Jake+Wi's+Book+Review


 * BOOK REVIEW BY JAKE WITHERS**

__On the Beach__ by Nevil Shute is a very powerful story set in the 1960 era when nuclear war has raged. The reader, as each page is turned, will feel the devastation of this imagined world and the love and sacrifice of the survivors.
 * media type="file" key="jakew-bookreview-2012.mp3"

There was a nuclear war in the northern hemisphere. The radioactive cloud is moving south and will reach southern Australia in less than a year. The story takes place in Melbourne, Australia, the most southern Australian city. Lieutenant Peter Holmes from the Australian navy, is to work with Captain Dwight Towers, commander of the USS Scorpion, an American submarine. The submarine conducts a mission to the United States to look for any signs of life and survivors. They investigate a radio signal originating from the Seattle,Washington area. They also investigate the theory that snow and rain will clean the atmosphere so radiation will never reach southern Australia. The result of the investigation and the return of the submarine to Melbourne, makes for an exciting tale.

I enjoyed how the author Shute brings strength to the story because the characters continue to organize their lives in ordinary ways. Lieutenant Holmes and his wife plant a garden and they enjoy the activity of working in the garden in Melbourne. I was able to understand the thoughts of the characters and how they felt about the world and their families. I felt especially sad because Captain Towers believed his family was still alive back in America, but how his thinking about them and buying carefully thoughtful gifts for them, gave him the will to carry on. It showed me how Uncle Sam’s future is to never give up and always find a way.

I recommend this story as a lesson how nuclear war could touch our lives. This story gives the reader insight how we share the planet and how the disaster in one part of the world can effect everyone in another part of the world. It also provides believable characters and descriptions that keeps the reader hooked to each page. It is a story from our past that is relevant to our world today.