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Library's review
Historien bliver fortalt af en lidt vindtør sagfører, Noel Strachan, som lang tid før anden verdenskrig har sat et testamente op for en Douglas Macfadden. Siden døde sagførerens kone og han solgte sit hus og flyttede hen i klubben. Så kom krigen og hans medarbejdere blev indkaldt, mens han
Formaliteterne er overstået i marts måned og Jean begynder at få en månedlig check. Hun har tænkt over sagerne og besluttet sig til at tage til Malaya for at bygge en brønd. Hun er kommet på venskabelig fod med Strachan og fortæller ham sin historie. Ved krigens udbrud var hun og broderen Donald i Malaya. De havde boet der en del af barndommen og talte malayisk rimeligt godt, så de havde nemt ved at få jobs.
Japanernes hurtige erobring af Malaya kom som et chok for englænderne og både Donald og Jean blev taget til fange. Donald døde i en fangelejr under bygningen af jernbanen mellem Siam og Burma. Jean og de andre kvinder og børn fra samme by bliver gennet sammen og sat til at gå fra Kuala Panong til Kuala Lumpur. Undervejs ændres ruten og mange dør undervejs. Jean klarede sig igennem, men kun med nød og næppe og takket være hjælp fra venlige landsbybeboere. Det er dem, hun nu gerne vil hjælpe og det trækker også lidt at finde ud af hvad der er sket med en australier Joe Harman, der hjalp hendes gruppe undervejs og blev grusomt straffet af japanerne for det.
Hun erfarer at Joe overlevede og tog tilbage til Australien, så hun tager til Australien mens Joe faktisk er i England.
Noel Strachan sætter dem i kontakt med hinanden.
På engelsk har den titlerne The Legacy og A Town like Alice
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selv brugte al sin tid i civilforsvaret. Så Douglas Macfadden dukker ikke op i hans tanker før i januar 1948, hvor han får et brev om at Douglas er død. Testamentet afspejler at Douglas er død barnløs og ugift, så han har testeret formuen til sin søster og hendes familie. Af dem er der i 1948 kun niecen Jean Paget tilbage. Douglas Macfadden havde ikke tiltro til at unge kvinder selv kunne forvalte en formue, så de mange penge han efterlod sig er båndlagt indtil jean fylder 35 (i 1956) og under forvaltning af Strachans firma, Owen, Dalhousie & Peters. Indtil da får hun udbetalt renterne ca 75 pund om måneden, hvilket er en ganske pæn indtægt i 1948. Formuen er ca 53000 pund efter at arveafgiften er trukket.Formaliteterne er overstået i marts måned og Jean begynder at få en månedlig check. Hun har tænkt over sagerne og besluttet sig til at tage til Malaya for at bygge en brønd. Hun er kommet på venskabelig fod med Strachan og fortæller ham sin historie. Ved krigens udbrud var hun og broderen Donald i Malaya. De havde boet der en del af barndommen og talte malayisk rimeligt godt, så de havde nemt ved at få jobs.
Japanernes hurtige erobring af Malaya kom som et chok for englænderne og både Donald og Jean blev taget til fange. Donald døde i en fangelejr under bygningen af jernbanen mellem Siam og Burma. Jean og de andre kvinder og børn fra samme by bliver gennet sammen og sat til at gå fra Kuala Panong til Kuala Lumpur. Undervejs ændres ruten og mange dør undervejs. Jean klarede sig igennem, men kun med nød og næppe og takket være hjælp fra venlige landsbybeboere. Det er dem, hun nu gerne vil hjælpe og det trækker også lidt at finde ud af hvad der er sket med en australier Joe Harman, der hjalp hendes gruppe undervejs og blev grusomt straffet af japanerne for det.
Hun erfarer at Joe overlevede og tog tilbage til Australien, så hun tager til Australien mens Joe faktisk er i England.
Noel Strachan sætter dem i kontakt med hinanden.
På engelsk har den titlerne The Legacy og A Town like Alice
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Publication
(Cph.) Skrifola [1961] 170 s.
Description
Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:Nevil Shute's most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback. Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. But it turns out that they have a gift for her as well: the news that the young Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who had risked his life to help the women, had miraculously survived. Jean's search for Joe leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ChocolateMuse
One thing Shute does incredibly well is create a sense of place and atmosphere. He does it with plain straightforward prose which you could almost call 'workmanlike'. From the Wilkie Collins-esque setup, where an elderly lawyer in rainy Scotland begins his narration; to the hot steamy danger of
In all his novels (or at least those I've read), Shute writes mainly about good people who are doing their best wherever they happen to be. His characters are courageous and kind, hard-working and just, so the drama lies less in their character development than in their extraordinary situations. Yet there's something more to it than a mindless thriller - in this novel there's a wandering over the world, searching for one's right place in it. People overcome great hardships and make good. It has a vast geographical scope and a generous spirit throughout. And it all escapes being anything like a moral tale, far from it. It's a page-turner and a ripping good yarn.
Many things that are most interesting in this novel are things that Shute himself never intended. He is an author of his times, firmly entrenched in mid-century British ideas and values. This novel of Australia is firmly in the colonial mindset and reveals a great deal about post-colonial thinking and culture. I learned so much about my parents and grandparents in reading this book - realising that their values and ways of looking at the world come straight out of this era, this not-so-very-old and terribly white Australia.
