Nevil Shute

Carafin · 08-20-2002, 01:32 PM

has anyone read any of Nevil Shutes stuff?I read A Town Like Alice(used to be called The Legacy) and I really enjoyed it.

BeardofPants · 08-20-2002, 10:37 PM

I read it years ago. I can't remember much from it, except for some bits about bare feet, but I remember enjoying it.

Carafin · 08-22-2002, 05:41 PM

Oh (disappointed) Yes there wre bare feet maybe someone else out there remembers more(hopeful)

cee2lee2 · 08-23-2002, 05:15 PM

I liked it, though I can't remember details....it's been so long since I read it. I first saw the series on PBS and that sent me to the library for the book. I believe the part about the women and children marching around the jungle was inspired by a true event from WW II.

Did Shute also write On the Beach? I have a vague memory of it having a post-nuclear war setting. Or maybe I'm just thinking of Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon.

Draken · 08-26-2002, 09:28 PM

Yup Shute wrote On The Beach. Rather a good film version of it too. Always had a soft spot for him as he worked at my ex work place, the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. It was great reading his air liner metal fatigue novel, No Highway, and recognising the labs and workshops he was describing!

cee2lee2 · 08-27-2002, 08:47 PM

It's always great fun to recognize places one has known in novels.

Beyond recognizing the labs and workshops, would you otherwise recommend No Highway?

Draken · 08-28-2002, 08:13 AM

Yes, in his typically low key way it is a good read, paced nicely with interesting and believable people. One quibble from me was that the most dramatic passage of the book is some way before the end - but then Shute was a top notch engineer and would have found the hunt for scientific evidence as fascinating as the main event itself.

It is almost eerie in its prediction of the Comet airline disasters that happened a few years later. His fictional Reindeer aircraft (wasn't Comet a reindeer?) was threatened by metal fatigue as was the Comet, and his fictional RAE engineers had to overcome self-confident denials from the Reindeer's manufacturer, as happened with the Comet.

Sad to say that the huge steel test building in the book (the Balloon Shed put up to build the first British military aircraft, powered dirigible balloons) was torn down while I still worked there and replaced by a car park. Not much room for sentiment in the Ministry of Defence!

cee2lee2 · 08-28-2002, 09:44 PM

Yes, Comet was a reindeer.

Thank you for the review. I'll look for the book at the library.

Carafin · 08-29-2002, 05:03 PM

thanx Draken I'll have to look for that one I just found Round The Bend but I haven't read it yet (likewise On The Beach)

***HOBBIT*** · 09-02-2004, 03:20 PM

I just read "On The Beach" by Nevil Shute.

OK book. Not terribly interesting actually, and horribly outdated (when was it written? The copyrights on the books are from the 30s and 50s).

Only 9 chapters - but each chapter is like 40 pages. And not much happens.

The nuclear war is over (4,700 bombs have dropped - year right) and the ppl in Australia have a little under a year until the wind brings the radiation to them.

So stupid - everyone has less than a year to live, and yet there is no chaos. A bunch of ppl getting drunk is mentioned - but NO rapes, no pillages, looting, etc.

They still go to work and use money!

Plus they found a way to get gasoline from coal - but they dont use it beacuse it is too expensive. HELLO! They have freakin a year to live. I think they can deal with buying expensive gas. Instead they use bikes and horses!!!!

Pretty lame how they all just die (suicide) and dont even try to save themselves.

08-20-2002, 01:32 PM	#1
Carafin Elven Warrior Join Date: May 2002 Location: The warm (or West) coast of Canada Posts: 150	Nevil Shute has anyone read any of Nevil Shutes stuff?I read A Town Like Alice(used to be called The Legacy) and I really enjoyed it. __________________ Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo; a star shines on the hour of our meeting, - LotR (FotR) four be the things I'd be better off without, love, curiousity, freckles, and doubt Queen Guinevere? ... Though all to ruin fell the world, And were dissolved and backward hurled, Unmade into the old abyss, Yet were its making good for this, The dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea, That Luthien for a time shoud be ~ ~Beren: The Song of Parting

08-20-2002, 10:37 PM	#2
BeardofPants the Shrike Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA <3 Posts: 10,647	I read it years ago. I can't remember much from it, except for some bits about bare feet, but I remember enjoying it. __________________ "Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords

