East of Eden

[Happyinheels]

Oh my goodness! I neeeeeed to find my people to talk about this!

Binge watched the series on Netflix today (off work poorly!).

And wow! How incredible? I’m ashamed to say it’s a classic that I’ve never read so can’t compare it to the book. Anyone read the book and watched the series? How does it compare?

I found myself broken in pieces so many times. And soooo many layers to this saga!

Come my people!!!! Talk to me!

I am the opposite to you at the moment, having read the book, but not watched the series.
I am glad you liked it. I’ll watch it soon and will report back.

Oh please do! I want to watch it all over again. It has so many layers to it with all the different characters that I feel it’s one of those sagas you get more out of it the more familiar you become with the story.

I’ve read on line that it doesn’t follow the book closely as the series follows Cathy/Kate’s storyline more and in the book she’s more of a mystery. I’ve not read the book but thought the series was brilliant….after binge watching it.

I also binged it the other day and was blown away. I've read the book twice but I must've been too young to fully appreciate the depth & complexity of the relationships. Steinbeck didn't fill out Cathy's character with anything like as much compassion as the TV treatment. On the whole, I feel this was better than the book! How often can we say that?

I’m going to have to buy the book! They’re usually always better!

@GarlicEverything Oh wow! Cross posted! Really??? Exactly - how often can we say that??
Honestly feel like I need to watch it all over again!

It was a big thumbs up from me. Loved it.

There is the film too with James Dean.

I loved it. The character development was amazing. One of the best things I've seen in a long time. I thought after episode 1 it was going to be a bit slow but no it was fabulous

Ooh I need to see this

I binged it all on Saturday and loved it! It definitely needs a rewatch though, I’m sure I missed bits.

It was beautifully shot and Florence Pugh was was magnificent.

I’m halfway through episode three. Cathy is a dreadful person.

Ooh planning to binge watch this weekend after these comments 😀 😀 😀

I'm savouring it slowly. Only on episode 2. DH and DD both really hate Cathy! I can't say I'm enjoying it, it's so dark. But it feels like going on one of those rides where you hate it so much that you love it.

Okay thank you all. Will start watching tonight will report back upon completion!

I’ve read the book and I also remember the original mini series with Jayne Seymour in the 80’s.
im on episode 4 and loving this !

@Snoopystick I HAVE to watch it! Have you seen them both? Which is the best version do you think?

Loved it. And the book is my favourite book of all time.

Thoughts:

Florence Pugh can do no wrong. However. Based on the book the whole point of the character is that she is so beautiful and angelic looking every man she meets can’t believe she would have a wrong bone in her body. And this isn’t pugh. She’s gorgeous but not in an angelic way. So I explained this to husband who was casting around for an actress with this quality and mentioned Amanda Seyfried. God she’d have been PERFECT. It should have been Amanda!!!

Anyway no shade loved what Pugh did with the character, it just changed the meaning a bit.

I don’t like that they gave Cathy a motive (being SA as a 5 year old). In the book she’s just a psychopath for no reason. She just likes hurting people. And that is so delicious, why did they want us to empathise with her?

Rest of cast was wonderful. I’d want to see a whole series of the adventures of Li. Or a sitcom of life with Li and Adam, just 2 straight bros co-parenting a coupla kids,

That’s the whole point :-)

She’s my favourite character in literature, ever. I found it so delicious to read a character with no redeeming qualities, just a stone cold bitch for no reason than she can be.

I think the series but it’s been a long time since I watched the James Dean version, and from what I remember it’s not the full
story - I’m going to see if I can find it on-line to watch again!

I was rather hoping I could skip re-subscribing to Netflix for this. But I’ve seen rave reviews. And Florence Pugh is always so watchable.

What to do? …

Please do. It’s expansive and glorious and beautiful. The characters are layered and interesting. It’s wonderful. Oh and samuel is a much bigger character and he’s just lovely.

@PrincessOfPreschoolinteresting! What do YOU think of Cathy?

I feel like the event at the age of 5 obviously shaped her whole attitude to life, in particular men. She learned from a young age how the female gets male attention, wanted or unwanted, and she turned the events from being 5 to her own ‘advantage ‘ through manipulating people. But that manipulation always backfired because everyone wanted to ‘own’ her and clip her wings. She felt like Adam didn’t listen to her about moving. Even Faye wanted to own her and clip her wings.
Strangely, at no point did I hate her. Maybe that comes from my own difficult life experiences both as a child and a woman.
Maybe for me it shows how we can let those terrible things affect us and control us - obviously an extreme 😆

@MyKindHiker oooo thank you for throwing that out there - I haven’t read the book. That IS very interesting! You’re right. Do you think that they felt the need to soften it for us today? That we couldn’t have Cathy simply as a psychopath and like you say, we had to feel sympathy towards her.

@MyKindHiker my favourite book has always been Wuthering Heights, which a lot of people can’t understand. But I’m going to have to get the book of East of Eden!