Having decided - for lack of anything better in the St. Louis County Library - to work my way through all the old books I can find, I have just returned On the Beach. I was mildly astonished at how good it was.
I’ve read Shute before; as a teenager I quite enjoyed The Chequerboard and Around the Bend, but this was really different. Everybody got what they wanted except for poor Moira.
It’s not bad, is it? Have you read A Town like Alice? It’s pretty good too.
But she does know that Dwight loves her, even if their relationship remains unconsummated.
I almost got it today. I checked out Beyond the Black Stump. On your recommendation, I’ll get Alice next time.
I don’t think he really does, though he might think so. He loves his wife and his children; their gifts are in his cabin as he sets sail. I find him to be cruel at the end: “others have asked”. He’s taken advantage of her company, even though not her body. He’s so determined to be Mr. Regular Navy; Moira has to stalk him at the end.
I’m mildly astonished that you were mildly astonished. It’s generally considered a 20th century English language classic, and is perenially at or near the top of lists of the best books out of Australia.
Well, it was popular, and I tend to shy away from popular things until the dust settles and it can be determined if the popular thing is actually any good. Though 40 years is stretching it, I’ll admit.
Secondly, I had the impression that it was popular because of the times: the Cold War, nuclear annihilation, and all that. (The blurbs on the dust jacket of the library’s copy reinforced that actually, talking about it being a cautionary tale, and everyone should read and take a lesson from it, and so on.)
So while I wasn’t expecting it to be bad, neither was I expecting it to be as good as it is. Hence the mild surprise.
It got made into a pretty good movie, too.
IMDB Linky http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/
Its one of those movies that managed to make the transition from novel to screen pretty much unscathed.
Its also a very unusual piece of Music by Phillip Glass.
The novel is moody, haunting and strange. I first read it during the Lybian Crises of the 1980’s. The international tension in the air was high, the cold war was still on, and although the descriptions of the technology was slightly dated, the feel of the novel rang true. Except for the following:
One nit pick of the novel was that people were just so “proper” - stiff upper lip types who always “did the right thing”. There was little wailing, gnashing of teeth, or displays of extreme emotional public hysteria" that one would expect. Additionally, the characters were all upper middle class (white) Austrailians, it would have been interesting to contrast their reactions with the Aboriginals.
All in all, though, it is a sobering and thoughtful book, which deserves it place on the collections of great literature.
On the Beach is probably my favourite of his books; the abridged audiobook of it is good as well…
Others I liked that haven’t been mentioned are Trustee From the Toolroom (unassuming man has more friends than he realises) and An Old Captivity (archaeological dig at a Norse site in Greenland).
Most of his characters seem a bit bit ‘proper’ nowadays, but, dammit, man, they had usually been British Officers in the War, don’t you know!
This made me laugh!
I read it as a (young) teenager, when I was plundering my parents’ library. My mom caught me reading it, and we had to have several talks to make sure I understood it. Speaking of the stiff-upper-lipness of it, for some reason I found that lack of emotion all the more affecting, perhaps because I envisioned the internal life of the characters (I like to think that my internal life isn’t reflected by my outward expression, but I also like to think that people are generally good, so there you go).
It was a refreshing change from the usual post-nuclear-attack novel, in which humanity has been knocked down but is putting civilization of a sort back together. That optimistic approach is pretty trite. The approach Shute took, of the remaining humans holding together their civilization at its previous level but with slowly dissipating hope of avoiding death, was unique, and far more nuanced.
It’s also one of Shute’s best because he avoided his propensity for injecting mysticism into stories that would have been better without it (“In the Wet” being framed as a detailed hallucination, the missing aircraft part being found by a vision in “No Highway”).
The movie with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire was almost as well done as the book, another rarity.
I agree. I also loved A Town Like Alice. I didn’t know of it until I traveled in Asia with a young woman from Alice Springs and she was just amazed that I had neither read the book nor seen the movie. I found the book when I returned to the states (about 25 years ago) and finally saw the movie about a year ago on TCM. I also enjoyed In the Wet but found it rather dated (even 20 years ago). I can just imagine how it would seem today. I also enjoyed The Checquer Board, not as much as the other three, but I enjoyed it.
I haven’t read either but will look for them.
I have to disagree on your last sentence. I forget the names of the couple who hosted Dwight, but they both, especially the mother, really wanted to be able to see their baby grow up.
Trustee from the Tool Room has always been one of my favorites. Not a complicated plot, but an enjoyable read.
There were some undertones of that, at least in that the city was beginning to break down. And the Australian Navy guy (Holmes?) was a bit peeved that the store didn’t seem to care about taking his check for the mower, and that they were closing for good that day. It was like he was offended that they weren’t playing the game properly, or - as you say - doing the right thing.
Well, yeah, but given that everyone was going to die anyway, they all had good deaths and got to choose their own way and time, especially the geezer who was finishing off all the wine at the club.
Well, I just finished A Town Like Alice, and I’ve got to say - not too impressed. The beginning was good (And to find at the end that that walk was a true story? Amazing!), the transition from England to Australia was OK (and Joe showing up in England was amusing), but after they hooked up in Australia, it just took on an incredible, “Hey, kids! Let’s put on a show!” vibe.
Perhaps one has to be Australian to really get it.
I enjoyed Beyond the Black Stump much more.