact that it is a magnificent novel, the best thing I’ve read this year I reckon.

I found myself getting both angry and depressed at the plight of the Joad family and the other “Okies”, suffering at the hand of the police and the land-owners (interestingly, the politicians hardly get a mention). Great writing, great story, great message.

The surprising thing is that it’s still so popular in the USA when it’s explicitly a socialist polemic. Isn’t socialism a dirty word in Bush’s America? Maybe the movie is less obviously left-wing and that’s what sticks in people’s minds. I have a similar theory about To Kill A Mockingbird, but that’s another story.