> I could never "get into" American novelists like Hemingway and Steinbeck because I found their characters unrelatably thin automatons ...

I pretty much agree with you on Hemingway, and maybe there are examples in Steinbeck's work, but at least in his case I can say that most of what I've read had a pretty high degree of realism and profundity. Maybe check out 'Winter of our Discontent' if you'd like another sample.