And the racism! Oh, the racism. It hurts badly, from the very first moment we meet the first Australian character in the Malayan jungle. This is what makes this novel so conflicting and difficult for me. The thing is this: Shute is not in any sense writing a book about racism. He's inside it, part of it, unable to see outside it, like a fish in water. And it's what seems to me a specifically Australian type of racism, and to my mind the worst kind. There's no hatred in their attitude to Aboriginal people. No emotions at all. No anger, no violence, nothing to work with. It's a casual assumption that black people are sub-human. It's offhand, dismissive, ingrained. Aboriginal people have names like Moonshine and Palmolive - white people have named them like dogs. And if you read this book be warned and prepared for the dreadful word "boong" to be used casually and often. I never thought I'd be so shocked about racism that is of its time, but I was. I still am. In fact I think the book is important for that alone; it shows where we've come from, and how recently, in this country. No wonder the problems are still there, still so strong, still so baffling. Up until the 1950s, Aboriginal people were officially listed as part of Australian flora and fauna. This book is of that mindset, and is horrifyingly illuminating, without in the least intending to be.
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Malaya in the war; to Australia's Top End and over to outback Queensland, the reader is firmly in place every time. Shute is a storyteller you can trust (in every way but one - more on that later). We know we are in good hands. In all his novels (or at least those I've read), Shute writes mainly about good people who are doing their best wherever they happen to be. His characters are courageous and kind, hard-working and just, so the drama lies less in their character development than in their extraordinary situations. Yet there's something more to it than a mindless thriller - in this novel there's a wandering over the world, searching for one's right place in it. People overcome great hardships and make good. It has a vast geographical scope and a generous spirit throughout. And it all escapes being anything like a moral tale, far from it. It's a page-turner and a ripping good yarn.
Many things that are most interesting in this novel are things that Shute himself never intended. He is an author of his times, firmly entrenched in mid-century British ideas and values. This novel of Australia is firmly in the colonial mindset and reveals a great deal about post-colonial thinking and culture. I learned so much about my parents and grandparents in reading this book - realising that their values and ways of looking at the world come straight out of this era, this not-so-very-old and terribly white Australia.
And the racism! Oh, the racism. It hurts badly, from the very first moment we meet the first Australian character in the Malayan jungle. This is what makes this novel so conflicting and difficult for me. The thing is this: Shute is not in any sense writing a book about racism. He's inside it, part of it, unable to see outside it, like a fish in water. And it's what seems to me a specifically Australian type of racism, and to my mind the worst kind. There's no hatred in their attitude to Aboriginal people. No emotions at all. No anger, no violence, nothing to work with. It's a casual assumption that black people are sub-human. It's offhand, dismissive, ingrained. Aboriginal people have names like Moonshine and Palmolive - white people have named them like dogs. And if you read this book be warned and prepared for the dreadful word "boong" to be used casually and often. I never thought I'd be so shocked about racism that is of its time, but I was. I still am. In fact I think the book is important for that alone; it shows where we've come from, and how recently, in this country. No wonder the problems are still there, still so strong, still so baffling. Up until the 1950s, Aboriginal people were officially listed as part of Australian flora and fauna. This book is of that mindset, and is horrifyingly illuminating, without in the least intending to be.
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LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Resourceful young woman meets challenges boldly.
Extended review:
Can a story be warm without being sentimental? Can it be sweet without being saccharine or cloying?
Nevil Shute's 1950 novel A Town Like Alice answers those questions with a resounding yes.
Can it also be rugged without
Yes, yes, yes.
How about succeeding as a novel without having a villain--obstacles, but no villain? Being driven by challenges but not conflict? Using a first-person narrator who has little involvement in the action and does a fair amount of telling rather than showing?
Absolutely yes.
I don't know what the prevailing wisdom of writing workshops and critique groups was in the 1940s, or even if there was such a thing then; but I take considerable pleasure in seeing this wonderful, stirring, memorable novel work on every level without adhering to the formulas and conventions that are being drilled into hopeful would-be authors today by instructors who are often only repeating what they were told in their turn. Speakers who stand up and pontificate before a group of amateur writers hungry for publication success, when all they themselves have to their credit is a single self-published novel that on inspection desperately needed a rafter-rattling edit, recite received doctrine as if they were priests delivering the teachings of a long-departed master to a congregation of acolytes.
This absorbing novel brings us Jean Paget, a capable and deeply likeable young woman who would be unjustly served by the condescending cliches that spring inevitably to mind: spunky, plucky, indomitable, and the like. What we need for Jean is not adjectives but verbs. Attempts. Persists. Overcomes. Accomplishes.
As a member of a group of English women and children taken prisoner by Japanese forces in Malaya during World War II, Jean confronts devastating ordeals and learns to survive. Back in England, she receives an unexpected legacy from a distant relative and decides to return to Malaya. Her further journey takes her far into the desolate outback of Australia, where she begins a new life. The narrator's evident affection for her and concern for her well-being shape her account of her experiences into a warm and moving story about people you'd like to know.
This is not a perfect novel nor a literary masterpiece. For me, it doesn't have to be in order to rate five stars. But it does have to merit a sincere "well done" by as objective a measure as I can apply, and it also must be entirely satisfying. It is.
In addition to the character of Jean, both admirable and believable, I found the depiction of life in the incomprehensibly immense spaces of wild Australia fascinating. Shute emigrated with his family from England to Australia in 1950 and spent the last ten years of his life there. His descriptions of the country and the people sound compellingly authentic.
The one difficulty I had with the novel is a product of its place, time, and culture: racism is taken for granted and not questioned. Terms now considered racially offensive are used casually, and the low regard for nonwhite races among the white populations is represented without apology. I don't blame Shute for reflecting what he knew as he knew it, but I still find those elements hard to read.
Extended review:
Can a story be warm without being sentimental? Can it be sweet without being saccharine or cloying?
Nevil Shute's 1950 novel A Town Like Alice answers those questions with a resounding yes.
Can it also be rugged without
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being harsh, emotional without being manipulative, unhurried without being boring?Yes, yes, yes.
How about succeeding as a novel without having a villain--obstacles, but no villain? Being driven by challenges but not conflict? Using a first-person narrator who has little involvement in the action and does a fair amount of telling rather than showing?
