An Oldie but a Goodie.

Been a while since I read this story - still packs a punch even today.

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A superb, beautiful and bleak classic.

There are very, very few books that affected me for my entire life, like On the Beach has. I love science fiction and post apocalyptic stuff and have been an Audible member for years, and a voracious reader of print when I could see well--yet it's taken me years as an adult to re-read this again. Still a gut punch.

I was born during the Cold War, and read this book at the age of 12, in the 1970s--because my older sister had read it for school, and because we were all heavy duty readers in my family. We remember just how close we came to war and for that reason it still frightens me.
By today's standards it is oh so tame and behind the times, there aren't zombies, blood, sex and Walmart, yet I had the same visceral feeling upon finishing it this time, as I felt the first time I read it. I sobbed through the last few minutes again 40 odd years later. Because it is bleak. It is the end of humanity and virtually most life on the planet in this book, because of man's hubris. We are still so very close, still to that brink.
But as others have noted, there's a cast of characters we grow close to, and then mourn with as their day of reckoning comes closer and is at hand. They meet it usually with class, although considering in the 1950s and 60s religion was far more important, and suicide was a mortal sin- suicide in this case was state sanctioned. In retrospect, I guess our 2019 sensibilities might be bothered by this but if you know you are dying slowly and hideously, would you maybe not do the same?
I have more to say, will finish this tomorrow.

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2 people found this helpful

Timeless

The most depressing thing about this book is that it still feels so relevant today.

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A bit slow

Meh, the story has very little to do with the synopsis. I was expecting something more exciting and dystopian maybe but it was more about human interaction. Not what I was looking for.

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The Bitter and the Sweet

OTB has long been a favourite of mine: it was a real pleasure to revisit it again, this time in audio format. Shute is a lovely writer, subtle and warm. His style is well suited to this difficult tale. I did wonder how a single reader would handle the many voices (there is a lot of conversation). James Smillie does an excellent job, shifting tone and accent deftly to illuminate each character. Contemporary readers may be somewhat surprised at the quiet, indulgent patronizing of women in the novel, but that was in keeping with the times. The main narrative is as relevant today as it was in 1957 and we may well face a similar fate. Shute is prescient in citing an educated and free press as the only possible antidote to international strife/ambition and what his character so accurately describes as the "silliness" of world leaders in turning to force rather than diplomacy to resolve their disputes. May we learn from this wise hearted novel.

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Ahead of its time

While it is subversive of dystopia fiction, generally. As it’s mostly just a high degree of verisimilitude of folks living their lives. The prose are fine, but not evocative or particularly interesting in any way. The characters are effective in showing the the everyday aspects of life, as well as a military component. The ending is perfunctory. This was just okay, in every respect.

All the pleasure I got out of it came from a the meta level, where I found it parallels cli-fi without even meaning to. Climate events will similarly impact the peripheral of life on the planet. Only they will probably be first, not last. But the responsibility for change is, again, the first world countries, by a mile. And people will have no choice but to live anxiety ridden lives ridden into the ground. In that way, this book is pertinent and prescient. I only wish the other components of it were more interesting. If it wasn’t so short I doubt I’d have slogged through.

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Dated but timeless

It is a classic that I once again enjoyed after reading it so very long ago. Yes, On The Beach is dated and a tad old-fashioned but its frightening message holds up these many decades later with a timeless warning that reaches us through poignant prose. The narrator of this Audible edition is excellent and, all in all, this book is well worth a credit.

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mediocre

psychologically one dimensional (every character deals with the situation in exactly the same way from barelt differing perspectives), and sociologically bankrupt.

listened because of Einstein on the Beach.

performance was fine although there was one very jarring moment after a late and important chapter break, from practically whispering to almost yelling...

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Avoid

One of the worst books I've experienced. It's a book about the end of the world and contained next to no emotion or substance. The characters basically spent the entire book drinking or denying anything was wrong. I spent most of the book rolling my eyes at the constant choppy, dull, and delusional character dialogues. By the end I was rooting for the nuclear radiation to finally reach these terrible characters.

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