08-22-2002, 05:41 PM	#3
Carafin Elven Warrior Join Date: May 2002 Location: The warm (or West) coast of Canada Posts: 150	Oh (disappointed) Yes there wre bare feet maybe someone else out there remembers more(hopeful) __________________ Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo; a star shines on the hour of our meeting, - LotR (FotR) four be the things I'd be better off without, love, curiousity, freckles, and doubt Queen Guinevere? ... Though all to ruin fell the world, And were dissolved and backward hurled, Unmade into the old abyss, Yet were its making good for this, The dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea, That Luthien for a time shoud be ~ ~Beren: The Song of Parting

08-26-2002, 09:28 PM	#5
Draken Elf Lord Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Durham, England Posts: 694	Yup Shute wrote On The Beach. Rather a good film version of it too. Always had a soft spot for him as he worked at my ex work place, the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. It was great reading his air liner metal fatigue novel, No Highway, and recognising the labs and workshops he was describing! __________________ I'm beset by self-doubt ....or am I?

08-28-2002, 08:13 AM	#7
Draken Elf Lord Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Durham, England Posts: 694	Yes, in his typically low key way it is a good read, paced nicely with interesting and believable people. One quibble from me was that the most dramatic passage of the book is some way before the end - but then Shute was a top notch engineer and would have found the hunt for scientific evidence as fascinating as the main event itself. It is almost eerie in its prediction of the Comet airline disasters that happened a few years later. His fictional Reindeer aircraft (wasn't Comet a reindeer?) was threatened by metal fatigue as was the Comet, and his fictional RAE engineers had to overcome self-confident denials from the Reindeer's manufacturer, as happened with the Comet. Sad to say that the huge steel test building in the book (the Balloon Shed put up to build the first British military aircraft, powered dirigible balloons) was torn down while I still worked there and replaced by a car park. Not much room for sentiment in the Ministry of Defence! __________________ I'm beset by self-doubt ....or am I?

08-23-2002, 05:15 PM	#4
cee2lee2 Elf Lord Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: 2nd star to the left..... Posts: 566	I liked it, though I can't remember details....it's been so long since I read it. I first saw the series on PBS and that sent me to the library for the book. I believe the part about the women and children marching around the jungle was inspired by a true event from WW II. Did Shute also write On the Beach? I have a vague memory of it having a post-nuclear war setting. Or maybe I'm just thinking of Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon.

08-27-2002, 08:47 PM	#6
cee2lee2 Elf Lord Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: 2nd star to the left..... Posts: 566	It's always great fun to recognize places one has known in novels. Beyond recognizing the labs and workshops, would you otherwise recommend No Highway?

08-28-2002, 09:44 PM	#8
cee2lee2 Elf Lord Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: 2nd star to the left..... Posts: 566	Yes, Comet was a reindeer. Thank you for the review. I'll look for the book at the library.

08-29-2002, 05:03 PM	#9
Carafin Elven Warrior Join Date: May 2002 Location: The warm (or West) coast of Canada Posts: 150	thanx Draken I'll have to look for that one I just found Round The Bend but I haven't read it yet (likewise On The Beach) __________________ Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo; a star shines on the hour of our meeting, - LotR (FotR) four be the things I'd be better off without, love, curiousity, freckles, and doubt Queen Guinevere? ... Though all to ruin fell the world, And were dissolved and backward hurled, Unmade into the old abyss, Yet were its making good for this, The dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea, That Luthien for a time shoud be ~ ~Beren: The Song of Parting

09-02-2004, 03:20 PM	#10
*HOBBIT* Saviour of Entmoot Admiral Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: NC/NJ (no longer Same place as bmilder.) Posts: 61,986	I just read "On The Beach" by Nevil Shute. OK book. Not terribly interesting actually, and horribly outdated (when was it written? The copyrights on the books are from the 30s and 50s). Only 9 chapters - but each chapter is like 40 pages. And not much happens. The nuclear war is over (4,700 bombs have dropped - year right) and the ppl in Australia have a little under a year until the wind brings the radiation to them. So stupid - everyone has less than a year to live, and yet there is no chaos. A bunch of ppl getting drunk is mentioned - but NO rapes, no pillages, looting, etc. They still go to work and use money! Plus they found a way to get gasoline from coal - but they dont use it beacuse it is too expensive. HELLO! They have freakin a year to live. I think they can deal with buying expensive gas. Instead they use bikes and horses!!!! Pretty lame how they all just die (suicide) and dont even try to save themselves. __________________ President Emeritus (2000-2004) Private message (or email) me if you need any assistance. I am here to help! "I'm up to here with cool, ok? I'm so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis" - Zaphod Beeblebrox Latest Blog Post: Just Quit Facebook? No One Cares!