Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

I am ALREADY struggling to keep up with my overly ambitious reading plans for 2021, and this project keeps hitting road blocks. However, I did request this one from my library and it should show up mid-month. Hopefully by that time, I'll be able to dig in!

Published in 1936, this is a novel that centers around a fruit picker's strike in California. I'm really hoping to be able to get to it!

I'm in for this one!

I want to read this, but probably won’t start it until some time next week.

Reading this book was an intense experience. His writing is superb as always, but the story is an emotionally rough ride.

Rosemarie wrote: "Reading this book was an intense experience. His writing is superb as always, but the story is an emotionally rough ride."

I haven’t read this yet, but like your comment. I think he is good at making the reader care about the characters - unlike a different author where I finished a book today but didn’t care at all what happened to any of the characters & just wanted the book to end!

I just started reading this today. As a labor arbitrator, I try to read classic novels about labor issues, such as Germinal. This novel is Steinbeck's 12th most read novel/novella according to Goodreads, which may explain why, though I've always known of the book because of its great title, I wasn't really aware the plot concerned a labor issue. Now I do, so I'm in on the read. It is my 8th Steinbeck, but only the second this century.
So far, so good. I was quite interested that an early character was named Harry Nilson. In checking about the singer with a similar name, there appears to be no connection. The singer is actually Harry Nillson III, so its just a family name existing from before this novel. Nilson or Nillson is the 4th most common Swedish name, something I shouldn't be surprised at after reading Selma Lagerlof's 2 adventure novels about the young boy named Nils.

I'm about half way through this and I am enjoying it very much. This is a well developed and well structured novel, I love how it shows the detailed steps in the process of planning and coordinating a strike of apple pickers.
That this novel provides such a precise process is likely why it is only the 12th most read Steinbeck novel. The strike process is more important than the interpersonal relations, so far.
The fact that the organizers are 'Reds' while realistic for the times may also limit its popularity and its use on high school curricula as many other Steinbecks are. I read The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, The Red Pony and Of Mice and Men as required reading during high school.

FINISHED
The book kind of slowed down a bit toward the end, presumably a lull before the storm. I am still evaluating what I think of the end storm.
(view spoiler)[ I first thought it strange that the novel seemed to state that the cause is of more value than an individual yet seems to end with the demise of an individual rather than what happens to the strike. However, I guess that goal could still be true as Mac put Jim to use as a symbol to incite the men to make what would likely be a self-sacrificing last stand that, in Mac's view, would give purpose to the strike. Mac seemed to reveal his true goal to the strikers by calling them 'Comrades,' as he tries to incite their self-sacrifice to his cause. Steinbeck added a bit of drama before that by Mac telling Jim the most important goal for the cause was to keep Jim alive for the future. Then Steinbeck pulls the rug out from that goal, so Mac needed to squeeze some worth out Jim anyway. (hide spoiler)]

I will look to see of I can see the James Franco's 2016 movie of In Dubious Battle. It seems to be cast well as I can envision all the actors in their roles:
Nat Woolf - Jim
James Franco - Mac
Vincent D'onofrio - London
Selena Gomez - Lisa
and some great actors he got to play small roles
Ed Harris - Joy
Robert Duvall - Bolter (the fruit-growers leader)

Franco did a few movies of classic novels at the time, the others adaptations of two Faulkners, The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. They don't have very high IMDb ratings though.

The ending was a bit of a surprise for me, since it was so sudden, but it works.

I finished reading this & think I like it best of the author’s books I’ve read so far. Perhaps that is only because I’m more used to his style of writing. My only disappointment was the sudden ending, though perhaps any other possible ending might not have seemed realistic.

SPOILERS -
Trisha, I agree its a very good Steinbeck. As I earlier stated, the ending is abrupt because with the emphasis on the strike process you expect to see what happens to the strike rather than any one person. Upon reflection, I agree with Rosemarie that the ending does work as it makes you imagine what happens next and I don't think I'd really want to read written pages of what I imagine happens next.

Brian wrote: "SPOILERS -
Trisha, I agree its a very good Steinbeck. As I earlier stated, the ending is abrupt because with the emphasis on the strike process you expect to see what happens to the strike rather ..."

Thank you so much, Brian. I thought the characters were described perfectly & I agree that I prefer to imagine what happens next. I have so much more to learn about Steinbeck’s books, it’s good to discover more about them.

My first Steinbeck and I really appreciated every single word in it. (view spoiler)[The style of the author and the way that he describes men and their inner instincts, by comparing them also to animals (dogs mostly) is really a very well-centered metaphor.
I can say that Steinbeck is one of the fewer authors that can really drag the reader inside the pictures he's evoking. I got inside the tents and the issues of apple pickers so easily that I could not believe this book to be written in 1936.
I loved also the development and evolutions of Jim's character, who was so young and unaware of his own potential in the beginning and it turns out to be actually the most important in the strike at the end, also with his unintentional sacrifice for this battle for rights and men. (hide spoiler)]

Brian wrote: "I will look to see of I can see the James Franco's 2016 movie of In Dubious Battle."

Thank you for the tip Brian! I will look for this movie too now!

I finally got to this one. I found the process to be well manipulated for the end means of the strike by Mac. His political value was all about the cause and lets nothing stand in the way of that goal. Making the most out of the trials of misfortune. He wanted Jim to be the one to infiltrate and see if he could gain supporters for the strike. During the processes even the losses was a cause for momentum.
I think Steinbeck put a great value in his research for this one. The protagonist, Jim was spot on to what I had researched about the strikes. A story about human treatment of fair labor and conditions. 4 stars.