Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. It was definitely one of the better summer reading books I've read.
The ending of this book just made me angry. My thoughts were: "That's all? That's the worst ending to a book I've ever read". It was so inconclusive. I hate reading books if I think they're going to be a waste of my time, and this one turned out to be such a waste of my time. The reader never even finds out what happens to any of the characters that ran away during the course of the book. You never find out if the Joads manage to find steady work and straighten out their lives. You don't even find out what happens to Tom after he leaves. Since Tom was introduced first in this book, I had it in my head that he was the main character. Then he's hardly spared a thought in the last few chapters after he leaves. I don't like it when I can't find out what happens to my favorite characters.
Don't get me wrong, I did like this book, but the ending just makes me mad. It's such a bad ending for such a decent book. It's almost like Steinbeck got lazy or had to meet a deadline and just cut it off where he did without finishing the rest of the story. I'm sure he had his reasons for stopping where he did, but I'm sure not seeing them.
I really liked the overall feel of this book. I thought it was cool how the book not only focused on the one family, but also focused on the group of migrating people as a whole. Each type of writing helped put the whole time period into perspective for the reader.
Tom was my favorite character from this book. Noah comes in second with Al after him. I think Casy comes next after Al. Other than those people, all the other characters are the same slot because they annoyed me at some time or another. That's pretty much all I have left to say on this book.
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