I'll admit up front that this isn't a compunction that applies to everyone out there, but the simple fact is that when a massive streaming service announces an adaptation of a classic novel I haven't read, I go into fight or flight mode. I'm a big reader, and I have a rule that I'll almost always read the source novel before I watch any adaptation, since the original is almost always the best.
Well, Netflix is putting me in quite a spot with its latest big-budget series, starring none other than Florence Pugh. It's an adaptation of East of Eden, a classic by John Steinbeck (he of Grapes of Wrath), and crucially I haven't read it. The series arrives on 1 October, which really doesn't give me long to get up to speed, given it's an objectively chunky novel.
