Netflix has brought to life a classic piece of American literature, transforming John Steinbeck’s East Of Eden into a new miniseries for the modern audience.
Written by Zoe Kazan – the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, who wrote the iconic 1955 adaptation of East Of Eden, starring James Dean – this new take brings the story’s antihero Cathy Ames to the forefront of the multigenerational drama.
Starring Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist, East Of Eden follows a doomed couple and their cursed family across five decades in the late 1800s America.
Critics have had an overwhelmingly positive response to this new series, celebrating Florence’s performance as the malicious Cathy, and highlighting the way the showrunner has made this classic American story feel relevant to present-day viewers.
Here is what critics think about the new seven-part series of East Of Eden…
“With stunning cinematography and an elegant score, the unsettling family saga gets room to breathe across a sweeping adaptation that digs into the detail and texture of the source material, and brings this story of generational trauma, sibling rivalry and the intoxicating power of temptation to a whole new generation.”
“East Of Eden is a reverent, traditional adaptation of one of America’s great novels. Zoe Kazan captures the grandeur of the tale and wrestles, largely successfully, with its unruly structure.
“This is slow, poetic television-making and Netflix should be applauded for resisting the temptation to turn Cathy into a Gothic succubus. It helps East Of Eden feel urgent, a story rendered from myth, and a parable for our times.”
“This miniseries proves that when people proclaim it’s ‘impossible’ to faithfully adapt such books, they’re simply not trying hard enough.”
“It’s all very literary, with a capital L: a sprawling tale of the sort that suits the wide-open landscapes and infinite possibility of the American dream. Kazan has made a worthy successor to her grandfather’s seminal masterpiece; this is East Of Eden for a 21st-century audience.”
“As a high-quality family saga, then, it’s brilliant, compelling entertainment. As an excoriation of human nature, as an examination of how helpless we are before our inborn proclivities, it perhaps cannot help but lack the heft it needs.”
“It’s all very well made, but it lacks something. Steinbeck’s novel was devastating – not for nothing is he regarded as one of America’s greatest writers – and what destroys the reader when it is written on the page simply doesn’t have the same power on TV. Go out and buy the book.”
“Beautifully rendered for sheer scale by directors Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, the series pitches itself as an intimate, old-fashioned love triangle between a woman who refuses to be defined by anyone and the two brothers who see her as something to be conquered in different ways.”
“A smart, gorgeous, and richly provocative adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel follows an American family across generations, with extra attention paid to the brutal and remarkable woman who sends them reeling: Cathy Ames.”
“Netflix’s East Of Eden is a compelling and thoughtful adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel which takes the themes of that book and expands on them with a modern sensibility. Florence Pugh is excellent as Cathy, whose life we chart over the decades, starting in childhood and eventually into the carefully constructed world that she makes for herself – for better or worse.
Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist are equally compelling as the Trask brothers, who carry the burden of their father’s loveless parenting as well as the biblical allusions Steinbeck has placed on them, while Hoon Lee is the series’ MVP as the manservant Lee.”
“This is a pungent retelling that does not wear its melodrama lightly. Some viewers may find it a little too ripe, but it also feels appropriately old-Hollywood and grand. The only real indication that this is a product of the 21st century is the insistence on empathy. Even the series’ most pitiless characters are given justifications for their villainous behaviour. That modern touch nudges East Of Eden into yet another century — and this opulent and persuasive adaptation proves that it belongs here.”
“Kazan’s East Of Eden proves you can create a faithful adaptation that still takes risks. It never once loses the message Steinbeck is trying to convey, but it shines a new light on a corner that critics might have neglected in the past. Although it might feel like the story has sanded away some of its sharpest edges, East Of Eden is less like the parable presented on the page and more about a family caught in a toxic cycle it desperately needs to break free of. It’s a tragic and bittersweet series, but one that is worthy of praise by any Steinbeck enjoyer.”
“In translation, Zoe Kazan’s East Of Eden loses some of the book’s humour and some of its non-plot breathing room, elements that support and enhance its escalation of tragedy and catharsis. But plenty still remains. This, unlike the 1955 film, feels like it understands why East Of Eden is a special text and, thanks to Pugh and Lee, offers plenty of specials elements of its own.”
“If nothing else, the miniseries reminds us that adaptation is a difficult job that grows harder the more complex and celebrated the original text, and the more necessary it is to honour it. (This is why pulp fiction has produced so many memorable movies.) Things will always be lost in translation, not least from the pictures in your head to the pictures on the screen. If you’re going to film a literary monument, and a period piece to boot, you’re going to have to spend some money.
“By the episodes’ end, I wasn’t totally convinced a narrative so dependent on the passage of time was an organic fit for the screen…
“Still, the endeavour feels worth it for Pugh and Lee’s standout efforts, which etch their characters deep into one’s memory. Even great books can acquire dust on the shelf; an infusion of feeling helps keep them alive.”
“As a viewing spectacle it is immersive and atmospheric, beautifully paced (it knows when to slow down), gorgeously shot and lit. A feast for the eyes, just overegged on the sexual politics. And not a great deal of fun either.”
All seven episodes of East Of Eden are streaming on Netflix now.
