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On the Beach - Community Reviews back

by Nevil Shute
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Maggie the Ranter
Maggie the Ranter rated it 13 years ago
I just couldn't get into this. The sitting around waiting to die stuff was boring, and I couldnt connect with any of the characters. It did confirm my suspicions about human denial, but that is a whole other story.
staciebnsn
staciebnsn rated it 14 years ago
Pretty depressing, but such a good read (har har). Recommended to anyone interested in post-apocalyptic fiction.The pacing of events is excellent. For a while I did wish events would speed up (mostly because I have been exhausted recently and I didn't want to read anymore but I couldn't put it down!...
Novel Tease
Novel Tease rated it 14 years ago
A seriously depressing look at a society that has decided it has no future, and so will make absolutely no attempt to create one for itself.After nuclear war devastates the Northern Hemisphere, the radiation from dirty bombs slowly migrates south, and at the beginning of the story, Melbourne, Austra...
makinghismark
makinghismark rated it 15 years ago
This post-apocalyptic classic is now back in print. A massive nuclear war has been waged in the northern hemisphere. On the Beach depicts the human fallout, as clouds of radiation make their way south towards Australia. There is a low-level sense of melancholy throughout the novel, as we realize – a...
wbebout
wbebout rated it 15 years ago
The end of the world...how would you deal with it. That is what the people of south Australia is faced with in this gripping novel about the end of humanity.While very depressing, this book is also uplifting in the spirit of togetherness that these people exhibit. Mass death does bring on mass ins...
SJane
SJane rated it 16 years ago
This was a sad and interesting book but it is not a Great Book. The characters are cardboard and dated. Don’t get me started about the women... one a slut with a heart of gold and ther other just plain dumb. Twenty-five years ago I would have set the book on fire but I’ve mellowed. Plus it was a dow...
modusa
modusa rated it 16 years ago
stark
All the Time in the World
All the Time in the World rated it 16 years ago
Not an either/or presentation of the end of the world - both a bang, and a whimper. Still one of my all-time favorites.
Gypsyhick
Gypsyhick rated it 17 years ago
Explores the subject of post-war fallout. Apparently, this book was an eye-opener in it's day. Written around the 50's at the height of the cold war, it bruised the confidence in the "Duck and Cover" propaganda. In essence, it is really a book about how people react when there is not much tim...
Intensely Focused
Intensely Focused rated it 18 years ago
I was actually somewhat disappointed in this book. I'm not sure why. I think the idea is really interesting. What does happen when you find out that you'll be dead from radiation poisoning in a short amount of time? I think the choices people made - - to act as though life would continue - - were mo...
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