Absolutely yes.
I don't know what the prevailing wisdom of writing workshops and critique groups was in the 1940s, or even if there was such a thing then; but I take considerable pleasure in seeing this wonderful, stirring, memorable novel work on every level without adhering to the formulas and conventions that are being drilled into hopeful would-be authors today by instructors who are often only repeating what they were told in their turn. Speakers who stand up and pontificate before a group of amateur writers hungry for publication success, when all they themselves have to their credit is a single self-published novel that on inspection desperately needed a rafter-rattling edit, recite received doctrine as if they were priests delivering the teachings of a long-departed master to a congregation of acolytes.
This absorbing novel brings us Jean Paget, a capable and deeply likeable young woman who would be unjustly served by the condescending cliches that spring inevitably to mind: spunky, plucky, indomitable, and the like. What we need for Jean is not adjectives but verbs. Attempts. Persists. Overcomes. Accomplishes.
As a member of a group of English women and children taken prisoner by Japanese forces in Malaya during World War II, Jean confronts devastating ordeals and learns to survive. Back in England, she receives an unexpected legacy from a distant relative and decides to return to Malaya. Her further journey takes her far into the desolate outback of Australia, where she begins a new life. The narrator's evident affection for her and concern for her well-being shape her account of her experiences into a warm and moving story about people you'd like to know.
This is not a perfect novel nor a literary masterpiece. For me, it doesn't have to be in order to rate five stars. But it does have to merit a sincere "well done" by as objective a measure as I can apply, and it also must be entirely satisfying. It is.
In addition to the character of Jean, both admirable and believable, I found the depiction of life in the incomprehensibly immense spaces of wild Australia fascinating. Shute emigrated with his family from England to Australia in 1950 and spent the last ten years of his life there. His descriptions of the country and the people sound compellingly authentic.
The one difficulty I had with the novel is a product of its place, time, and culture: racism is taken for granted and not questioned. Terms now considered racially offensive are used casually, and the low regard for nonwhite races among the white populations is represented without apology. I don't blame Shute for reflecting what he knew as he knew it, but I still find those elements hard to read.
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LibraryThing member atimco
In A Town Like Alice (formerly titled The Legacy), Nevil Shute tells a compelling story by drawing from the real-life experiences of a British female prisoner of war in Sumatra during World War II. Though Shute certainly fictionalized many of his character's experiences, the death march of the
Jean Paget is one of the unfortunate women who were rounded up by the Japanese and sent off marching to non-existent camps for the first two years of the war. During this time more than half the women and children of their party died from disease and exhaustion, and Jean — young, unmarried, and strong — became their de facto leader. At one point the group meets up with an Australian prisoner who risks his life to steal some food for them. When he is caught, the women and children are forced to watch while the Japanese commander has him crucified and brutally beaten. The women are then sent on another fruitless trek. Finally they find a small village that allows them to work the rice paddies like the native women. In this way they survive the next three years of the war... but Jean can never forget the atrocity at Kuantan and the man who gave his life for theirs.
The story is narrated by Jean's lawyer Noel Strachan, an elderly man who informs her of a large inheritance from an uncle she barely knew. Jean has been working as a typist in England and wants to use the money to help the village that sheltered her during the war. While there, she learns that the Australian prisoner who was crucified at Kuantan did not die. And thus begins a quest to find him that will lead her to another wilderness — the harsh but satisfying Australian outback.
I have always remembered Nevil Shute for On The Beach, a book that made a deep impression on me as a teen. I haven't read it for years and have heard plenty of comments since about Shute's dated gender views (which I didn't notice at the time). In this story I did see a strange sexual passivity in his heroine, contrasting starkly with the man's active desire. The scene was so odd I reread it several times and became more convinced of its oddness each time. But Jean is otherwise a very determined, capable, intelligent woman and she almost singlehandedly creates a "town like Alice" in the barren outback settlement of Willstown. Her leadership is at the forefront of nearly every part of this story, and it's hard not to fall in love with her, at least a little.
Shute can write. His characters are believable, his prose is lean, his dialogue reads realistically, and he has a story well worth telling. Though this story does meander a little at some points, I could see why Shute made those choices. I came away from this book with a new respect for the author's skill (dated though some facets of his stories may be), and I will probably look for more of his work. This is a painful but ultimately rewarding novel, and I won't forget it quickly.
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female prisoners and their children really did happen. Please be warned that this review will contain spoilers.Jean Paget is one of the unfortunate women who were rounded up by the Japanese and sent off marching to non-existent camps for the first two years of the war. During this time more than half the women and children of their party died from disease and exhaustion, and Jean — young, unmarried, and strong — became their de facto leader. At one point the group meets up with an Australian prisoner who risks his life to steal some food for them. When he is caught, the women and children are forced to watch while the Japanese commander has him crucified and brutally beaten. The women are then sent on another fruitless trek. Finally they find a small village that allows them to work the rice paddies like the native women. In this way they survive the next three years of the war... but Jean can never forget the atrocity at Kuantan and the man who gave his life for theirs.
The story is narrated by Jean's lawyer Noel Strachan, an elderly man who informs her of a large inheritance from an uncle she barely knew. Jean has been working as a typist in England and wants to use the money to help the village that sheltered her during the war. While there, she learns that the Australian prisoner who was crucified at Kuantan did not die. And thus begins a quest to find him that will lead her to another wilderness — the harsh but satisfying Australian outback.
I have always remembered Nevil Shute for On The Beach, a book that made a deep impression on me as a teen. I haven't read it for years and have heard plenty of comments since about Shute's dated gender views (which I didn't notice at the time). In this story I did see a strange sexual passivity in his heroine, contrasting starkly with the man's active desire. The scene was so odd I reread it several times and became more convinced of its oddness each time. But Jean is otherwise a very determined, capable, intelligent woman and she almost singlehandedly creates a "town like Alice" in the barren outback settlement of Willstown. Her leadership is at the forefront of nearly every part of this story, and it's hard not to fall in love with her, at least a little.
