East of Eden

All of the characters were so vivid and engaging, with the exception of Aron. He was completely flat to me, no depth or complexity at all, and this was especially glaring because of the impeccable job Steinbeck did with every single other character. So does one flaw ruin a book? No way! It's still a hell of a good book, and I'd recommend it to anyone. When the time comes, just gloss over the Aron stuff and focus on Cal.