Review refers to audio version.
An historical artifact is unearthed by a storm, and the consequences of its discovery cause dissension among Chinese Americans. The tale is told from the perspective of a scientist at a marine biology lab in the early 1900's, and I kept wondering if he was modelled on Doc from John Steinbeck's books. The final section occurs in the present time, as 2 college grads try to figure out the mystery. They gross luxury portrayed seems like wish fulfillment on the part of Steinbeck, who admits in an Afterword that he himself has searched out some marine history indicating Chinese "discovered" America long before Columbus.
Methodicaly (perhaps even ploddingly) told tale, somewhat reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes mystery. ( )

Review: In The Shadow of The Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck.

This was another interesting story where Thomas Steinbeck combines history and suspense with creativity that gives vivid realism to California’s wealthy legacy. This is well written story and the characters were too developed and as a reader I found them predictable because of their history/culture of their traditional personality traits. After reading for years most readers assume what a person will do in a situation because of their custom.

The story is fascinating with the discovery of Chinese ancient artifacts embedded in the roots of a fallen cypress tree along the coast of California in 1909. By way of the story the reader finds out that years ago the Chinese also came to America and settled in an area of Monterey, California closed to the time Christopher Columbus set foot on the same soil. The plot to this story starts with an Irishman named Luke, who was clearing away the trees that had fallen during a powerful storm came upon a buried treasure that could overturn centuries of secrets and betrayals and reveal old historical mysteries.

Steinbeck takes the story back many years to the first discovery and the agreement that was made between the European’s and China about the artifacts. Then moving on to the tragedy of the artifacts ending up at the bottom of the ocean left both America and China at a loss. There was a reason that these artifacts were of interest. The jade seal on the two items may prove that the Chinese landed in America first before the Europeans even touched the wild and beautiful California….

This discovery of the Chinese ancient artifacts are described as a plaque and miniature statue with valuable significance because of a Chinese jade seal inscribed in a trio of languages of antiquity. Luke, who found the items, assumed they were something of value but hesitated to whom he should trust to tell. Luke does some research himself and finds out that they had disappeared over a hundred years ago. Supposedly, they were at the bottom of the ocean because of the steamboat with the artifacts caught fire and sank before it got to China.

What Luke does next is interesting and where technology brings us to the end of the disappearing mystery of the artifacts…. ( )

This recent (2010) book is the first published novel of John Steinbeck's eldest son Thom. I was expecting to perhaps find some similarity of place and voice, but otherwise had no extraordinary expectations. Having grown up on the coast of California I do enjoy reading books set there, which this one is, as were a number of John Steinbeck's. This was an interesting historical mystery book concerning artifacts that might show a very early Chinese exploration of the future California.

As it turned out, I never really felt a sense of place when reading the book. I did get a sense of the times though, and some of the characters were quite colorful and vivid to me. I found the story a little dry in places, but definitely interesting all the way through. The story is told in several parts and written well. I wondered if it was based in part on a true story, but I don't believe it is. Just good historical fiction. This isn't a book I'd rave about but it was a good read. ( )

For some reason, I have dragged my feet on writing this review. It's been a while, and the book wasn't incredibly memorable in the first place, so I doubt this review will have much relevance. Regardless, here it is...

I promised myself I wouldn't mention John Steinbeck in this review. The work of Thomas Steinbeck should stand on its own; even mentioning that he is his father's son seems unnecessary and insulting to the work of Thomas. Well, I lied.

It's hard not to think of John when Thomas' characters and situations continually remind us of his father. A marine biologist. Stanford. Just pull ten random words from a Steinbeck biography and you'll likely find one or two which apply to In the Shadow of the Cypress. And frankly, it's an unfair comparison. Nonetheless, it's what one should expect being the son of a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author (or writer since Steinbeck didn't consider himself as an "author").

In the Shadow of the Cypress does fairly well when it comes to story. Although it is a bit slow, it carries its own as an intriguing historical mystery. Steinbeck shows that he knows his subject matter well and presents it in an interesting and unique fashion. What Steinbeck doesn't know, however, is his characters. I couldn't understand them, nor did I really want to. They were dry. What personality they did have didn't make sense--am I just stereotyping when I say I didn't find Charles Lucas' concern over a surfboard believable? Charles Lucas, PhD student and holder of one of the world's most historically significant artifacts, just wants to find "the perfect wave." Some of the best character moments happen after Lucas meets Robert Wu and the two develop a friendship which is believable and funny at times. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. Once Wu's father is brought into the picture, the relationship takes a back seat for no particular reason and the novel becomes bland once again.

Thomas Steinbeck might do okay as an author if he is marketed to the right audience. Fans of plot-driven historical mysteries may love his books--I don't know as I am not one of those "fans". As long as he is marketed as being THE SON OF JOHN STEINBECK, however, Thomas Steinbeck will be in the shadow of his own cypress; rather, he'll live in the shadow of the Giant Sequoia that was his father.

(On a side note, writing this review has put me in the mood to reread "To a God Unknown"). ( )

How odd-- a hidden treasure novel with no villain.In the last third of the book, I was trying to figure out why the pacing seemed so strange. The plot was moving along, the events were interesting, but it still felt like nothing was happening. I then realized that we were straightforwardly moving towards the resolution of the puzzle, and no one was trying to keep this from happening!I'm not sure that this is good or bad. It makes for a very intellectual plot, and there is no "thriller" aspect to the book. I found the early twentieth century Chinese-American politics interesting, the 21st century attempts for find a treasure lost 100 years earlier even more so. There was one other noteworthy aspect to the book, at least for me. Each of the three sections of the book had a different viewpoint character, and a very different style of writing. I was very worried as I read the first section-- the voice was extremely stuffy, with a very affected use of big words. It fit the character of the professor in the early 1900s perfectly. It just wasn't much fun to read. It wasn't difficult, just distracting. Luckily, the content kept me going.In the next section, the voice was much smoother. The story started to slow down, but not enough to be a problem.In the final section, I was interested in the main character, and the voice was readable. Even though we found out a lot about Luke, I never felt like I really knew him. I'm not sure if he was shallow, or if the portrait we had of him was. ( )