Shute can write. His characters are believable, his prose is lean, his dialogue reads realistically, and he has a story well worth telling. Though this story does meander a little at some points, I could see why Shute made those choices. I came away from this book with a new respect for the author's skill (dated though some facets of his stories may be), and I will probably look for more of his work. This is a painful but ultimately rewarding novel, and I won't forget it quickly.
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LibraryThing member BCCJillster
Up front, I'm reacting to this book as though the story were true, even though I know it's based on bits and pieces of reality and distortion. And I know there are flaws in the way it was written through the eyes of Noel Strachan, because we were privy to thoughts of hers that Jean would not have
I was fully prepared to be bored and come away thinking it was an old chestnut, but it caught me up and made me care. If you liked [West With the Night] (Beryl Markham's story} or some of the other tales set in 1920s East Africa, you should enjoy this one too.
SPOILER ALERT from here on
The third that's set in Australia was very reminiscent of the 1920s in East Africa, with the challenges of terrain and having to improvise. It was wonderful the way she melded her idea with the need to find a place for herself in Australia if she was going to make a life with Joe, even before they got back together. I know I know it's all a bit too good to be true, but it's kind of the opposite of 'for want of a nail ..." isn't it? One little thing led to another and boom, a Town Like Alice.
I was stunned during the part in Malaya at what happened to Joe--I was really not expecting that nor had I heard of that horror. It was all the more powerful because it was told as a matter of fact, complete, over, he died. So when we found out he had survived, I was equally surprised. I hadn't read the summaries in advance (whew) and I thought her Australia connection was going to be payback for his kindness and sacrifice as had her building of the well in Malaya. It also helped that the Japanese guards weren't merely painted as monsters and that a few of them helped the women and were caught in their own predicament over the prisoners.
The Gift of the Magi twist of Joe going to England as Jean went to Australia was delightful, as was Strachan's affection for Jean. Near the end, I was worried that Joe was going to perish and Jean would have to go it alone, so I was relieved that Shute didn't use that device. All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to enjoy this book.
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put in a letter (like some of the scenes on Green Island). But I really did like these characters and was inspired by Jean's ingenuity and strength.I was fully prepared to be bored and come away thinking it was an old chestnut, but it caught me up and made me care. If you liked [West With the Night] (Beryl Markham's story} or some of the other tales set in 1920s East Africa, you should enjoy this one too.
SPOILER ALERT from here on
The third that's set in Australia was very reminiscent of the 1920s in East Africa, with the challenges of terrain and having to improvise. It was wonderful the way she melded her idea with the need to find a place for herself in Australia if she was going to make a life with Joe, even before they got back together. I know I know it's all a bit too good to be true, but it's kind of the opposite of 'for want of a nail ..." isn't it? One little thing led to another and boom, a Town Like Alice.
I was stunned during the part in Malaya at what happened to Joe--I was really not expecting that nor had I heard of that horror. It was all the more powerful because it was told as a matter of fact, complete, over, he died. So when we found out he had survived, I was equally surprised. I hadn't read the summaries in advance (whew) and I thought her Australia connection was going to be payback for his kindness and sacrifice as had her building of the well in Malaya. It also helped that the Japanese guards weren't merely painted as monsters and that a few of them helped the women and were caught in their own predicament over the prisoners.
The Gift of the Magi twist of Joe going to England as Jean went to Australia was delightful, as was Strachan's affection for Jean. Near the end, I was worried that Joe was going to perish and Jean would have to go it alone, so I was relieved that Shute didn't use that device. All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to enjoy this book.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
This is a story about a woman and the two men in love with her. However, it is not your typical love triangle, for one of them knows she is a "girl that I met forty years too late," and he contents himself with helping her build her life with the man she loves.
The first part of the book introduces
The book is simply written in Shute's easily-read style: quiet, colorful, entertaining. Recommended.
The first part of the book introduces
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us to Jean, Joe and Noel, and tells the story of the first meeting of Jean and Joe loosely based upon some horrible incidents in the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II. The second half is a friendly slice of Australia in the 1950s (Shute immigrated there), including that era's mores and prejudices about women and Aborigines. It is subtly replete with Mr. Shute's feelings about self-reliance and individual initiative (in some ways, Shute is like an Ayn Rand without the in-your-face attitude).The book is simply written in Shute's easily-read style: quiet, colorful, entertaining. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Luli81
The story about an ordinary extraordinary woman, Jean Paget, who was held prisoner together with 30 British women and children in Malaya by the Japanese during the Second World War. As there wasn't any camp for them, the Japanese kept them walking from village to village without knowing what to do
Some years later, Jean comes into some money because she inherits her uncle's fortune and decides to go back to Malaya and do something good for the people who finally helped them and that's when she discovers that the Australian didn't die. So, she decides to go and look for him.
The story is told by a third character, who is in fact the lawyer that handled the inheritance of Jean's uncle and the trustee of the money until she turns 35 years old.
All this seems like a pretty good plot to me, but somehow, I couldn't get into the book and I thought the narrative to be dull and flat and unemotional.
Apart from that, there's always a conservative tone in the story, there's continual references to the inferiority of women and Aborigines (or "Boongs" as they call them), the obligations in marriage (I found the scene where Jean finds it normal that she's covered in bruises after a "passionate" night pretty disgusting) or the way the author talks about sex, which is absolutely outdated and embarrassing.
