On the Beach (Structural Readers) (Reed Audio) (Vintage International)

by Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world.

After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Among them is an American submarine captain struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. Both terrifying and intensely moving, On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.

• ISBN10: 0307473996
• ISBN13: 9780307473998
• Publish Date: 9 February 2010 (first published June 1969)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780307473998

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

The world is slowly dying as a result of a nuclear holocaust, and the people of Melbourne Australia are doing what about it? Nothing! No one is struggling with knowing how much life is left for them, no one is trying to find a way to survive; they are just sitting there waiting for the radiation to float towards them. For a post-apocalyptic book, there is nothing happening in it; all the characters are playing nice and not even living life as though it would end in a few months (they continue to buy presents for their children, plant their garden, etc.) While I did enjoy the fact that I knew the cities in the book – Townsville gets a lot of mentions – I don’t think the plot progressed enough to recommend this book to anyone. If you want a slow moving post-apocalyptic book then I’d recommend Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road; it’s dark, beautiful and has great characters.