Product Description

Following the war, a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards poisoning everything in its path. An American submarine captain is among the survivors left sheltering in Australia, preparing with the locals for the inevitable. Despite his memories of his wife, he becomes close to a young woman struggling to accept the harsh realities of their situation. Then a Morse code signal is picked up and the submarine must set sail through the bleak ocean to search for signs of life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26078 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 250 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780899683652
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
The most evocative novel on the aftermath of a nuclear war The Times Fictions such as On the Beach played an important role in raising awareness about the threat of nuclear war. We stared into the abyss and then stepped back from the brink Guardian Still incredibly moving after nearly half a century Economist Timely and ironic..an indelibly sad ending that leaves you tearful and disturbed Los Angeles Times On the Beach didn't offer a literal second chance at life. But, as a nuclear cloud drifted over to people in Australia, it did show how knowledge of the end can dislodge the truest of feelings from their hiding places and give them a second chance Boston Globe Haunting Washington Post Remarkable books...I share a fierce personal regard for Nevil Shute Shute's most considerable achievement Daily Telegraph

Review
“The most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war.” —The New York Times 
 
“The most shocking fiction I have read in years. What is shocking about it is both the idea and the sheer imaginative brilliance with which Mr. Shute brings it off.”  —San Francisco Chronicle

“A novelist of intelligent and engaging quality, deservedly popular. . . . Nevil Shute was, in brief, the sort of novelist who genuinely touches the imagination and feeling.” —The Times (London)

From the Publisher
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Customer Reviews

Emotionally Shredding
I think most people here have already summed up this book, and there is little I can add to what they've said. I'll try anyway.

On the Beach tells the story of the aftermath of an all-out nuclear war. The setting is Australia, one of the few places in the world to escape not only the bombs, put the deadly clouds of radioactive fallout from the war. But they'll only survive for a little while, because the global wind currents are slowly pushing the deadly fallout down to Antarctica. The Aussies only have a short time before they all come down with radiation sickness and die. The whole book is an emotional rollercoaster as the dreaded day of death looms ever closer, with absolutely nothing to prevent doom. Most people are resigned to their fate, and try and stay busy with various daily rituals in an effort to keep their sanity.

The two main characters of the book are Dwight Towers, a U.S. submarine commander who has survived the war and is in refuge in Australia, and Moira Davidson, a young Australian girl who is bitter about her fate and seeks consolation with Dwight. Other characters are introduced, such as a young couple with a baby and a scientist who likes racing cars. The reader is quickly drawn into these people's lives, and really comes to care about what happens to them. Needless to say, the ending isn't warm and cheery. I had to stop reading the book several times and take a little break to get rid of the huge lump in my throat. It is a VERY tough read at the end. If you don't get emotional, you just might be dead.

There are several small points to make about the book. The author, Nevil Shute, isn't exactly the best writer in terms of grammar. There are awkward sentences and errors, and it sometimes detracts from the story. He also wrote this book in the late 1950's, and he's English, so there are words that don't make much sense today. Despite these flaws, the story is still gut wrenching and compelling. I really appreciated Shute's sense of irony. Moira first meets Dwight because she is enlisted to keep his mind off of his dead family in America. However, Moira ends up being the one who starts to break down. More irony appears when people make plans that they know they won't be alive to keep. The scene when Peter and Mary are planning their garden is is a good example of this irony, and you'll groan in anguish over it. Overall, I haven't been this upset over something since I watched the film "Cutting Moments".

I'm surprised more people haven't heard of this book. I gave it to my Mom to read first, and she bawled like a baby at the end. You may not bawl, but you'll certainly be affected.

Chilling
"On the Beach" is one of those books that you read for the concept and the story, but not for the quality of the writing. The plot centers around the lives of a few remaining survivors of a nuclear war who live in Australia. Since the was has taken place in the northern hemisphere, Australia has largely escaped unscathed--for the moment. But as prevailing winds approach Australia, they carry lethal doses of radiation with them. The implication of this is that all of the characters in the book--in fact everyone in the world--will inevitably be extinguished.

"On the Beach" has a profound psychological impact because it is devoid of the intense action that usually accompanies nuclear apocolypse films. The destruction has already occurred elsewhere and the citizens of Australia are largely going about their business knowing they will soon die. The fact that their infrastructure has not been destroyed and that all of their social aparatus is still intact makes their fate all the more sad and earie.

Although this book is set in the Cold War it's outcome is still relevant and feasible today. The nuclear warheads generated by the arms race haven't gone away. The former Soviet Union is a desparate, chaotic place, and as several reviewers pointed out, more small countries are joining the nuclear club. One could say that Nuclear madness has merely transformed itself, but its danger certainly hasn't disappeared.

I think everyone should read this book to be reminded of the possible future we all face.

Wonderful book--Nevil Shute's most famous if not his best
After a nuclear war, radiation slowly drifts southwards, gradually killing off humanity there as it has already been killed off in the Northern Hemisphere. The end is less than a year away, yet Australians, and a few American naval refugees seek to maintain their daily lives in the face of doom, and even send an exploratory submarine northwards.

The fascination of the book is watching how people react to the inevitable doom. Many just go on plegmatically, a few pretend it will never happen. Most interesting is Moira Dawson, an Australian girl who had dreamed of visiting London and Paris, and now never will, and who seeks to live what little life is left to the fullest. She learns a lesson from a stillborn romance with Dwight Towers, the submarine commander who acts as if his wife and children are alive in Connecticut.

Perhaps the limitation of this book is that most of the characters simply accept their doom, presumably having come to terms with it before the start of the book. But more of a range of viewpoints might be welcome. Could you imagine the anger and frustration of teenagers under these circumstances, in the throes of adolescence without the promise of adulthood, knowing they will never have their independence.

As in most of Shute's later works, there are no villians. That is welcome when so many books have paper villains for us to vicariously hate.