Some say the story was romantic but not mushy. I don't agree. The book was not romantic at all. It was completely unemotional. You kept reading about children dying and the only detailed account was about how to bury the body and the inscription that was to put in the tomb. Not for a single moment, did the writer describe his character's feelings, they seemed pretty inhuman to me.
Then, there's the love story. First of all, we only read like 5 pages when they meet so you don't get the impression that there was any attraction for each other in Malaya. Then, after the long part where you don't know if they are going to meet again or not, I couldn't help but feeling disappointment about their so long expected encounter. Jean was only worried about business and investments and Joe was a short minded guy who only talked about cattle and his station in Australia.
All in all I felt a bit cheated, because having seen the other reviews, I expected an emotional trip and I found an objective novel which tells you all about how to start a business and talks nothing about feelings or digs deep into the characters of what could have been an engrossing tale of hardship and love.
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with them, provoking the death of more than half of the party due to exhaustion, bad nutrition and tropical diseases. Their luck change when they meet an Australian prisoner named Joe Harman who stoles medicines and food for them until he is caught and flogged to death by the Japanese Captain. Or so they think.Some years later, Jean comes into some money because she inherits her uncle's fortune and decides to go back to Malaya and do something good for the people who finally helped them and that's when she discovers that the Australian didn't die. So, she decides to go and look for him.
The story is told by a third character, who is in fact the lawyer that handled the inheritance of Jean's uncle and the trustee of the money until she turns 35 years old.
All this seems like a pretty good plot to me, but somehow, I couldn't get into the book and I thought the narrative to be dull and flat and unemotional.
Apart from that, there's always a conservative tone in the story, there's continual references to the inferiority of women and Aborigines (or "Boongs" as they call them), the obligations in marriage (I found the scene where Jean finds it normal that she's covered in bruises after a "passionate" night pretty disgusting) or the way the author talks about sex, which is absolutely outdated and embarrassing.
Some say the story was romantic but not mushy. I don't agree. The book was not romantic at all. It was completely unemotional. You kept reading about children dying and the only detailed account was about how to bury the body and the inscription that was to put in the tomb. Not for a single moment, did the writer describe his character's feelings, they seemed pretty inhuman to me.
Then, there's the love story. First of all, we only read like 5 pages when they meet so you don't get the impression that there was any attraction for each other in Malaya. Then, after the long part where you don't know if they are going to meet again or not, I couldn't help but feeling disappointment about their so long expected encounter. Jean was only worried about business and investments and Joe was a short minded guy who only talked about cattle and his station in Australia.
All in all I felt a bit cheated, because having seen the other reviews, I expected an emotional trip and I found an objective novel which tells you all about how to start a business and talks nothing about feelings or digs deep into the characters of what could have been an engrossing tale of hardship and love.
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
The story, narrated by an attorney named Noel Strachan, begins in 1948 with the death of one Douglas Macfadden of Scotland. Mr. Macfadden was quite wealthy and had decided to leave his fortune to his sister, and if she died, in trust for her son. However, when Mr. Macfadden passed away, only one
An absolutely fascinating story -- the first half tells of Jean's ordeal in the jungle and the second half tells of how she manages to survive in the Australian outback. Some people may be put off by some blatant racism -- to you, I say, consider the context of the time in which this book was written. I absolutely love this author's work, and this one did not disappoint. Recommended.
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relative was left, and that was his sister's daughter, Jean Paget. Because Macfadden did not trust women to have any sort of good business sense, he had put in his will that if both his sister and her son predeceased Jean, she would be eligible to receive money through a trust granted only when she turned 35, with Strachan as the trustee. So when Macfadden died, Strachan had to seek out the heirs and thus came up with Jean Paget. When she realized that she was coming into money, she decided to fly to Malaya in order to have a well built in a village there. It seems that she had a debt to repay to the people in that village -- at the time of the Japanese invasion, Jean was one of a number of other women and children who were taken prisoner by the Japanese and forced to march for weeks across Malaya. Half of their number had been decimated along the way, and had it not been for the kindness of the villagers, they would have all died. She tells Strachan her story, and adds in another detail: while on the trail, the group had met up with an Australian man, Joe Harmon, who helped them stay alive by stealing food for the group -- and was later crucified by the Japanese. When she does return to Malaya, she learns that Harmon survived and returned to Australia. Now, while Jean is in Malaya, she decides to go on to Australia; Harmon, it seems is in England looking for her. Eventually the two meet, and Noel, who is secretly in love with Jean, fixes it so the two can be together in Australia. An absolutely fascinating story -- the first half tells of Jean's ordeal in the jungle and the second half tells of how she manages to survive in the Australian outback. Some people may be put off by some blatant racism -- to you, I say, consider the context of the time in which this book was written. I absolutely love this author's work, and this one did not disappoint. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Bridgey
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute *****
I first discovered Nevil Shute a year or so ago when I picked up a copy of ‘On the Beach’, I loved every page and it has remained in my top five reads and will probably always stay there. Since this I have been slowly working my way through the rest of his
What is it about?
We uncover the story of Jean Paget as told to the reader through her Solicitor Noel Strachan. Following the death of his wealthy client a considerable fortune is inherited by Jean in the form of an annual income and a trust fund that will not mature until she reaches her mid thirties. Because of a clause in the will Strachan is able to advance Jean a lump sum should he feel the expenditure is worthy. Once Jean is identified as the benefactor a meeting is arranged between the two which quickly develops into a friendship. Jean tells her tale of how she spent the war as a prisoner on a forced march through Malaya. During this time she encountered a friendly Australian POW who, through his acts of kindness helps her survive. They fall in love but circumstance tears them apart. The rest of the novel details her life in post war years and how she decides to carve out a new future from her newfound wealth.
What did I like?
