Customer Reviews

A Town Like Alice

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book opens in Malaysia during WW2, with descriptions based on Shute's own experiences in Indonesia during the war. In a chance encounter an English Girl and an Australian soldier meet and feel something special exists between them.

After the war, each attempts to contact the other. They travel the world to find out if their memories of that defining moment are real, or were a personal illusion, not held by the other person.

A real heart rending tale of true romance set in a passionate backdrop of war and the aftermath, and the wild spaces of central Australia. This is not just an Australian classic, it is a classic! A relly good memorable read.

I have listened to many of Nevil Shute's books, and this is my favourite. The book's starting-point is a real story that happened during World War II: When the Japanese invaded Sumatra, they captured 80 Dutch women and children. The prisoners were forced to walk along the roads for 2  years, and by the end less than 30 were alive.

Shute's novel takes place on Malakka, because he knew this island better than Sumatra. His main character is an English-woman called Jean Paget. In a touching way he describes how the women have to fight for their survival.

When the war ends, Jean is told that she has inherited some money, and decides to go to Australia to meet a man she cannot forget

I found this in a secondhand bookstore whilst travelling for a year in Australia, and spent three "rest-up" days on a hostel porch near not-very-exciting Bundaberg in Queensland, oblivious to everyone & everything but the unfolding events in this book. I picked it up because I had seen the excellent mini series with Bryan Brown many years earlier and hoped the book would prove an even richer experience. I was right. Quietly compelling & beautifully told, this novel made my heart ache to be leaving Australia whilst I was still there! This was one I selfishly took home with me, rather than the usual (and wonderfully welcome) backpacker practice of leaving books on hostel bookshelves for the next weary, and word hungry traveller.

Nevil Shute is a magician with the written word. Jean Paget is a true heroine, and somebody that I aspire to be some day. Joe Harman is the hunky Aussie cowboy. They are both heroes. This is a must read!!!! I guarantee you will love this book. It has all the essentials of a good story.

My comment on this book is that we can learn a lot from this story and the difficult situations refugees have to face and fear. Nobody in the book liked the refugees and the people kept saying that there was no place for them. In our school there are many refugee children, and it's really not easy for them to adjust. So everyone should try to make the best of the situation he/she is in. I think it's a great book for pupils who like adventure stories and books about war. I enjoyed the book very much and I hope that other students will read it too.

I honesty cannot find any redeeming qualities in this book. Everything is ruined by the writing style, even the almost salvageable descriptions of the outback and the Malay jungle. The abundance of irrelevant facts (is Anne Tyler a direct descendant of Nevil Shute?) that drag the storyline along for ages and provide absolutely nothing to the plot was unbearable. Same thing with the myriad of characters that pepper the pages, which have a half-a-minute cameo appearance, never to be heard of again. I estimate the adverb 'presently' was used about once per page. Joe has the adjective 'sheepish' tacked on every other time he is mentioned. If this book were to become a movie, i would picture Gerard Depardieu playing the part of Big Oaf Joe. The old lawyer is the narrator of the story, yet how could you narrate dialog taking place between two or three people 12000 miles away? Surely Jean did not write all that verbatim in her letters!

From a documentary standpoint, one could see that this novel uses racial epithets for male and female Aborigines (boongs and lubras) because it is reflecting the spirit of the time (another example is when Jean starts her shop and she decides to have an annex where the colored can go). However, i do think that the descriptions of the Japanese in the early parts of the novel are very racist. These descriptions went beyond reporting, and i did not appreciate that.

The funniest part of the book is when Joe and Jean finally reveal their love for each other, and Jean almost loses her virginity in the heat of passion. She and Joe decide to cool it off, and the next morning, when she is taking a bath, she discovers bruises all over her body, and reflects on "the narrowness of her escape from a fate worse than death". WOW! I know the story takes place in post WWII time, but it was hilarious to read those sentiments.

There are lots of contradictions in the book. For example, Joe and Jean go to a semi-desert island for the weekend, and that's when they get passionate. But they decide they are going to keep their romance a secret, so that the townspeople don't gossip. Well, what would they be thinking when they saw the young couple take off for the weekend to a paradise island, no chaperone invited??? How about when Jean goes to the ranch overnight? Hmmm...

Anyway, there are romance novels in your local supermarket that can be far more entertaining and less unnerving. Don't waste your time on this one.

As the title says above, it was so boring I'm amazed i even finished reading the book without falling into a Coma. In fact, the only reason I read this book was for an english assignment, and have regreted it ever since.

Although this book has its interesting points, all value is totally washed away by the drudgery of facts completely insignificant to the story. It drags on about very boring things that have absolutely no relevance (how good she is at making shoes, etc). The romance is quite artifical also, as Joe and Jean knew each other in the war for a very short time. Undying love as shown in the book cannot convincingly develop in this short span. There is no chemistry between these characters; they are in love with the symbolism that the other provides. Painful to read, utter dribble. As I said, its has good points, but by the time the book was over I wanted to shoot myself from boredom. Avoid this book.

I found this book at a used book store without any dust jacket when I was about 13. I picked it up because it was an old hardcover and I collect them. There was no dust jacket, so everything in the story was a surpise. I LOVED it. It's one of my top 3 books. I reread it every 6 months or so.

This is a beautifully written story, cleverly and very poignantly told from the point of view of a 70-something man - a careful, considerate London solicitor who is the trustee (with broad discretionary powers) of a will that leaves a considerable sum of money (but not a lump sum, due to the conditions of the will) to a young woman.

Jean Paget is that young woman, and she is an extraordinary person, making her story very compelling reading.

The weaving of the threads of her life - her WWII experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese in Malaya; her fateful encounter with Australian Joe Harmon; the inheritance that allows her to leave the mundane working world; her interaction with solicitor Noel Strachan; and her search for her true destiny - is done in the most masterful way.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is deeply satisfying reading. It is everything a novel should be.