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A Town Like Alice

Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960. Book - 1950 None on shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 4.9 out of 5

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Terrific submitted by Jan Wolter on July 23, 2013, 7:02pm I've never read a Nevil Shute book that I didn't completely enjoy. He's on my short list of all time favorite authors. Nevil Shute was an highly respected English airplane designer who also wrote books. Many of his books tie in to aviation and engineering. He has the rare ability make everything he writes about interesting. I've read books where he spends several chapters describing people getting ready to go on a trip, and I found that description as much of a page turner as cliff-hanging adventure scenes in the hands of other writers. His novels are often quite oddly constructed, being built out of sequences of events that few other people would have framed as a novel, but which nevertheless end up working.

Though this book has only a little to do with airplanes, Shute's engineer's practicality and his respect for all those who build things is visible here, especially in the later parts of the books. His tendency toward oddly constructed novels is also very visible here. The first part of the book takes place in Sumatra after it is taken by the Japanese. Two westerners trapped there endure many hardships as prisoners of war. It is a tale of the people who rise to the challenges of hard times, a tale of survival and endurance. Their stories cross only briefly, but memorably, in an act of kindness. The second part of the book takes place after the war, as these people get on with their lives and try to find each other. This leads them eventually to Australia, and a town not very much like Alice and we get an entirely different kind of story about our characters' role in the evolution of that town. But it all fits together and makes sense somehow in the end.

Heroine submitted by Carolyn J Petersen on September 3, 2019, 10:14pm Among the female prisoners of the Japanese the heroine is the youngest and least experienced. Over time, she evolves into the natural leader.

Taking place in Sumatra, post-war England and Australia we see these places as they were. We see characters acting in great courage, lowest cruelty , generosity, cowardly behavior. This book is rich.

If it can be found, I highly recommend the PBS production “A Town Like Alice”. As far as I can tell, it has never been recorded on dvd. There is a tape version.

My Favorite Nevil Shute Book submitted by gjwilson on June 14, 2020, 11:08pm I re-read this book every few years. Nevil Shute has a way of spinning a tale that makes it hard to put a book down, but this story, in particular, just wants to be re-read. Jean and Joe meet under very trying circumstances, both away from their homelands during a war. After the war they find each other again. It sounds so simple, but it really a fascinating tale about humans - the good, the bad and everything in between.

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PUBLISHED
London : Vintage, [2009], c1950.
Year Published: 1950
Description: 351 p.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9780099530268 (pbk.)
0099530260 (pbk.)

SUBJECTS
World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction.
Prisoners of war -- Malaya -- Fiction.
Soldiers -- Australia -- Fiction.
Australia -- Fiction.