To a God Unknown (original 1933; edition 1995)

As a confirmed admirer of Steinbeck, perhaps hard to objectify. Early short novel, familiar motif of early California settlement, here by eastern brothers come to find their way. Paganism v Christian tenets is a major theme. Tragedy. Evocative descriptions of landscape. Novel is part of LOA
collection, would like to own. Early 2013 read. ( )

הרומן השני של שטיינבק על הקשר האירוטי שבן האדם לאד​מה. המתנחלים היו אוהבים את זה​ ( )

Wow!
In his book "To A God Unknown" John Steinbeck has created an unforgettable character. Joseph Wayne is a man who comes to feel so close to the earth and all that is thereof, that one might think him to be a native American, but not so. He is the patriarch of a family of brothers who, upon the death of their father, follow him to a valley where, with their help, he builds a fairly self contained ranch.
Each brother is married or does marry including Joseph and though he is but the 3rd eldest of the 4 brothers, they all look up to him for decisions.
When Joseph first comes to the valley and overlooks it, he sees a huge oak tree and decides to build his house at that site with the tree overshadowing the house. He is fascinated by this tree. He talks to it, he pours wine over it, he places meat in it and over time the tree comes to overshadow everything within Joseph's life. When his son is born, the scene which played out in my mind was that of Kunta Kinte in "Roots" when he held his newborn son up to the sky to be blessed. Joseph does exactly the same thing with his newborn son, but holds him up to the oak tree instead of to the sky. It is as if he were thanking the tree and giving over the nurturing of his son to the tree.
When the oak tree dies, things begin to go awry. Deaths, lack of water, feed shortages for the animals, a murder occurs, among many other things. Joseph turns his fixation to a pine grove on the ranch where there is a large moss covered stone with a small but constant spring of fresh water emerging from it. Joseph remains with the rock and while he attempts to keep the moss covering it moist and healthy, eventually the spring dries up as well and the moss dies also.
This is not a happy book. But it is a fascinating and thought provoking book. It is a book full of symbolic challenges and a very dark book . I was unable to put it down. I highly recommend it for those not in need of a happy, joyful book. If that is what you are looking for you will not find it here. What you will find is something (if you are like me) the likes of which you have never read before, excepting perhaps in the Bible. This will most likely be one of my top ten of the year. It is, in my mind, a masterful piece of work. ( )

I can't believe the average rating I see for this book (currently 3.91). I thought it was pretty bad and only of interest because Steinbeck wrote it. Unfortunately, it's Steinbeck in larval form. I can't believe he spent 4 years on this book. Great title, not much else. ( )

A wonderful novel that could be called neo-mythology, it is about a family of homesteaders who go to California to establish a ranch. The family patriarch, Joseph Wayne, develops a profound love for the land, and he eventually associates a great oak tree on his ranch with the spirit of his dead father. After the oak tree is destroyed, the land begins to sour.

Although more rigid, in terms of dialog and narrative voice, than Steinbeck's later prose, the novel nonetheless utilizes its mythological material to beautifully depict man's relationship to the land. ( )