Scan barcode
biedermeier_margo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
jbarr5's review against another edition
4.0
Indubious Battle by John Steinbeck
1936 original about labor strikes and how the workers during the Depression years in CA. Jim Nolan, the leader as he strives to find his identity.
Includes the authors writing throughout his life. Starts out when they gather to pick the apples and there is talk of them striking. They band together and come up with white clothes to help with the birthing of a baby.
As long as they all feel like they contributed they are as one. They strive for hope, better life, etc. The men talk to others who work in another farm and they talk of the barricades the authorities will put up as their wages go down.
Details of what is to come as they vacant a farm and things heat up. Love references to the Grapes of Wrath during this book. Love the story of how those who've gone before us have fought for their rights to make our lives easier today.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
1936 original about labor strikes and how the workers during the Depression years in CA. Jim Nolan, the leader as he strives to find his identity.
Includes the authors writing throughout his life. Starts out when they gather to pick the apples and there is talk of them striking. They band together and come up with white clothes to help with the birthing of a baby.
As long as they all feel like they contributed they are as one. They strive for hope, better life, etc. The men talk to others who work in another farm and they talk of the barricades the authorities will put up as their wages go down.
Details of what is to come as they vacant a farm and things heat up. Love references to the Grapes of Wrath during this book. Love the story of how those who've gone before us have fought for their rights to make our lives easier today.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
annie_explores's review against another edition
5.0
Full of desperation and insecurity, this is a resonant critique of small-town culture and the (still routine) abuse of farmworkers.
briandice's review against another edition
3.0
I seem to remember enjoying this book much more when I read it the first time in my 20s.
nilocennis's review against another edition
4.0
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold
Greater than the might of atoms, magnified a thousand fold
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong
Greater than the might of atoms, magnified a thousand fold
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong
unojaden's review against another edition
4.0
Man, can Steinbeck write a good novel. I want to start out by expressing my confusion for Steinbeck novels in my experience of reading them (only 2 so far). For some reason, his books have been extremely entertaining and page-turning, yet when I sort of step back and look at what I'm reading, it such a dull topic that I would think-knowing myself-be very uninterested or "bored" by now. Yet, it's an amazing reading experience and I am genuinely excited to read on or pick the book back up again. That being said, now onto a disorganized collection of thoughts I am going to call a review.
If you know nothing about [b:In Dubious Battle|56083|In Dubious Battle|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394742698l/56083._SY75_.jpg|1808026], then I encourage you to read the synopsis which to be completely honest, sounds pretty dull; however, In Dubious Battle (IDB) was, for me, a fast-paced and wholesome read. It paints an insightful picture of the Depression era and tells the story mainly of 2 men-our "main character" Jim and a friend he meets, Mac. They are "reds" or communists. Jim joins the party because he is looking for meaning in life, something to work towards. Okay, I think all of this plot stuff is not really what I want to say in the review. ugh this is already turning into a rant and I'm only 200ish words in... Just go read the book if you want to find out more, I encourage it because I think it has a lot of deeper meanings, some of which I am going to now share my thoughts on (and because I thought it was a fun read).
-
First of all, I previously said main character in quotes because really, most of the book is about/follows Mac, not Jim. I like Jim; he's a good guy and he gives his life to a cause(as we see in the synopsis). Mac I do not really like. He's hot-headed/short tempered, a little cocky, and is kind of a complete turd some of the time(I did like him sometimes). You can see what I mean on pages 129, 158, and basically off and on throughout the last half of the book. Second, I am going to write some of my deeper thoughts on the book and some themes I thought IDB "touched on"(sorry if I say that 5 million times). Thus, these are my themes and thoughts I got from the book. I only lightly skimmed the introduction and I don't plan on reading it (yet at least), so these are not necessarily the underlying themes Steinbeck intended to reach the reader, they are just mine.(I think I should take a note from Steinbeck and stop using so many commas:/
-Doc: pg. 112-113 --Doc's a pretty smart guy and one thing he said that I think is really eye-opening is *paraphrasing* when you label something as "good" or "bad," you can loose your ability to see the "whole picture." You may not be able to see all of the bad parts of something you label "good," maybe labeling it as "just another trickery" or something like that. This is a good thing to keep in mind for life-don't be blinded by putting labeling things or picking sides because it can make you ignorant of seeing what's really going on.
