Product Description

Steinbeck's last great novel focuses on the theme of success and what motivates men towards it. Reflecting back on his New England family's past fortune, and his father's loss of the family wealth, the hero, Ethan Allen Hawley, characterizes success in every era and in all its forms as robbery, murder, even a kind of combat, operating under 'the laws of controlled savagery'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115720 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Customer Reviews

Makes an impact
This book, along with Steinbeck's EAST OF EDEN, are the two best things he ever wrote. It took me a while to get into WINTER, but once I did, I couldn't stop reading. I was absolutely overwhelmed at the ending, just as I usually am with this writer's great finishes. If you've never read anything by this author, this is a good place to start. Would also recommend THE BARK OF THE DOGOWOD for another really great read.

Very Good
"The Winter Of Our Discontent" is not Steinbeck's best, but it's really a good read and you can't go wrong spending a few hours reading the works of this master of American Lit!

Discontent? Read this book.
A powerful novel, with a plot that most can relate to. Ethan Hawley, the main character struggles to provide for his family. Comes from a family of successful business men, until The Great Depression hits his family hard and he must start from the bottom, working as a produce market clerk. He feels that he must own up to his name that has been made by his predecessors. He is confronted by opportunities that question his integrity and common sense.
What I like about this novel is that present day situations arise which grabs my attention and makes me think. Ethan, married with two children, thinks of his family first, because all he wants is to give them what he feels they deserve. He would sacrifice his own happiness to make his family happy.
I also can relate to how he sometimes feels disappointed by how his life is panning out, but doesn't forget all the things he should be grateful for. I strongly recommend this novel to all who love to read. Whether you can relate to it or not, it will make you think, and help you appreciate some things that are taken for granted.