Shute always manages to write convincingly of a time that no longer exists, a time when manners and chivalry were abundant. He really drags you into the lives of the characters and allows you to feel their emotions. This book is essentially a love story, the type of genre I would normally run a mile from, but the author manages to make it into so much more than that. When he needs to add effect Shute is not afraid to let you have it with full force. You feel the pain suffered during those prison camp years, you are appalled by the brutality suffered under the Japanese guards, and more than anything you want to right the injustices. The book is set in the 40s/50s and although at times it may seem a little dated, that just adds to its charm.
What didn’t I like?
There wasn’t really anything to dislike, but if I was forced to be picky I would say that the 3rd quarter of the book did get slightly repetitive, but this was saved by the ending.
Would I recommend it?
Definitely, although I still think On the Beach is his greatest novel, this also wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
I first discovered Nevil Shute a year or so ago when I picked up a copy of ‘On the Beach’, I loved every page and it has remained in my top five reads and will probably always stay there. Since this I have been slowly working my way through the rest of his
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20 plus novels. Unlike most people I have never seen the film of ‘A Town Like Alice’, so other than the blurb description I didn’t really know what to expect.What is it about?
We uncover the story of Jean Paget as told to the reader through her Solicitor Noel Strachan. Following the death of his wealthy client a considerable fortune is inherited by Jean in the form of an annual income and a trust fund that will not mature until she reaches her mid thirties. Because of a clause in the will Strachan is able to advance Jean a lump sum should he feel the expenditure is worthy. Once Jean is identified as the benefactor a meeting is arranged between the two which quickly develops into a friendship. Jean tells her tale of how she spent the war as a prisoner on a forced march through Malaya. During this time she encountered a friendly Australian POW who, through his acts of kindness helps her survive. They fall in love but circumstance tears them apart. The rest of the novel details her life in post war years and how she decides to carve out a new future from her newfound wealth.
What did I like?
Shute always manages to write convincingly of a time that no longer exists, a time when manners and chivalry were abundant. He really drags you into the lives of the characters and allows you to feel their emotions. This book is essentially a love story, the type of genre I would normally run a mile from, but the author manages to make it into so much more than that. When he needs to add effect Shute is not afraid to let you have it with full force. You feel the pain suffered during those prison camp years, you are appalled by the brutality suffered under the Japanese guards, and more than anything you want to right the injustices. The book is set in the 40s/50s and although at times it may seem a little dated, that just adds to its charm.
What didn’t I like?
There wasn’t really anything to dislike, but if I was forced to be picky I would say that the 3rd quarter of the book did get slightly repetitive, but this was saved by the ending.
Would I recommend it?
Definitely, although I still think On the Beach is his greatest novel, this also wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
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LibraryThing member ursula
A Town Like Alice tells the story of Jean, an English citizen living in Malaysia when she is part of a group of women taken prisoner by the Japanese during the war. No one in command knows what to do with them, so the women are marched back and forth across the country with no end to their
But I just couldn't enjoy this book at all because of the casual racism. I've read plenty of books that feature racism, but its presence in this one really bothered me. A nickname Joe had for Jean was supposed to be cute, apparently, but it was based on a racial slur. It's not a racial epithet I'm familiar with in my country, which might make it go down easier for many people, but I just kept mentally substituting one that I am familiar with, and it turned my stomach. And in the second half of the book (taking place in Australia), the racism only gets worse. It made me find Jean extremely unpleasant, and the author as well, because the racism wasn't confined to a character trait of Jean's or Joe's, but was part of the descriptive narrative as well.
Recommended for: no one.
Quote: "They were big, well-set-up young men, very like Negroes in appearance and, like Negroes, they seemed to have plenty to laugh about."
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suffering in sight. They meet an Australian soldier named Joe, also a prisoner of the Japanese who tries to improve things for them, to his own detriment. I won't say more about the plot, except to say that for me, the wartime events were the highlight and the plot sort of meandered from there.But I just couldn't enjoy this book at all because of the casual racism. I've read plenty of books that feature racism, but its presence in this one really bothered me. A nickname Joe had for Jean was supposed to be cute, apparently, but it was based on a racial slur. It's not a racial epithet I'm familiar with in my country, which might make it go down easier for many people, but I just kept mentally substituting one that I am familiar with, and it turned my stomach. And in the second half of the book (taking place in Australia), the racism only gets worse. It made me find Jean extremely unpleasant, and the author as well, because the racism wasn't confined to a character trait of Jean's or Joe's, but was part of the descriptive narrative as well.
Recommended for: no one.
Quote: "They were big, well-set-up young men, very like Negroes in appearance and, like Negroes, they seemed to have plenty to laugh about."
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LibraryThing member Cariola
Initially, I was totally captivated by this story of Jean Padgett, a young English woman working in Malaya who became a Japanese prisoner of war. The hardships that the women and children endured during their trek to one nonexistent prison camp after another and the alternating kindness and
The novel opens with the narrator, a solicitor, tracking down Jean to tell her that she has just come into an inheritance, and it is to Noah that Jean tells her story. After hearing all she endured, he could hardly be more surprised when Jean tells him her plans for the money: to return to Malaya.
I won't spoil the book by telling what happens next, but there are quite a few surprises in store. I have to admit that the last third of the novel--the part that reflects the title--was somewhat less interesting to me. Still, this is one of those books whose title was familiar but about which I knew nothing, and overall, it was worthwhile.
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inhumanity of their captors kept me reading (well, listening; this was an audiobook) at a rapid pace. Under such an unlikely circumstances, one wouldn't expect to fall in love, but we do sense that it is happening to Jean when she means a resourceful Australian named Joe Harmon. But the war intervenes . . .The novel opens with the narrator, a solicitor, tracking down Jean to tell her that she has just come into an inheritance, and it is to Noah that Jean tells her story. After hearing all she endured, he could hardly be more surprised when Jean tells him her plans for the money: to return to Malaya.
