Old Books Worth Reading: Winter of Our Discontent

John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent has mixed reception among Steinbeck fans. I have always loved my reading of Steinbeck. It takes a mature reader of course, and I think requiring students in grade school to read Steinbeck is a great way to ensure most of them will never read Steinbeck again. Steinbeck's East of Edenis widely regarded as one of the best novels ever written. It changed the way I preach the Old Testament and cracked wide open the riches of the Cain and Abel story for me. But again, it takes a mature reader.


The Winter of Our Discontent causes some Steinbeck readers to think that Steinbeck's last novel was his worst. Others have found his switching from first to third person unreflective (I disagree--I think it's brilliantly on purpose and so subtle first time readers think it an accident). Still others find it a preachy novel. Perhaps that's why I love it so much. I love preaching. And this book is fantastic preaching as secular novels go. I have read it four times and found the things most critique the book for to actually be among some of its greatest strengths. It is my most read Steinbeck novel, more than East of Eden, more than Wayward bus. I like it more than the short stories of Cannery Row and Tortilla Flats. Though not as powerful from a literary perspective, I relish it more than Of Mice and Men. Have you read it? What have you thought of the book?