The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (unfinished)

Published by Everyman’s Library/David Campbell Publishers, Ltd: London, 1993.
First published 1939.

Congratulations to The Grapes of Wrath on becoming my first unfinished Pulitzer Prize winner. There were moments I thought TheAge of Innocence would be it, but Grapes pushed on in by dint of its slow pace, casual blasphemy and coarse characters. Innocence at least had pace, suspense, and clean language.

Grapes was long, slow, and often felt grubby. One of the main characters was also a preacher who gave up on being a preacher because he couldn’t stop sleeping with young women who joined his congregation. I persevered with it longer than I should have, due to it being quite well known, but in the end decided to give up on it officially after about 100 pages – out of a 500-plus-page book.

In making this entry I have also made a decision, which I plan to apply to both Booker and Pulitzer books from this point on. If I have tried one of those books and given up on it, I will still make an entry (like this one) but will not include it in my official book list. In terms of the Pulitzer or Booker lists, I will acknowledge the entry and mark it as unfinished.

I feel like that is a good way of keeping track of the ‘less pleasant’ ones that I have given a go without forcing myself to finish them.

 (Pulitzer Winning Fiction)

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