On the Beach by Nevil Shute Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of On the Beach
Book Review: The Last Day's Dawn
Summary: 4 Stars
I read an older edition of Nevil Shute's classic story of the final months of humanity in June of 2007. I still remember the story as both a captivating read and yet a very dark tale. Apparently, a conflict in the Middle East and Balkans led to a domino effect of nuclear war. Shute's future reality (now it would be an alternative reality) has a major difference from our world: many more nations acquired nuclear weapons. Much of the Northern Hemisphere was annilihated as NATO, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China blew one another to pieces. While vast swathes of the Southern Hemisphere survived the fate of artificial dawns, a slower fate was in store as radioactivity inexorably moved south with the winds. This is the geopolitical background to the story.
The human side of Shute's work is on the whole very readable. It ranges from the story of an American submarine captain who lost his family in the war to an alcoholic Australian lady who grew close to him to the tragic story of a young Australian navy officer's family to a scientist who's final dream was to win the last Grand Prix the world would ever see. This is a world where technologically powerful navies have reverted some of their few servicible ships to coal power. This is a world where the horse once again begins to replace the automobile. And it is a world coping with the reality of its own demise. A mysterious signal from North America briefly offers a faint gleaming of hope and leads to a desperate submarine mission to find the cause. However, ultimately, it would prove futile. And so the last humans were given a final respite to order their lives as time inexorably ran out. Some like some members at a prestigious club drank heavily while numerous others sought the comfort of God. Some like the scientist chose to drive for their dreams (in his case literally in particularly desperate and dangerous races). Above it all hung the simple question of how a technologically advanced civilization could destroy itself.
While I don't agree with all the actions of Shute's characters and realize his specific geopolitical situation is now dated, I still found the novel a worthwhile read. It is well written, disturbing, and at times thought provoking. While not perfect, I recommend it with caution. It is not a tale which ends remotely happily.
Book Review: Wanting to stay on the beach
Summary: 5 Stars
Nevil Shute's On the Beach was written in 1957 amidst the Cold War fears of nuclear annihilation. It has been made into two movies, one in 1959 starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire and a smaller budget film in 2000. Shute was a bestselling writer in his time. "In 2007, Gideon Haigh wrote an article in The Monthly arguing that On the Beach is Australia's most important novel." (From the Wikipedia article on Nevil Shute.)
It's now probably categorized as science fiction, but there really is no impossible or futuristic science throughout the book. At the time it was written, it was an expression of the fears of many. Now, it is more of an alternative fiction, which is really what all fiction is anyway, of what the world would have been like if a nuclear war had broken out. To not get into the details too much, the story centers on Australia after a nuclear war had totally destroyed the northern hemispehere. Slowly, the radiation spreads south. Shute focuses on a group of people located in Melbourne who know that they are going to all die soon from radiation poisioning that is spreading south. It sounds bleak and depressing, which it is. The sadness of the book is the only reason I did not give it a perfect rating. It is excruciatingly sad.
As for the themes, the book tackles suicide. The government manufactured pills for people to take once they began to show signs of radiation sickness. There would be no possibility of recovery once the radiation started poisoning people; nobody could win this battle with death. Through the story, Shute asks, "Would suicide in such a situation be okay?"
The book made me wonder (not that my little bout with cancer hasn't also done this) if I am doing what I would like to do if I knew that I would die in three months. The people in the book were forced to ask this. In the book, most of the people just kept on doing what they had already been doing. I think I would do the same.
In the end, the book really caused me to examine what should be valued in the world we live in. I think I am a better person for having read this book.
Entertaining: 4/5
Inspiring: 5/5
Ethical Thinking: 5/5
This book was so depressing that I do not know if I will ever read it again. I will definitely keep this book. It was great to read and challenging to my thoughts. It would also be a great discussion starter.