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karinlib's review against another edition
4.0
I read this in high school. I remember liking it, but I had forgotten the story. There are some really good discussions in this book, that make this book worth reading.
bleachykeen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gordonfreeman904's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
elisala's review against another edition
3.0
L'amorce: Un jeune homme rejoint le parti communiste, qui l'a enrôlé plus particulièrement pour lancer et tenir des grèves.
J'ai relu il y a peu "les raisins de la colère" du même auteur, que j'avais trouvé assez caricatural et très orienté communiste, deux éléments qui m'avaient à peu près totalement échappé quand je l'avais lu pour la première fois (à l'adolescence de mémoire). On retrouve ici le même côté communiste (et même amplifié), mais avec moins de caricature du gentil ouvrier agricole contre tous les autres, forcément méchants.
Il n'empêche que tout le début du bouquin m'a pas mal ennuyée, sans que j'arrive vraiment à mettre le doigt sur la raison : quelque chose dans les dialogues d'un peu artificiel? Des personnages manquant de finesse? Un manque de cohérence chronologique ou de logique intellectuelle dans le déroulement? Peut-être un peu de tout ça, sans que ça soit suffisamment gênant pour laisser tomber le bouquin.
Et puis au bout d'un moment, enfin, ça a pris, les décisions, les relations entre les personnes, l'avancée de la grève, ça devenait, quelque part, plus intéressant.
Au final, ce n'est pas mon préféré de John Steinbeck, mais c'est une image bien intéressante de la lutte ouvrière agricole qui a pu avoir lieu aux Etats-Unis à une certaine époque, de conditions de rémunération et de vie assez lamentables, qui conduisaient une large partie de la force économique du pays à se battre pour tout simplement réussir à vivre de son travail.
A lire en parallèle avec les raisins de la colère pour en avoir un tableau plus complet: John Steinbeck, en fait, c'est un écrivain de documentaires. hé oui.
J'ai relu il y a peu "les raisins de la colère" du même auteur, que j'avais trouvé assez caricatural et très orienté communiste, deux éléments qui m'avaient à peu près totalement échappé quand je l'avais lu pour la première fois (à l'adolescence de mémoire). On retrouve ici le même côté communiste (et même amplifié), mais avec moins de caricature du gentil ouvrier agricole contre tous les autres, forcément méchants.
Il n'empêche que tout le début du bouquin m'a pas mal ennuyée, sans que j'arrive vraiment à mettre le doigt sur la raison : quelque chose dans les dialogues d'un peu artificiel? Des personnages manquant de finesse? Un manque de cohérence chronologique ou de logique intellectuelle dans le déroulement? Peut-être un peu de tout ça, sans que ça soit suffisamment gênant pour laisser tomber le bouquin.
Et puis au bout d'un moment, enfin, ça a pris, les décisions, les relations entre les personnes, l'avancée de la grève, ça devenait, quelque part, plus intéressant.
Au final, ce n'est pas mon préféré de John Steinbeck, mais c'est une image bien intéressante de la lutte ouvrière agricole qui a pu avoir lieu aux Etats-Unis à une certaine époque, de conditions de rémunération et de vie assez lamentables, qui conduisaient une large partie de la force économique du pays à se battre pour tout simplement réussir à vivre de son travail.
A lire en parallèle avec les raisins de la colère pour en avoir un tableau plus complet: John Steinbeck, en fait, c'est un écrivain de documentaires. hé oui.
malloou's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
5.0
Most underrated Steinbeck book.
arf88's review against another edition
2.0
I normally really enjoy Steinbeck but I really wasn't a fan of this one. Bland one dimensional and unlikeable characters, and not enough focus on the historical side of the strikes to offset it. Some interesting commentary on mobs.
lucidstyle's review against another edition
5.0
I read this while I was teaching Orwell's [i]Animal Farm[/i], and was struck by the similarities of the struggles faced by the protagonists. Moving and memorable.
mikewa14's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written (as all Steinbeck novels), but unsettling - is the reader meant to empathise with Mac and Jim or not?