I won't spoil the book by telling what happens next, but there are quite a few surprises in store. I have to admit that the last third of the novel--the part that reflects the title--was somewhat less interesting to me. Still, this is one of those books whose title was familiar but about which I knew nothing, and overall, it was worthwhile.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
3.5 stars
Jean is in her 20s when she is left an inheritance by an uncle she never knew; she is his only descendant. But, he didn’t trust women to take care of money, so it was left in a trust with the lawyer, Noel, until Jean turns 35. Noel gets to know Jean quite well and learns of her history
It was good. Odd point of view, told from Noel’s POV, though Jean was the main character, so it was pretty much her story told by him, but at a distance. There was racism (a heck of a lot to our 21st century eyes and ears), sexism, and the end, I thought, was pretty implausible. I don’t want to say too much, but Jean single-handedly doing as much as she did? I doubt it. Despite all that, though, it was a good story. The author’s note at the end was interesting – the prisoner march of women and children really did happen.
Jean is in her 20s when she is left an inheritance by an uncle she never knew; she is his only descendant. But, he didn’t trust women to take care of money, so it was left in a trust with the lawyer, Noel, until Jean turns 35. Noel gets to know Jean quite well and learns of her history
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as a prisoner of war in Malaya (Singapore) with other women and children who were forced to march on and on and on because there was no actual prison for them. Many died in the travels. Along the way, Jean met an Australian prisoner. It was good. Odd point of view, told from Noel’s POV, though Jean was the main character, so it was pretty much her story told by him, but at a distance. There was racism (a heck of a lot to our 21st century eyes and ears), sexism, and the end, I thought, was pretty implausible. I don’t want to say too much, but Jean single-handedly doing as much as she did? I doubt it. Despite all that, though, it was a good story. The author’s note at the end was interesting – the prisoner march of women and children really did happen.
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LibraryThing member aliciamalia
A death march through Southeast Asia, a love story, the creation of a town, and a lonely British lawyer as narrator: this book unites several disparate elements into one incredibly compelling novel. The writing is exceptional.
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I expected to be bored by this story, especially considering the curling script of the title on the cover and the photos of a thoroughly boring-looking couple. I could not have been more wrong!
This book worked so well and on so many levels - the terrible treatment of the prisoners at the hands of
This book worked so well and on so many levels - the terrible treatment of the prisoners at the hands of
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the Japanese during the war; life in the Australian outback; and the twilight years of a lonely solicitor in London. A very moving and thoughtful book. Show Less
LibraryThing member NarratorLady
I remember seeing a PBS production of this story several years ago and enjoying it, so when an LTer recommended the book I thought it would be a good choice to listen to during these cold, wet days commuting to work. The majority of the story takes place in Malaya during WWII and in Australia after
Not that I envied Jean Paget her wartime experience. She and a group of 30+ women and children, all British ex-patriots, are force-marched back and forth across Malaya by their Japanese captors, who insist that they are being taken to a women's camp that never materializes. They crisscross the country for seven months, during which half their number die. Ultimately they reach a village where the 20-year old Jean, clearly the leader of the group, is able to negotiate that they'll work the paddy fields in exchange for room and board.
Along the way they encounter another prisoner, Joe Harmon, an Australian who manages to provide the starving women with chickens stolen from a Japanese captain. His crime is discovered and the punishment is death, a grisly, shocking event which Jean and her group are forced to witness.
After the war, this tale is told by Jean to Noel Strachen, her lawyer back in London, an elderly widower who has just informed her of her bequest of 53,000 pounds left in trust by an unknown uncle. This windfall opens a whole world to Jean who has returned home to a solitary life as a shorthand typist. Before long, she has come up with a way to do good with the money, and the intelligence and initiative that she showed during the war is put into practice again, with astounding results. This part of the story (including a surprising twist) is told by Noel, who treasures the letters she sends to him detailing her plans, hopes and dreams. At the end, delighted as he is with all she has accomplished, he wistfully admits that this extraordinary girl is "the woman that I met forty years too late".
What a marvelous storyteller Nevil Shute was. The story is full of adventure and romance and rich with detail. Marvelous too was Neil Hunt's narration. For a couple of weeks I have found myself in the jungles of Malaya and the Australian outback and I've had a wonderful trip.
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the war and so both wet and dry heat are present throughout and it sounded just the antidote to winter. Not that I envied Jean Paget her wartime experience. She and a group of 30+ women and children, all British ex-patriots, are force-marched back and forth across Malaya by their Japanese captors, who insist that they are being taken to a women's camp that never materializes. They crisscross the country for seven months, during which half their number die. Ultimately they reach a village where the 20-year old Jean, clearly the leader of the group, is able to negotiate that they'll work the paddy fields in exchange for room and board.
Along the way they encounter another prisoner, Joe Harmon, an Australian who manages to provide the starving women with chickens stolen from a Japanese captain. His crime is discovered and the punishment is death, a grisly, shocking event which Jean and her group are forced to witness.
After the war, this tale is told by Jean to Noel Strachen, her lawyer back in London, an elderly widower who has just informed her of her bequest of 53,000 pounds left in trust by an unknown uncle. This windfall opens a whole world to Jean who has returned home to a solitary life as a shorthand typist. Before long, she has come up with a way to do good with the money, and the intelligence and initiative that she showed during the war is put into practice again, with astounding results. This part of the story (including a surprising twist) is told by Noel, who treasures the letters she sends to him detailing her plans, hopes and dreams. At the end, delighted as he is with all she has accomplished, he wistfully admits that this extraordinary girl is "the woman that I met forty years too late".
What a marvelous storyteller Nevil Shute was. The story is full of adventure and romance and rich with detail. Marvelous too was Neil Hunt's narration. For a couple of weeks I have found myself in the jungles of Malaya and the Australian outback and I've had a wonderful trip.
