Apocalypse Watch: June 2008 Archives

On the Beach by Nevil Shute (UK / US) is one of the strangest and most depressing books that I have ever read. To understand why I make that statement I will have to talk not only about the plot but also the very end of the book. Take that as a spoiler warning.

The first thing that struck me is that the language in the book seems very old fashioned, and a bit stilted in places, having not read any other books by Nevil Shute I can't ascertain whether this is a deliberate attempt to invoke the age of the story, or the author's style. (The book was first published in 1957).

The story follows a handful of characters living in Melbourne , Australia, after a nuclear war. The Northern hemisphere has been decimated, and the Southern hemisphere tries to survive. However it is gradually revealed that the fallout has crossed the equator and is moving south in a final cloud of destruction.

It's not only the language which is stilted at times but also the characters actions. This, I'm fairly certain is deliberate, and conjures up images of "stiff-upper-lip" and extreme naivety. The characters carry on their every-day lives, either ignoring the impending doom by not believing it, or casually dismissing their inevitable demise by saying things like "we've only got a few months".

I thought the plot was going to take off at one point when a submarine is sent on a mission, up the coast of the USA. But no, because there is no escape, no hope, nowhere to run. Instead the plot just plods relentlessly towards the apocalypse.

What I found unbelievable was the apparent lack of chaos in the remaining cities. There are mentions of drunk people in the streets, but it's all glossed over, as if the worst that people would do is drink themselves towards the oblivion. It's a very optimistic view of humanity. Maybe it's correct? Even when the end is ever nearer people take their own lives in a dignified manner, choosing it almost matter-of-factly as the best choice. A farmer worries what will happen to his cows when he dies. A submarine commander feels he should go down with his ship. A sailor jumps ship to spend his days fishing, despite dangerous radiation. People go Salmon fishing in the mountains. Someone restores an old racing car. And so on.

The only horror is very near the end when the family we have been following become ill, baby included. And then there is disbelief, and grief and worry. And agonising over whether to take the baby's life. By this time I had become used to the language and the flow, and the horror cut through the disaffectedness very acutely.

And then everyone dies. Everyone.

It's a depressing sermon on the horror of nuclear weapons. It's the exact opposite of Alas Babylon. There's no hope, and because of this I didn't really enjoy the book. But I can appreciate it. I can't even imagine the impact it would have had if read on the year of it's publication, in the early years of the cold war, when destruction loomed at the press of a button.

Worth reading, but do it on a sunny day with your favourite things to hand.