The story is disquieting and ultimately a story of hopelessness
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/in-dubious-battle-john-steinbeck.html
The story is disquieting and ultimately a story of hopelessness
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/in-dubious-battle-john-steinbeck.html
dee9401's review against another edition
5.0
John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle has moved into my top tier of books. I rate it higher than the Grapes of Wrath, a book that strongly impacted my political and life philosophies. Steinbeck's novel of an apple pickers' strike in Depression-era California is a deftly written piece on labor relations, capital and how men can work together and against each other. Like the Grapes of Wrath, this book is timeless. If you changed the peoples' names and updated the vernacular, you could easily believe this story was from right here, right now. That is one of Steinbeck's greatest assets.
One of the main characters, Mac, says "Anybody that wants a living wage is a radical." He's talking about doing a strike and how the business owners will say its radicals (i.e. "reds" and "commies") that want to stir things up and cause problems. These leaders use the fears those words incite instead of addressing the real economic and social problems of the day. They seek to divide those who, if they stood together, could easily overcome the business owners. It's sad that this sentence from a novel written in 1936 is still an accurate description of right wing politicians and capitalists today.
Once the strike gets started, though, the business leaders turn to another tactic. The first elected leader of the strikers tells the men, "They say we got a right to strike in this country, and then they make laws against picketing'. All it amounts to is that we got a right to quit." True then, still true today. Perhaps even worse today with the politics we've seen in Wisconsin and Ohio.
Another great quote is regarding the vigilante gangs that go after the strikers in the novel. It was a comment on American history then and you can see and hear it today as well. "They like to hurt people, and they always give it a nice name, patriotism or protecting the constitution." I recently read Manufacturing Hysteria: A History of Scapegoating, Surveillance, and Secrecy in Modern America, by Jay Feldman. If you're interested in some of the background that influenced Steinbeck and is played out throughout the novel, give his book a read.
There's another important asset that Steinbeck brings to bear in this novel. To quote from the introduction by Warren French, "a secret of Steinbeck's technique in his greatest work is his ability to avoid telling readers what they should feel and to make them participate in discovering the characters' feelings by collaborating with the author in creating them." As you read this novel, you come to understand Jim, Mac, London, Al, the doctor and others. You start to see the world through their eyes.
My advice is: Now, take what you have seen and put it into action.
One of the main characters, Mac, says "Anybody that wants a living wage is a radical." He's talking about doing a strike and how the business owners will say its radicals (i.e. "reds" and "commies") that want to stir things up and cause problems. These leaders use the fears those words incite instead of addressing the real economic and social problems of the day. They seek to divide those who, if they stood together, could easily overcome the business owners. It's sad that this sentence from a novel written in 1936 is still an accurate description of right wing politicians and capitalists today.
Once the strike gets started, though, the business leaders turn to another tactic. The first elected leader of the strikers tells the men, "They say we got a right to strike in this country, and then they make laws against picketing'. All it amounts to is that we got a right to quit." True then, still true today. Perhaps even worse today with the politics we've seen in Wisconsin and Ohio.
Another great quote is regarding the vigilante gangs that go after the strikers in the novel. It was a comment on American history then and you can see and hear it today as well. "They like to hurt people, and they always give it a nice name, patriotism or protecting the constitution." I recently read Manufacturing Hysteria: A History of Scapegoating, Surveillance, and Secrecy in Modern America, by Jay Feldman. If you're interested in some of the background that influenced Steinbeck and is played out throughout the novel, give his book a read.
There's another important asset that Steinbeck brings to bear in this novel. To quote from the introduction by Warren French, "a secret of Steinbeck's technique in his greatest work is his ability to avoid telling readers what they should feel and to make them participate in discovering the characters' feelings by collaborating with the author in creating them." As you read this novel, you come to understand Jim, Mac, London, Al, the doctor and others. You start to see the world through their eyes.
My advice is: Now, take what you have seen and put it into action.