Book choice:
There really isn’t any rhyme or reason to how I choose my books, and this one is no different. As far as I can recall, it’s not on any main reading lists or very well known. I did read one of Shute’s books a couple years ago (A Town Like Alice) and I really enjoyed it, so that must have crossed my mind when I made this purchase. That, and it was cheap, which is always a plus.
Before reading
The premise of the book seems to be kind of an old school dystopian (kind of an oxymoron, but I like it). It takes place in the 60s, which was the future at the time of publishing, following the nuclear fallout of WWIII.
Reviews seem to be mixed, and I’m interested to see if this is in part because of the dysphoria around a legitimate potential future that is also in the past. Clear as mud, right? Basically, I wonder if some readers find it difficult to connect to a ‘future’ that we know didn’t happen, and couldn’t happen, based on what we know today. We shall see!
Overall I’m looking forward to this book. A Town Like Alice was an enjoyable read with interesting characters and a sweet love story (which basically guarantees a win for me.. I’m so discerning). It was also a long book, that really could have ended in several places, making it feel not disjointed, per se, but almost unnecessary. On the Beach is shorter, so my hopes are high!
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