Stephen Morris.

Locations
Call Number: Fiction
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Exactly-the-Same-Size As Life submitted by Jan Wolter on July 25, 2013, 6:22am Nevil Shute is one of my favorite writers, but the two linked stories that comprise this book are not his best work. Which is not really surprising, given that they were the first he ever wrote. He submitted them to a few publishers, got turned down, and went on to write better books. They were published for the first time by his estate. So to Nevil Shute fans like me there is interest here because the stories have autobiographical elements, and because, though they aren't great, they aren't bad either, and show Nevil Shute's narrative ability and interest in characters who were not larger than life, but exactly the same size as life.

Each story is the story of a young man finding his place in life, finding a position matching his abilities and interests, which will earn him enough to allow him to marry the girl of his dreams. There is a great deal about airplanes and sailboats in here, and the minimalistic romantic plots basically act as a frame story: guy is in love with girl, guy does a whole lot of stuff while the girl isn't around, guy meets girl again. The "whole lot of stuff" holds a lot of interest, especially if you like airplanes and sailboat. There is a nice glimpse of the English aviation industry after the first world war, before anyone had figured out how to really make money at it. So I enjoyed this, but it's not the best place to get to know a truly wonderful writer.