On the Beach by Nevil Shute
The most potent book by Nevil Shute, which remained a bestseller for many years after its 1957 release, is a memorable portrayal of a post-apocalyptic society.
The few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is headed their way and delivering certain death to everyone in its path after a nuclear World War III has devastated the majority of the world. One of them is a submarine commander from the United States who is trying to ignore the fact that his wife and kids back home must have perished. Once a weak Morse code signal is discovered, coming from a location not far from Seattle, Captain Towers is forced to take his submarine crew on a gloomy tour of the devastated planet in an effort to find any sign of life.
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Amazon.com
On the Beach is a surprisingly convincing portrayal of how common people may cope with the worst nightmare, and it is both horrifying and emotionally moving. In Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach,” only the people of southern Australia are seen to be temporarily surviving the consequences of a massive nuclear war that has already wiped out human life in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere is experiencing deadly amounts of radioactive fall-out, and when we first meet the protagonists, they “maybe” have three months to live. Their life expectancy depends on the direction of the wind and their decisions in life.
The main character of Commander Dwight Towers, a U.S. submarine captain, is the hub around whom Shute weaves the intertwined tales of a ship’s officer named Peter Holmes and his wife Mary (along with their newborn), a beautiful young woman named Moira Davidson, Moira’s cousin John Osborne, a scientist and race car enthusiast, and a group of other related people in Melbourne (circa 1963), as they prepare for the extinction of man On the Beach, which was first published in 1957, recalls the impending danger that nuclear holocaust posed at the time while yet maintaining some decorum in its Armageddon representation. We are not given a detailed account of the horror and destruction, nor does the book linger on the ape-like actions that contemporary media has trained us to anticipate in such a situation.
Although people who give in to alcohol or despair in their final months are mentioned, these portrayals are brief and remain in the background. How quaint is decency!
The benefit of having good characters is that it is simple to care about their outcomes and to connect with them. The major assignment Towers and crew are given by Shute is one of many subplots that support the meta-theme of facing mortality. Shute is a skilled storyteller. The major assignment Towers and crew are given by Shute is one of many subplots that support the meta-theme of facing mortality. Shute is a skilled storyteller.
