In THE GRAPES OF WRATH, hard times plague the Joad family from beginning to end, and chronicle the Great Depression of the 1930's. No rain, dust storms and the dreaded "monster" bank ended a much-loved and long-lived way of life forcing farmers to become migrant workers traveling from one unwelcome place to another; and No work + No money = No food, but the Joad's never give up despite being tired, beaten down, angry and sad. They shared their lives, what little food they had and gave everything of themselves as you will see by the remarkable conclusion of this 1939 classic.
"Jus' try to live the day, jus' the day."
While not a particularly fast read, Steinbeck (my #1 favorite author) creates realistic characters and devotes several (short) interim chapters (including Chapter 1) to developing an atmospheric description of the time, and.......
While EAST OF EDEN continues to be one of my all-time favorite reads, I definitely felt THE GRAPES OF WRATH deserving of a 5 Star rating as well. "It is a work conceived on a completely different plane.