On the Beach by Nevil Shute Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of On the Beach
Book Review: Chilling, shocking, depressing, and excellent all in one.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished this novel several minutes ago and am completely shocked. It's not very often a book or movie can make me cry, but this did it for me. It's nothing like the 'disaster' stories of recent years, which have very little in charactization. Instead, this novel focuses on the last few months in the lives of the characters, which are well-presented and realistic. The scary thing is, the scenario presented in this novel is quite real and could happen at any moment, and almost did on several past occasions: a full-scale world nuclear war. This is a must read for anyone.Book Review: Classic Nuclear Dread
Summary: 4 Stars
This 1950s novel tells a very simple story. After a nuclear war has devastated the Northern Hemisphere (who knows how it started), the people of Australia have seven to eight months to live, while the radioactivity drifts into the Southern Hemisphere. As the radiation slowly advances, they die, either by messy radiation poisoning, or by their own hands. Somewhere in between, the characters try to cope with their own mortality.Why does this book stand out? Certainly not because the characters are believable, but because it broke new ground in the literary world. Written some fifty years ago, during the Cold War, it paints a vivid and bleak picture of humanity's last days from an Australian perspective, where everyone dies. It holds up the specter of what could happen.
Given that this book was written in a time when the Civil Defense was prompting civilians to build bomb shelters, "duck and cover," and to resume a normal life after a nuclear event, this book seems groundbreaking in retrospect.
Book Review: Classic post Nuclear War End of World. Depressing
Summary: 4 Stars
Years ago I saw On The Beach on TV. It was a good movie but not a great movie. Worth seeing. I wondered how the book would compare.
In 1957 at the height of the cold war between the USSR and USA, while both countries stockpiled thousands of megatons of nuclear weapons, Nevil Shute wrote a classic novel about the end of the world after a major nuclear war. Basically the small country of Albania started the nuclear war. China and the USSR exchange nuclear devastation. One plane gets through and knocks out a US city another 2 planes bomb England. The USA retaliates and launches a massive strike against the USSR who did not bomb the US. The USSR retaliates with a massive strike against the USA. Over 4000 North Hemisphere detonations.The innocent Southern Hemisphere did nothing and does not get Nuclear strikes. All human life and most animal life in the Northern Hemisphere is killed by radiation.
We see a US Submarine crew in Australia and Australians awaiting the slow drifting of nuclear fallout and death to all coming into the Southern Hemisphere. I wont ruin it for you by telling too much of the story.
Parts of the book were poor...like calling baby Jennifer "it" who is dying of radiation poisoning.
Lots of red suicide pills given out. The last Grand Prix auto race in Australia is won by a scientist who monitors radiation from the last US submarine. He wins driving a Ferrari he got for next to nothing as its the end of the world.
There are really great parts to the book and it is well worth reading. This is a historic 1957 classic sci fi end of the world book. . There are lots of great parts like the race car and the submarine crew finding what is causing a CW transmission in dead Seattle.
I found the book kind of depressing. The reader wants to help these people escape approaching death. Death for all is inevitable. There is no escape for anyone. Nevil Shute had the main characters leading a semi normal life to the bitter end. The vast majority of the people did not behave crazy with rape, robbery and mayhem. Of course there is some but the majority of people just wanted to spend their last days with their families and loved ones. Basically Australia went out with a whimper.
Just remember that this is still possible. Some little county like North Korea or later Iran could start a nuclear war that gets out of control. We may not have to worry about "Nuclear Winter". The nuclear fallout in the stratosphere could be spread worldwide and if the half life of a cobalt bomb is 5 years we probably could not escape radiation poisoning worldwide from 4000 plus H bombs going off. A frighting book. Read non fiction The Cold and The Dark by Paul R Ehrlich ,Carl Sagan, Donald Kennedy and Walter Orr Roberts about the non survival after a global major nuclear war. An even more chilling "true" book. There would be no long term survival for mankind. Nevil Shute hit it right on in 1957.
On The Beach a good book, with a strong story where the reader develops much empathy and sorrow for the dieing characters. Would of given On The Beach 5 stars but it is depressing and I didn't like dying baby Jennifer called "it". Gets you to thinking... this could really happen to us in this crazy world. I pray for peace before its too late. 4 stars and recommended.
Book Review: Cold War Reality Check
Summary: 4 Stars
Despite its rather benign title, this novel will shock the reader with the opening chapter, outlining the causes and consequences of a global thermonuclear war. "Total War" is something that hardly crosses our mind as modern Americans these days, but in 1957 it was a very real fear, and a very real possibility. This novel is an extension of those fears and provides a warning as well. The story is set in Melbourne, Australia, and the basic premise is quite grim. The entire Northern hemisphere has been ultimately destroyed in a massive nuclear exchange. Great, well how does this affect the peaceful residents of Melbourne, the southernmost populous city on the continent? As a result of the war nuclear winds, massive storms laden with fallout haven begun to circle the earth and wind their way south. These storms will bring an inevitable end to all human life on earth, presumably all life period. The most touching aspect of this novel is that every character knows their demise is soon to come, but they accept the hand they were dealt (a rather shoddy one considering they had nothing to do with the war) with dignity and await their doom living out their daily lives in peace.
This story is a very grim reality check and certainly a worthwhile read. The dialogue has a tendency to be fairly formulaic and contrived at some points; however the climax of the story is quite suspenseful. Overall a very good read, anyone with an affinity for political or global thrillers would enjoy this peek into the absurdity of the of the cold war, as written by one who lived through it.
Book Review: Cold war fiction at its best.
Summary: 5 Stars
On The Beach is the story of the results of a nuclear war and the last days left for those that survived it. The war pretty much has annihilated the Northern Hemisphere, with the remaining population living mostly in Austrailia, where most of the story takes place. We watch as these people, knowing that their time is limited due to the "nuclear cloud" that is slowly drifting towards the southern hemisphere, live their last months to their fullest. We have the Navy, headed by the Austrailians and one American, sailing to the north in search of survivors of this war. We have people like you and I, living in Austrailia, going about their every day lives, living as if there IS a tomorrow, as if there IS a next year. The tension increases as the story heads towards the end, and the reader knows there is no mistaking what that end would be. There is no blood or gore in this post-nuclear war story. If you want that, rent MAD MAX. This book is about people living every day,knowing that their lives are about to be cut short. It's about people dying with dignity. And it's about the devastation of war, and the stupidity that can cause a nuclear war in our own futures.
Nevil Shute's ON THE BEACH is a classic. If you want to read a great nuclear war/end of the world book written before the end of the Cold War, this is it.