The novel “On the Beach” by Nevil Shute was published for the first time in 1957, first in four parts on the weekly periodical “Sunday Graphic” and later as a book in an expanded version.
After a nuclear war devastated the world, the northern hemisphere has become uninhabitable after the areas that weren’t destroyed by the bombs were struck by the radioactive fallout killing anyone who had survived the attacks. Some areas of the southern hemisphere are still habitable but it seems only a matter of time before the wind currents carry radioactive particles everywhere.
One of the last American nuclear submarines, the USS Scorpion, was made available to the Australian Navy by his commander, Dwight Towers. When in Australia a radio signal in Morse code from the American city of Seattle is picked up, Towers is sent to investigate. Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes of the Australian Navy is assigned to the USS Scorpion for the mission but is worried about his wife and little daughter because the news about the winds indicate that Australia won’t be habitable for a long time.
“On the Beach” is the most famous novel by Nevil Shute. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel set after a nuclear war started almost accidentally following events that happened in small nations. The reactions ended up involving the superpowers in a mutual destruction.
The events that led to the atomic apocalypse are reconstructed at least in part in the course of the novel but that’s not its purpose. The story concerns in particular the survivors living in Melbourne, one of the few places still habitable but not for long because the radioactive clouds move with the wind and are coming to Australia too.
From the beginning, no hope is offered for the future, it’s just about figuring out how long the people of Melbourne have left to live. In the novel there are no references to fallout shelters although in the ’50s they were already beginning to build them. Now more than ever this absence seems really weird but their presence in the plot would have made it much more difficult to write a story that destroys all hope.
The point of “On the Beach” is to describe the reactions of one of the few communities that still exist in a dying world to the realization that death is coming. It’s not a novel of great dramas but stories of individuals, even common people, facing in different ways what now seems inevitable.
Commander Dwight Towers of the US Navy made available to what remains of Australian Navy his submarine, the USS Scorpion, and his crew. When a radio signal from the USA is picked up, he’s sent to investigate and he’s assigned Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes.
The story of the Scorpion’s mission is only a relatively short part of the novel compared to that about Melbourne’s people. The sailors are trained to difficult missions but sailing in a dying world is really hard and their reactions can be negative.
From the beginning of the novel there’s a sense of melancholy for the survivors who still have a short time to live. The reactions to that perspective are different but for many there’s the search for a sense of normality. People don’t panic but mostly tries to get by, often continuing a daily routine.
Someone, however, react to the prospect of death by doing something different. For example, John Osborne, a scientist who worked on Dwight Towers’s mission, manages to get a Ferrari and enough fuel to run it taking enormous risks pushing the car to its limits.
Many parts of the novel, however, are about activities that can be trivial, so much that at times the story seemed to me even boring. On the other hand, the point of “On the Beach” is the very absence of big drama because Nevil Shute’s style is very dry and the characters often try to pretend that nothing unusual is happening.
It’s a way to cope with the prospect of death. Rarely the characters give in to strong emotions but to do that they must set aside the idea that the radioactive clouds are coming. Dwight Towers had a family in the USA that is certainly already dead but, despite being a very pragmatic man, he keeps saying he will go back to them. For that reason, despite getting attached to Moira Davidson, a young Australian, their relationship remains totally platonic.
In the second part of “On the Beach”, the progressive sens of approaching the end increases the sense of sadness. For the characters it becomes more and more difficult to fight the grief for what is happening but there’s also a strong sense of dignity in the way they deal with the coming death. It’s a novel written in the ’50s so explicitly addressing euthanasia as an option is a really strong element.
In this novel, action is limited so the pace tends to be slow. Because the narrative tone is maintained almost always contained, the influence of the emotions on the reader is subtle but eventually you feel it. Of the many characters, only some are really developed and the characterization of at least a few women today seem dated but they still manage to make the reader feel what’s going on.
“On the Beach” was adapted for cinema in a famous 1959 movie of the same name, which contributed to the novel’s fame. In 2000 it was adapted for a TV movie and in 2008 for a radio drama produced by BBC.
In my opinion, “On the Beach” has a few flaws but overall is a good novel. Precisely because of its tone generally contained, it ends up having a significant emotional impact so if you don’t have tendencies to depression I recommend reading it.