-Doc: pg. 153-- "I guess that's just the way it is with me. I have some skill helping men, and when I see some who need help, I just do it. I don't think about it much. If a painter saw a piece of canvas, and he had colors, well, he'd want t paint on it. He wouldn't figure why he wanted to." Man I love Doc. While I think painters don't feel the strong urge to paint every canvas they see, I think this is an inspiring quote for the medical field and life in general, I guess.(do you need a comma before I? I can never tell)
-Jim!: pg. 160-- This is reference more than once throughout the book, but Jim talks about how they have to use every means they can get; although it's a little crude in this situation (a reference to using his friend's dead body), I like the idea of sort of "rolling with the punches"/making do with what you are given. A good way to handle things, I suppose(that dang comma again).
-a quote by one of my favorite characters "middle aged man"pg 175-- essentially says that if the men stopped yacking so much and got to working and fighting "...more sluggin' an' less arguin'..." that they would actually get somewhere. This is definitely still more or less true for our generation...
-Mac: pg 225-- *paraphrasing* Men are ruined by a life without meaning. I think this is a fear/problem many people still encounter today.
---side note: If you haven't noticed, virtually all of the quotes/ dialogue in this book is of "men" because this is set in the depression era when women weren't held as equals at all."
-One big idea of the book (to me) is that a mob or a people banded together by a common cause can become and animal, something that is different and it thinks different from the people that make it up. This is true of true for the mob in IDB, but also I think it can show how people act differently when they belong to part of a group in real life, say the nationalism people feel or being part of a religion. When people are in these groups and united with others, they (often) act differently than each of them would if they were alone.
---sorry if all of this underling and bold is annoying.
-An overarching theme/idea in IDB is that sometimes, no matter how much passion you have for or put into something, things just don't always work out. There is a quote from [b:Paradise Lost|15997|Paradise Lost|John Milton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526070678l/15997._SY75_.jpg|1031493] at the beginning of the novel and the name "In Dubious Battle" comes from Paradise Lost. From what I got, it is named "In Dubious Battle" because of the battle the strikers are fighting in which they are almost guaranteed to loose. In paradise lost, I believe it is a similar situation. I believe this theme is one reason this book is recommended before reading [b:The Grapes of Wrath|18114322|The Grapes of Wrath|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375670575l/18114322._SY75_.jpg|2931549](although more of the passion doesn't always lead to success side). Also, it may be because of the several instances of foreshadowing to TGOR in IDB, as mentioned in the notes section.(I hope to read TGOR soon!)
Finally, excuse my language, BUT WHAT WAS THAT F***ING ENDING. I MEAN I KNOW IT SAID RIGHT ON THE SYNOPSIS THAT THE STRIKE "CRUSHES" JIM, BUT SERIOUSLY??? LIKE THAT? LIKE WHAT ARE THOSE LAST TWO PAGES?????? I think I remember reading something in the introduction about Steinbeck purposely leaving the ending up to the readers' minds, but I was not prepared for it and I'm still a little mad about that.
Well, this was definitely more of a very long rant, but if you made it this far,-whoever you are-congrats!(is a ,- allowed? I'm feeling rebellious)I guess this is one of the first books I've really dug deep into and shared my many thoughts(as you can see from all 1000+ words:/ Thanks for making it this far and have a good day reading, preferably reading this book if you haven't picked it up yet:)
If you know nothing about [b:In Dubious Battle|56083|In Dubious Battle|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394742698l/56083._SY75_.jpg|1808026], then I encourage you to read the synopsis which to be completely honest, sounds pretty dull; however, In Dubious Battle (IDB) was, for me, a fast-paced and wholesome read. It paints an insightful picture of the Depression era and tells the story mainly of 2 men-our "main character" Jim and a friend he meets, Mac. They are "reds" or communists. Jim joins the party because he is looking for meaning in life, something to work towards. Okay, I think all of this plot stuff is not really what I want to say in the review. ugh this is already turning into a rant and I'm only 200ish words in... Just go read the book if you want to find out more, I encourage it because I think it has a lot of deeper meanings, some of which I am going to now share my thoughts on (and because I thought it was a fun read).
Spoiler
I'm going to reference some page numbers, which are for the edition I read, the penguin classics edition, so the numbers may or may not be of any help depending on which edition you are using.-
First of all, I previously said main character in quotes because really, most of the book is about/follows Mac, not Jim. I like Jim; he's a good guy and he gives his life to a cause(as we see in the synopsis). Mac I do not really like. He's hot-headed/short tempered, a little cocky, and is kind of a complete turd some of the time(I did like him sometimes). You can see what I mean on pages 129, 158, and basically off and on throughout the last half of the book. Second, I am going to write some of my deeper thoughts on the book and some themes I thought IDB "touched on"(sorry if I say that 5 million times). Thus, these are my themes and thoughts I got from the book. I only lightly skimmed the introduction and I don't plan on reading it (yet at least), so these are not necessarily the underlying themes Steinbeck intended to reach the reader, they are just mine.(I think I should take a note from Steinbeck and stop using so many commas:/
-Doc: pg. 112-113 --Doc's a pretty smart guy and one thing he said that I think is really eye-opening is *paraphrasing* when you label something as "good" or "bad," you can loose your ability to see the "whole picture." You may not be able to see all of the bad parts of something you label "good," maybe labeling it as "just another trickery" or something like that. This is a good thing to keep in mind for life-don't be blinded by putting labeling things or picking sides because it can make you ignorant of seeing what's really going on.
