On the Beach

Nevil Shute's 'On the Beach' imagines mankind on the very verge of utter apocalypse, with only the population of southern Australia temporarily surviving the effects of a colossal nuclear war that has already extinguished human life in the Northern Hemisphere. Lethal levels of radioactive fall-out are spreading throughout the Southern Hemisphere and the characters have "maybe" three months to live when we are introduced to them, their life span dependent upon wind patterns and personal choices.Commander Dwight Towers, a U.S. submarine captain is the central character around whom Shute spins the intertwined stories of a ship's officer Peter Holmes and his wife Mary (along with their newborn); Moira Davidson, a pretty young woman; Moira's cousin John Osborne, a scientist/race car enthusiast; and a collection of other related persons in Melbourne (c. 1963) as they anticipate the extinction of man and, necessarily, their own deaths.The novel begins with an epigraph from T.S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men', in part: "We grope together/ And avoid speech/ Gathered on this beach of the tumid river ... This is the way the world ends ..." A close reading of the poem will likely cast a distinct interpretation of the novel, different from the "facing the end of the world with a stiff upper lip" reading.Like the "hollow men" of Eliot's poem, the characters of Shute's 'On the Beach' confront mortality together, and yet alone. Their stories provide a range of choices (overwhelmingly influenced by deeply ingrained habits): from the path of duty and faithfulness to family, a final fling at a life's goal and the opportunity for grand achievement, or a good-faith effort to properly exhaust the club's supply of port!Published in 1957, 'On the Beach' recalls the immanent danger nuclear holocaust represented then (it continues to exist, its just that we have become inured to it), but also retains a certain civility in its representation of the Armageddon. We are not vividly told the details of horror and destruction, nor does the book dwell on the primitive behaviors modern cinema has conditioned us to expect under the circumstances. Although there is mention of those who abandon themselves to drinking or despondence in their final months, these portrayals are brief and remain on the periphery. Decency ... how quaint!The advantage of such decent characters is that it is easy to empathize with them, and to care about their fates (and to realize they represent the bulk of modern humanity). Shute is an effective storyteller and includes several sub-plots (like the main mission Towers and crew are assigned) that complement the meta-theme of confronting mortality.The quiet decency of the characters also serves to better relate to the "hollow men" of Eliot's poem. The characters largely occupy themselves with routine activities, while dwelling upon an imagined future that denies the pending end. Their daily activities mask their fundamental passivity. They await their certain death like the "hollow men" in the poem: "We whisper together/ Are quiet and meaningless/ As wind in dry grass/ Or rats' feet over broken glass/ In our dry cellar."These are not persons who, in Dylan Thomas' words, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" or, in Eliot's, resemble "Those who have crossed with direct eyes." These are ordinary people continuing their ordinary lives, waiting "on this beach of the tumid river" to be ferried across by Charon, with possibly one exception. Commander Towers sets sail into the mists, seeking to do his duty to the end and to keep a metaphysical appointment with his family, a vaguely articulated reunion in an afterlife (in doing so he retains a sense of a human soul).The book seems like an extended tale based upon Thoreau's words, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Both Eliot's poem and the epigram of Shute's novel end with the words, This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper.'On the Beach' is an easy read, but difficult to put down and even harder to forget. In many ways its message is more haunting or unnerving than the violent telling of many imagined ends of the world.

On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic story written by Nevil Shute in the 1950’s, at the height of the Cold War. It is a story of people facing inevitable doom, how they cope, the values that support them, and their final pleasures. It is thoughtful and low-key, though the intensity of their is always there, boiling up and threatening to overcome them. It is at once, sad and hopeful. It is NOT Mad Max.The driving situation, and principal antagonist, in On the Beach is the aftermath of nuclear war. In a brief introduction, Mr. Shute provides the background of a nuclear war having snuffed out all life in the northern hemisphere and the radiation now moving slowly south. His story focuses on a few survivors in Melbourne, Australia who are waiting for the inevitable. How they handle that waiting drives the story.Mr Shute’s prose is simple, making this book an easy read. In fact, I think it reads like a screenplay. I don’t know if that was Mr. Shute’s intent, but two movies were made from his book. But then, the easy prose does highlight the common lives of the characters as they face an uncommon horror. Taken that way, the writing emphasizes the story’s everyday elements much as the writing in McCarthy’s The Road emphasizes that story’s bleakness. On the Beach is not bleak, though it is sad.The characters are depicted as was common for popular storytelling of the time—square-jawed, heroic men and brave, supporting women. Mr. Shute goes beyond these stereotypes, though, by placing them in a situation that heroics and personal grit can’t save. That point is brought out in several ways, one of which is the general cluelessness about where the nuclear war came from and why. Even the military men don’t understand it. As the submarine captain says:‘I’d like to read a history of this last war.’ said the American. ‘I was in it for a short time but I don’t know a thing about it. Has anybody written anything?’And so the inevitability of death is aggravated by the senselessness of it. It is this theme that makes this story, in my opinion, so very relevant.A modern version of this novel would be longer. The action does span the globe in that the submarine travels far and wide over the northern hemisphere checking war damage and radiation levels. Mr. Shute abbreviates all that. Today it would probably be expanded into subplots that switched between the submarine and the folks back home in Melbourne. I can even imagine the introduction of a political aspect that could make the story a thriller. All that would be a detriment to the storytelling, however, if it took away from the dynamic of people facing the end of everything.In these days when political leaders push for war and consider nuclear exchanges “winnable,” On the Beach makes its subtle point: common, everyday people suffer for the insane actions of their shadowy rulers. Such suffering coming from nuclear war would likely be worse than Mr. Shute imagines, but his point is well made that it is the final result of unbridled ambition and greed empowered by doomsday weapons.

Neville Shute was an engineer with an unusual gift for story telling. Here he brings out the then recent public knowledge about the aftermath of a nuclear war -extinction of all human life on the planet. With understated passion he takes the reader through the inevitable and totally unavoidable consequences, in a story which does not lack human interest by any means. But it is not hysterical or over the top. Read it, give it to anyone who will accept it. Because the message is as valid now as it was then.

Read this book, it will make you think of the fragility of life, even more relevant today, just a different threat.

This book is a chilling fictional reminder of the threat that has existed since Hiroshima and has been close to re-enactment several times in the years since and continues to be a threat today.Should be recommended reading for all students.

Came in time for my partners 40 birthday - he was over the moon

This was a nice read from another time. Fascinating to see the same conflicts still apparent today. I doubt Australia would be saved now... Really enjoyed this.