Just listened to Neville Shute's Aftermath on BBC Sounds, thoughts?

[ednaclouda]

Neville Shute - Aftermath just listened to this book on bbc sounds OMG its apocolytic and very real the last 6 months after 80% of the world has nuked it self and the dying aussie navy are making plans to sink their boats and subs

I read On the Beach (the title of the whole book) years ago and was horrified by it. I've never been able to listen to an adaptation. His other books are much easier to read.

his writing is so raw God I can’t stop thinking about it with whats happening now ………..

I do like Neville Shite books, but have never been tempted with this one. Books for me are escape, not frightening.

Oooh thanks, I will have a listen. On The Beach is a book that had real impact on me, I wouldn't call it a favourite because it's a bit bleak but it is brilliant!

Thanks for the heads up on this one, I'll have a listen.
My favourites by Shute are A Town Like Alice and Requiem for a Wren.

I read On the Beach in first lockdown, I did quite a bit of post-apocolyse reading then. I found it quite peaceful!

I don’t think ‘On the Beach’ was really about the end of the world. It’s about how normal people respond to an unimaginable event, and quiet kindness and bravery.

I read it as a teen, many many years ago and I can still vividly remember parts of it

Why the different name, is it the same book?

@BoreOfWhabylon Those are my favourites too. Though I also really love Trustee from the Toolroom as it's such a kind book. Nevil Shute books (apart from On the Beach) are some of my 'comfort' re-reads and audible listening. They're very dated in many ways and the language in some of the books is dreadful but I suspect in his time it would have been thought quite acceptable and slightly liberal.

Annoyingly it’s a two parter but only one is on Sounds.

I think I’ll give it a miss, I watched On the Beach once and it triggered a depressive episode that I took a long time to recover from ( obviously there were other things going on and I’m a sensitive person but I couldn’t get certain scenes and images out of my head)

I watched Threads as a 14/15 year old, your response sounds like my response to that.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0120ykk here it is. I like both Indira Varma and post apocalyptic misery, so thanks for the recommendation.

Looks like there's been some good stuff on R4Extra recently, Sigourney Weaver anyone? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002szlq
Olivia Colman?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00jcgxc
Or a young Sting?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001cs3

I traumatised myself by reading On the beach as a teen.

It’s not an easy read but well worth checking it.

Checking out if you’re feeling reasonably robust. I might have a listen to the adaptation.

On the Beach is one of my favourite books, I’ve read it twice and it just floored me. I’m thinking of it now with the current stuff going on.

I hope it doesn’t get to similar of course.

Everyone is killing themselves after a nuclear explosion so I think it is the end of the world. Love a Town Like Alice.

My Parents had all Neville Shute's books and I read them all as a teen 50 years or so ago.
He us one of my favourite authors.

On the beach always stuck with me. My Favourite is Pied Piper.

I also really love Trustee from the Toolroom as it's such a kind book.

I like that one too. I also liked Pastoral when I was younger.
A common theme in many of his books is very ordinary people - like Keith in Trustee from the Toolroom or Jean in A Town Like Alice - finding themselves in extraordinary situations and finding strengths they did not know they had.

His books are all on Faded Page: Search: fadedpage.com

And on the original topic, I've read On the Beach a couple of times. It's bleak, and I don't think it's one I'll revisit, unlike some of his others, which I reread quite often.

That’s a favourite too. I’ve read many, unusually I’m a bit slower on In the Wet rn it’s not up there with his others imo.

So pleased to find I am not the last Nevile Shute fan standing. My Dad loved his stuff so the books were around at home when was a kid. His favourite was Trustee From The Toolroom. But if if I had to pick one it would be The Far Country.

On The Beach is very good, but heartbreaking. The storyline about the young family trying hard to pretend everything is normal I found unbearable.

When my daughter was a baby I couldn't get a scene from On the Beach involving a baby out of my head, despite having read the book once well over a decade before. I used to lie awake at night crying over it. I thought it unrelentinhly grim, but well written. Not one I shall ever reread, and put me off reading any more of his.

The rest of his books really aren't like On The Beach and well worth reading. Shute's most famous book is probably A Town Like Alice. But I would start with Trustee From the Toolroom, or maybe No Highway.

There's a lot of engineering geekery in all his novels, so it depends whether that's of any interest I suppose.