On the Beach
2 journalers for this copy...
Sometimes in the late 1970s, we had to read a condensed version of this book for our English class. Ever since, I was on the lookout for the original, and during The Great English Book Swap that took place yesterday, I finally managed to bag a copy. It is from the 3rd Printing 1969 and cost DEM 4.20 in Germany, Net 5/- in the U.K., 80c in Australia, 75c in New Zealand and 60c in South Africa. I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with this gripping read.
Blurb
The enthralling story of the final months in the lives of five people living in a world doomed to die by radiation. The feelings and the quiet heroism of ordinary people who have come face to face with extraordinary and tremendous events are unforgettably portrayed.
My Other Works by This Author
• So Disdained
Blurb
The enthralling story of the final months in the lives of five people living in a world doomed to die by radiation. The feelings and the quiet heroism of ordinary people who have come face to face with extraordinary and tremendous events are unforgettably portrayed.
My Other Works by This Author
• So Disdained
I liked the book then (see above), and I like it even more now that I've read the unabriged version. The people are so well-behaved (except for a few drunkards, but they are just part of the scenery) that we could have read the complete version back in high school.
While it is nothing new for each living thing, i.e. also for each human being, that we have to die someday, it becomes different when the day you'll cash in your chips depends solely on the latitude you live in and your whole social environment will more or less go on the same day.
The book deals with several topical moral themes and the way individuals might adapt to such a menace. While the author sets up the plot skillfully and maintains suspense up till the end, I find that most people react exceptionally cold-blooded and/or fatalistic to the approach of the deadly radioactive cloud.
Seeing how panicky and mindless many people react in today's world to things far less threatening (refugees, for example), leads me to the assumption that there would be something like a mass panic in this scenario. On the other hand, seeing how docilely people behave faced with today's man-made catastrophes-in-the-making like global warming or the fact that we poison our fields and streams, Shute may yet have been right.
While it is nothing new for each living thing, i.e. also for each human being, that we have to die someday, it becomes different when the day you'll cash in your chips depends solely on the latitude you live in and your whole social environment will more or less go on the same day.
The book deals with several topical moral themes and the way individuals might adapt to such a menace. While the author sets up the plot skillfully and maintains suspense up till the end, I find that most people react exceptionally cold-blooded and/or fatalistic to the approach of the deadly radioactive cloud.
Seeing how panicky and mindless many people react in today's world to things far less threatening (refugees, for example), leads me to the assumption that there would be something like a mass panic in this scenario. On the other hand, seeing how docilely people behave faced with today's man-made catastrophes-in-the-making like global warming or the fact that we poison our fields and streams, Shute may yet have been right.
Found this book on the wishlist of redfox5 and mailed it to her during lunch break.Hope you'll enjoy it.
- - -
Note to self: today's good deed is done.
Thank you for this wishlist book! :)
