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A Town Like Alice
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A love story with a difference
Review date: 2008-09-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
A double love story actually, with one love unrequited. Told in a quiet style which somehow suits it. Heroine Jean Paget is not QUITE Supergirl, but she comes close, given what she achieves. To survive a Japanese death march is one thing, to survive it with so little physical or emotional damage is another, to then find true love and virtually build a small Outback town where before there was very little is something else again. It's somehow just a little too pat that Jean comes from an firm that makes crocodile skin shoes to a place where there is a bountiful supply of the skins and has the entrepreneureal zeal to make a go of it. Good on yer, Jean!
The book is also an affectionate look at an Australia that has now vanished. You wouldn't get away with calling Aborigines "boongs" and "abos" these days, nor would the patronising attitude towards the country's original inhabitants go down too well. Yet, that's the way it was in those days. Nobody thought anything of the verse in Rolf Harris's "Tie me kangaroo down":
Let me Abos go loose, Blue
Let me Abos go loose
They're no more flamin' use, Blue
So let me Abos go loose.
including, I suspect, the inoffensive Mr. Harris himself.
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Reviews
Enjoyable war-time romance
Review date: 2006-09-04 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is the first Nevil Shute book I've read and I really enjoyed it. It's hard to believe it's based on a true story, which makes it seem all the madder. What Jean Paget does to survive the war is amazing and I think Nevil Shute has captured the essence of this true story in an excellent way. You won't be disappointed with this book. It's a great read - perfect holiday material!
Wonderful entrancing and yet down to earth.
Review date: 2006-01-19 Rating: 10 out of 10
I have read and reread this book over many years. Once you become a fan of Nevil Shute you will want to read all his books. Take it on holiday and give it your all. Let yourself be submersed in the period; a different age to now with a different style of hero. This story is of ordinary people, with an extrarordinary tale to tell. A meeting of 2 people, both victims of the Japanese, who fall in love under the harshest of conditions and then do it all over again, 6 years later when the war is over. Read it more than once to get the full benefit.And then go onto read more from the famous author, who had so many qualities and gifts. How could he be an engineer, serve in secret operations in the war, be a sailor and a pilot and go on long distance air ship travel, as well as write all these novels.
zero emotion
Review date: 2004-02-22 Rating: 4 out of 10
I have enjoyed a couple of Neville Shute's books. He was of course a gifted author, and he wrote quite beautifully. My one problem with this book is that although the events being described are extremely emotive, Shute leaves you to do all the feeling. The characters are pretty emotionless. And maybe that is what it was after the war. Even so, it really grated.
If you want to hark back to the days of overt racism, and romanticised descriptions of Australian outback farming then you'll love it.
It's not without merit - a well written, slightly heartwarming tale of practical common sense and Brief Encounter style love (without the heart), set in the forties, but I suspect not very appealing to many under 40s.
A classic forever
Review date: 2003-11-19 Rating: 10 out of 10
This book has the power to truly inspire it's reader. Although the main character borders somewhat on the saintly there is not a page in the book where the reader is not entirely submerged in the storyline.
I haven't wanted to read another book since.
Product Details/Specifications
Authors:
Nevil Shute
Recording label: House of Stratus
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
EAN: 9781842323007
Binding: Paperback
Dewey decimal number: 813
ISBN: 1842323008
Number of pages: 359
Publication date: 2000-09-18
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Published)