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On the Beach (Original 1957; 1967. Auflage)

von Nevil Shute

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Titel

On the Beach

Autor

Nevil Shute

Tags

science fiction, post-apocalyptic, Lit. Australia, books read in 2007, 0_Paper books actually on shelf

Sammlungen

Deine Bibliothek, Kauf gebraucht / Bought used

Bewertung

Rezension

Argh! I haven't been so angry about a book for a very long time! I could take a bite out of the keyboard right now, and it's been two hours I read the last page of the book.

A while ago I got into a discussion on a film board with someone who insisted that the 2000 film version of the above book was utterly ridiculous and that the 1959 film version and especially the 1957 book were so much better plotwise and characterwise.

OK. I dredged amazon.uk and ordered the book in English (I had read it ages ago, as in years, in a shortened version). I had two very long train trips this week, so today finished it.
And I was so angry at the end. Not because everyone had to die because of a stupid nuclear war, but because of the way people were characterized and how they behaved. I cannot *believe* that people in the 1950s would have taken those characters seriously.

I am not even sure that the picture of women in this book is 1950s. More like 1930s, where your man is the one that defines you. I don't know how old Nevil Shute was in 1957, but it might have something to do with that.

The blokes fare a bit better characterwise, but I felt really insulted by the way the author described Cmdr. Towers, the American submarine commander. The man is supposed to be the commanding officer of a million-dollar high tech war ship with a crew of 100 or so, but he has his head in the clouds? All the time? Like John Osborne says in the book: "He's all right. Only a bat or two flying round the belfry."

I loved "A town like Alice" and have read it a number of times. But this one? Only when I want to scream.

Erscheinungsdatum

1967

Verlag / bibliographische Angaben

William Morrow & Co (1967), Hardcover

ISBN

0688022235 / 9780688022235

Anzahl der Bände

Anzahl der Exemplare

Maße

8.25 x 5.75 x 1.25 inches

Gewicht

1.1 Pfund