I am absolutely in love with this book! I am officially halfway, as I make my slow crawl towards the end, savoring how good the drama is in this epic. I'm on Chapter 25, and encountered a hump trying to understand what Steinbeck was getting at.
Not sure where else to ask this, so thought i could turn to r/books for help.
I'm about midway through chapter 25. As many of you know, a majority of the chapters in East of Eden are split into subsections. In the preceding subsection to where i am in Chapter 25, Adam is at a bar requesting directions to Kate's brothel, and instead is advised to go to Jenny's. He is given explicit directions by the bartender how to arrive at Jenny's.
Here's where i get confused. The next subsection opens, and he follows those directions to a tee, "almost missing the third house". But when he walks in, it becomes apparent he's at Kate's instead? As I kept reading and listening, I found myself unable to solve this puzzle and its super distracting. Can anybody shed light on what I missed?
All the other time skips and jumps don't bother me but I've read these passages quite literally 10 times before deciding to post this i swear i'm missing something. Right before such catharsis too 😭 Please someone help. I don't care how stupid i look i know i missed something i just can't find it
TLDR: How does Adam get to Kate's brothel if he was only given directions to get to Jenny's? Are they next door to each other? I faintly remember some of the brothels were in close proximity to one another, but can't fact check and find any passage mentioning this. Even if they were, how would Adam tell them apart?
Thanks guys. No spoilers past Chapter 25 please. I already know the confrontation with Kate is this chapter 💪🏻💪🏻. Though i've been reading this super slow, it's only made it feel more like real life. It's truly shaping up to be one of my favorite books, it's just scary how impactful and close to home some of these characters are. I know quite a few Adam trasks in my life thrown off course by a Kathy
by zigzaggummyworm