On the Beach by Nevil Shute Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of On the Beach
Book Review: A must read
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this in high school 20 years ago. I liked it then but I love it now.
This novel is about the end of the earth. It shows how we need to cherrish the days that we had and the long term effects of war.
Book Review: A second read
Summary: 4 Stars
Whenever later in life you decide what books you enjoyed and yet can't quite get the old internal memory organ to improve intellectually but you know somehow you enjoyed the read more than most - that is just the book you should read again. I recall this novel as a great emotional, sobering journey made in my middle years. That first read was surely exaggerated by experiences of sticking my head under a school desk during nuclear war drills at grade school. Ok, so you have to be a "boomer" to remember this but guess what, given the recent political charade what comes next could be the chance of a nuclear winter as Shute describes not in scientific detail but in human frailty and heroism. Existing leaders who only think about increasing the size of their weapons should read this novel and re-read like I just have. Not only is it a well written story full of emotion and surprises but it is also a warning. It was true when written and still seems to be just on the surface of truth because our way of life has been and still is threatened by our way of life! Full of humor in the face of disaster and the common humane nature of men who lean on each other for strength even at the step of final and terrible death makes the reader stay faithful. These characters are endurable, likable, familiar even when inevitably terminable. Shute doesn't leave us much but maybe one or two survived, somehow - one can hope. Remember, this is fiction - yes? Thank you Mr. Author.Book Review: A very good read!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a ver y good book about the end of the world. The characters are very real and the book is so realistic! Nevil Shute really did it this time. I caught myself sometimes slipping into a daze trying to figure out what I would do in they're situation. I had to read this book for required reading class a few years back. I had never heard of it but it was one of the only books left that looked good. I was a little apprehensive at first, but after a while, I couldn't put the book down. I must say I'll have to recomend this book to everyone!Book Review: Bleak, gloomy...the end of the world if we're not careful
Summary: 4 Stars
The transition from night to day begins each morning with a gentle sunrise insidiously piercing through the unwilling blanket of darkness. Eventually the colossal battle becomes fruitless and night gives in to the increasingly unrelenting pressure of sunshine. In relatively little time the seemingly insignificant temperature rise becomes substantial, creeping its way into life, permeating throughout all that doesn't wilt before the sun's potency. The changes are both irrevocable an inevitable.
The atrocities and horrors of war, specifically the aftermath, are just as apparent as that sunrise. Similarly, the nuclear fallout and resulting widespread death is agonizingly slow.
On the Beach is a tale of the realistic horror that could eventually destroy our planet. For those near the epicenters of full scale nuclear war, death is painless and instant. Those not fortunate enough to suffer a sweet, immediate death, face the realization that death approaches at a snail's pace. As the poison of radiation drifts across the ocean southward towards Australia, a U.S. submarine commander named Dwight Towers has to carry on with his mission, and make sense of the world's military actions.
Dwight meets Moira Davidson, a frisky Australian girl with a wild streak, and along with their married friends Peter and Mary, they go about the gut-wrenching final days of their lives. Dwight holds on to the memory of his life, seeking solace in moderate denial, buying gifts for his wife and children who have no doubt already succumbed to the poisonous radiation. Similarly, Peter and Mary plan a garden for future seasons they will never see. Meanwhile, Moira faces death with a slight chip on her shoulder, and a scowl at what could have been. Eventually the four find a dichotomous comfort in knowing that they have no recourse for survival, living their final days with as much vigor, generosity, and soft smiles as possible.
The real strength of this novel is the character development. By learning about the characters' lives and insecurities, strengths and flaws, as well as their likes and dislikes, a great deal of empathy is elicited. Following their depressingly mundane last days during humanity's failing health and infrastructure sheds light on that which we all take for granted, like the simple pleasures and beauty that can be gained from a good drink, an exhilarating race, or a relaxing day fishing.
Humanity should hope that nothing remotely similar to this novel actually occurs. And, even though I'm sure there would be considerably more chaos than represented in the characters' dignified approach, the slow, somber story development accentuates the truly dreary prospect of a slow helpless death.
Book Review: Dead World Walking
Summary: 5 Stars
Having been published over fifty years ago (long before Al Gore "took the initiative in creating the Internet"), On the Beach is a bit dated. But the story, that of the survivors of a nuclear war, seems eerily realistic. The book begins on December 27, 1962, about a year after the end of the "short war," (p 9) "the Russian-NATO war, that had in turn been born of the Israeli-Arab war, initiated by Albania," and the "use of cobalt bombs by both the Russians and the Chinese..." during which (p 61) "about four thousand seven hundred" nuclear bombs were dropped. Only the inhabitants of Australia (where the story is set) and Antarctica have been spared death by radiation poisoning.
Royal Australian Navy LCDR Peter Holmes is posted "as liaison officer in U.S.S. Scorpion" under the command of thirty-three-year-old Submarine Commander Dwight Lionel Towers, U.S.N. Towers, former resident of Mystic, Connecticut is a bit of a paradoxical character. He believes in doing things by the book, and that "One ha[s] to live in the new world and do one's best, forgetting about the old," yet seems certain that he will one day be reunited with his (undoubtedly deceased) wife and two children. The Holmes family (Peter, Mary and baby Jennifer) invites Towers to their place one weekend and asks their neighbor, twenty-four year old Moira Davidson, to "Keep him occupied..." Of their future (the radiation is expected to arrive less than a year later), she tells him, (p 30) "It's like waiting to be hung," and (p 31) "It's not that I'm afraid of dying...It's all the things I'm going to have to miss..." But her attitude and behavior become more positive as her feelings for Towers become stronger. Holding fast to his idea of a perfect family reunion, Towers struggles a bit in maintaining an appropriate relationship with Davidson. Rounding out the cast is a relative of Moira, civilian scientific officer, John Seymour Osborne, who is hired to go on a submarine cruise to (p 39) "make observations and keep records of radioactive levels..." during which the actions of one crewmember are especially memorable, the mission being undertaken in part due to (p 29) "...radio transmission still coming from someplace near Seattle."
Alternately resigned to, and in denial of their fate, the Holmes' create a wonderful garden, Towers readies to see his family, and Osborne, prepares for the race of his life. Especially chilling is the various characters' contemplation of the use of suicide pills. On the Beach is a powerful, unsettling look about the aftermath of a nuclear war. Also good: Voices of Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich.