"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy,growing heavy for the vintage."

John Steinbeck writes with a deep understanding of the common man's suffering, during the years of migrancy, when people from states like Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas were tractored out of their lands,and were forced to moved West, in hopes of  settling down among the pretty orchards and cotton fields of California.Instead, what greeted them were the hatred of the natives, scarce job opportunities and terrible living conditions.Steinbeck's Nobel- and Pulitzer-prize winning 1939 novel is an enduring classic, which portrays how the inherent goodness in man is brought out in times of collective crisis, and how man's will can fuel revolutions,leading him to live on in spite of setbacks in life.A truly touching,beautiful work,which will stay with you forever.The past year 2016 came to a meaningful end for me with reading The Grapes of Wrath.Here's hoping that the new year brings new,equally satisfying and surprising discoveries in literature.
It is interesting to note that both the beginning and the end of the novel speaks of rain - how it can bring the earth alive, and an excess of it,destroy crops and lives.The presence of nature is weaved throughout the book - man's connection to nature, how an understanding and respect for nature gifts a life well-lived, and man's helplessness in the face of nature's wrath
Frankly, I wouldn't be able to stop raving about this book, but here I refrain myself to a few quotes:

"And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history:repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed."

"The quality of owning freezes you forever in 'I' and cuts you off forever from the 'we' ".

"Death was a friend,and sleep was Death's brother."