Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Hardly Steinbeck's Best

It's a shame that Oprah chose this of all Steinbeck's novels to resuscitate her book club. 'East of Eden' is, in my opinion, Steinbeck's worst.This was Steinbeck's bid to enter the lofty realms of the 'serious' author. So it is predictably bleak and angst-ridden, its characters constantly mired in futility and frustration.How different from the far sunnier (and more distinctive) novels, 'Tortilla Flat' and 'Cannery Row' and 'Sweet Thursday' -- any of which would have been a more agreeable choice.....This is as close as Steinbeck comes to one of those potboiler sagas that just seem to go on and on and on, grinding through decade upon decade, and generation upon generation.Pick anything else by Steinbeck.Anything.