-Doc: pg. 153-- "I guess that's just the way it is with me. I have some skill helping men, and when I see some who need help, I just do it. I don't think about it much. If a painter saw a piece of canvas, and he had colors, well, he'd want t paint on it. He wouldn't figure why he wanted to." Man I love Doc. While I think painters don't feel the strong urge to paint every canvas they see, I think this is an inspiring quote for the medical field and life in general, I guess.(do you need a comma before I? I can never tell)
-Jim!: pg. 160-- This is reference more than once throughout the book, but Jim talks about how they have to use every means they can get; although it's a little crude in this situation (a reference to using his friend's dead body), I like the idea of sort of "rolling with the punches"/making do with what you are given. A good way to handle things, I suppose(that dang comma again).
-a quote by one of my favorite characters "middle aged man"pg 175-- essentially says that if the men stopped yacking so much and got to working and fighting "...more sluggin' an' less arguin'..." that they would actually get somewhere. This is definitely still more or less true for our generation...
-Mac: pg 225-- *paraphrasing* Men are ruined by a life without meaning. I think this is a fear/problem many people still encounter today.
---side note: If you haven't noticed, virtually all of the quotes/ dialogue in this book is of "men" because this is set in the depression era when women weren't held as equals at all."
-One big idea of the book (to me) is that a mob or a people banded together by a common cause can become and animal, something that is different and it thinks different from the people that make it up. This is true of true for the mob in IDB, but also I think it can show how people act differently when they belong to part of a group in real life, say the nationalism people feel or being part of a religion. When people are in these groups and united with others, they (often) act differently than each of them would if they were alone.
---sorry if all of this underling and bold is annoying.
-An overarching theme/idea in IDB is that sometimes, no matter how much passion you have for or put into something, things just don't always work out. There is a quote from [b:Paradise Lost|15997|Paradise Lost|John Milton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526070678l/15997._SY75_.jpg|1031493] at the beginning of the novel and the name "In Dubious Battle" comes from Paradise Lost. From what I got, it is named "In Dubious Battle" because of the battle the strikers are fighting in which they are almost guaranteed to loose. In paradise lost, I believe it is a similar situation. I believe this theme is one reason this book is recommended before reading [b:The Grapes of Wrath|18114322|The Grapes of Wrath|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375670575l/18114322._SY75_.jpg|2931549](although more of the passion doesn't always lead to success side). Also, it may be because of the several instances of foreshadowing to TGOR in IDB, as mentioned in the notes section.(I hope to read TGOR soon!)
Finally, excuse my language, BUT WHAT WAS THAT F***ING ENDING. I MEAN I KNOW IT SAID RIGHT ON THE SYNOPSIS THAT THE STRIKE "CRUSHES" JIM, BUT SERIOUSLY??? LIKE THAT? LIKE WHAT ARE THOSE LAST TWO PAGES?????? I think I remember reading something in the introduction about Steinbeck purposely leaving the ending up to the readers' minds, but I was not prepared for it and I'm still a little mad about that.
Well, this was definitely more of a very long rant, but if you made it this far,-whoever you are-congrats!(is a ,- allowed? I'm feeling rebellious)I guess this is one of the first books I've really dug deep into and shared my many thoughts(as you can see from all 1000+ words:/ Thanks for making it this far and have a good day reading, preferably reading this book if you haven't picked it up yet:)
mynameisjack's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastically raw exploration into 1930s California. Brimming with lawless corruption, worker exploitation and genuinely heartfelt relationships, Steinbeck offers a fast-paced and relentless tale revolving around the entwined lives of migrant workers and radical extremists as they unify to overthrow the wealthy, corrupt establishment.
Steinbeck is incredible at creating real, relatable characters with whom you'll sympathise throughout this 300 page novel.
In Dubious Battle is a wonderful case study on social movement theory and the dynamics of strikes and protests.
Steinbeck is incredible at creating real, relatable characters with whom you'll sympathise throughout this 300 page novel.
In Dubious Battle is a wonderful case study on social movement theory and the dynamics of strikes and protests.
bekreads27's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75