**SPOILER FREE EPISODE** (You can listen to this podcast even if you haven't read _East of Eden.) (_And hopefully it will make you want to read East of Eden.) (Because you should read it.)Our matchless heroes cast one last lingering look at Jane Austen, along with a withering glare at some Austen spin-offs, knock-offs, and sequelizations. Then it's on to John Steinbeck and his magnum opus _East of Eden. _Which you should read if you haven't because (SPOILER) it's great. The gang offer an overview of the book, it's themes, and why you're a bad person if you won't read it. The Rootin' tootin' Contextual-Texan (Brandon) talks about why the Lost Generation was a bunch of babies and how Steinbeck stood apart. Jake and Nathan compare John Steinbeck to a dithering grandfather and somehow it comes out to a compliment. Our heroes all agree that Steinbeck was, above all, a storyteller, and it is the art of the storyteller that he is practicing so magnificently in _East of Eden, _moreso perhaps even than the writer's art. We really like this book a lot. Please read it if you haven't. Seriously. 

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