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.
Frankly, the start of October is way too soon for me to readjust my to-read pile, so I'm a sunk before I've even begun, which means I now have a secondary objective – showcase this series for you without accidentally spoiling a quite old novel for myself. Here's what I know for sure:
East of Eden is a massive story that spans the generations of an unhappy family, the Trask clan, in their relationships and fortunes. It famously has one of literatures great villains, if you're to believe at least some of those who've read it – Cathy. Now, though, writer and showrunner Zoe Kazan is reframing this long-established story and telling it moreso through Cathy's eyes.
That means that a story that might (perhaps) have previously served to demonise Cathy, not without some reason, might now instead serve to humanise her. We'll get more interiority from her, and you'd be hard pressed to argue with casting Pugh, who's already demonstrated a huge amount of range in her career.
Crucially, she's also something of a star, so Netflix will be hoping that she drawns in a crowd for what otherwise could be mistaken for a pretty traditional slice of programming. Honestly, if you want more details than that I'd recommend heading to Wikipedia or some other source to see plot information – that's a sacrifice I'm not willing to make right now!