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LibraryThing member Stbalbach
A Town Like Alice (1950) is middle class mythology, about overcoming adversity, finding true love and material success. It's layered with Christian themes, a sort of mix of the Book of Genesis and the New Testament - Jean Paget is Eve, Joe Harman is Christ (an explicit reference made a number of
I think this novel spoke meaningfully to a generation of women who came of age during the 1930s and 40s, whose entry into the workforce would help fuel the economic miracle of the 1950s and beyond. Now it feels a bit dated, a period piece, but it's still a pleasant story. By analyzing it like a Professor one can extract some useful insights into the history of the time when it was written, which makes it still worth reading, if nothing else for a well told story.
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times), and lawyer Noel Strachan, who narrates the story, is God-like (he even becomes a God-father). The story begins with two innocents cast out from former comfortable lives into the hell on Earth of Japanese occupied Malay. There, Jean and Joe's desires for one another as adults has room to germinate. For his sins Harman is literally crucified, and Paget must toil the earth for her survival. Harman is later reborn, seemingly risen from the dead, and Paget becomes his follower. The chapters set in Malay appear to be a separate book from those in Australia, but they are mirrors of one another, the former foreshadowing the second, like allegories between the Old and New Testament, the first more brutal and primitive, the second more loving and nurturing. The novel depicts gender roles in a ridged traditional manner, which is typical of Shute's generation who fought WWII. Yet Jean, as an Eve the creator figure, is a leader not only of women, but indirectly men and the community, which she largely births. I think this novel spoke meaningfully to a generation of women who came of age during the 1930s and 40s, whose entry into the workforce would help fuel the economic miracle of the 1950s and beyond. Now it feels a bit dated, a period piece, but it's still a pleasant story. By analyzing it like a Professor one can extract some useful insights into the history of the time when it was written, which makes it still worth reading, if nothing else for a well told story.
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LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
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 of a will that leaves a considerable sum of money to Jean Paget, a young woman and an extraordinary person. Her story, told
While this is an unquestionably put-a-smile-on-your-face story, it is certainly not chick lit by any means. It's an imaginative, moving tale which touches on the themes of wartime atrocity, courage in the face of adversity and the difficulties and opportunities involved with the construction of a pioneering community. The simple fact of the prejudiced treatment of the aboriginal people of Australian at that time is included in a sad, ironic, rather matter of fact way without comment or criticism. Although Jean Paget, as an enlightened forward thinker, is shown as wishing that it might be otherwise, she acts as she is expected to according to the norms of the day.
The characters were well-drawn and easy to sympathize with. A Town Like Alice is a finely crafted novel that really just tells a story. Other than the evils of war, there are no villains in this story. It just tells about life, during the war, and how it affected innocent women and children. Then it illustrates life in the Australian outback in vivid detail. I can see why it's still regarded as a classic after all these years.
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in three parts, makes for very compelling reading. The author weaves together the threads of her life including her WWII experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese in Malaya and her fateful encounter with Australian Joe Harmon.While this is an unquestionably put-a-smile-on-your-face story, it is certainly not chick lit by any means. It's an imaginative, moving tale which touches on the themes of wartime atrocity, courage in the face of adversity and the difficulties and opportunities involved with the construction of a pioneering community. The simple fact of the prejudiced treatment of the aboriginal people of Australian at that time is included in a sad, ironic, rather matter of fact way without comment or criticism. Although Jean Paget, as an enlightened forward thinker, is shown as wishing that it might be otherwise, she acts as she is expected to according to the norms of the day.
The characters were well-drawn and easy to sympathize with. A Town Like Alice is a finely crafted novel that really just tells a story. Other than the evils of war, there are no villains in this story. It just tells about life, during the war, and how it affected innocent women and children. Then it illustrates life in the Australian outback in vivid detail. I can see why it's still regarded as a classic after all these years.
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LibraryThing member librarymeg
This story is narrated by an older British gentleman, a solicitor, about the life of one of his clients, a young woman who survived a forced march through Malaya during the Japanese occupation of World War II. In the Author's Note, Nevil Shute explains that the story was inspired when he met a
Jean is young and interesting, she has a strong sense of right & wrong, she's compassionate, she's smart. She's a cool character and easy to like. The story is also truly compelling, with the sweeping saga of war and everything that comes with it: violence, inhumanity, and occasionally even heroism.
It's also really easy to like Joe Harman, the Australian soldier held captive by the Japanese who takes an interest in helping the group of women and children being marched incessantly through Malaya. There may have been a moment when I wished I didn't like him so much, but that territory must be avoided, since there be spoilers.
My one complaint about this book is, sadly, an unavoidable consequence of its age. Casual racism. When you get a book that's seen some years, it's not unusual to run across racist and sexist language just littering the landscape like no big deal. Intellectually, I could get past all of that by ascribing it to a different time, but I have to admit that it threw me right out of the story every time. Unless that's something that truly, deeply bothers you, though, I wouldn't let it stop you from reading the book. It's romantic in the old sense of the word: sweeping, epic, steeped in the natural world, and drawing in the whole of human emotion and experience. Impressive for such a little book!
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woman who survived such a march in Sumatra. It's hard not to equate Jean Paget with the Sumatran survivor, and the solicitor with Nevil Shute. I think that's why this book reads so vividly as a love letter to Jean Paget. The narrator is more than a little bit in awe, and in love, with his young client. Not in a creepy, dirty old man way, but in an "If only I were younger" way. And it's easy to see why. (It also makes one wonder about Nevil Shute's feelings for the Sumatran march survivor...)Jean is young and interesting, she has a strong sense of right & wrong, she's compassionate, she's smart. She's a cool character and easy to like. The story is also truly compelling, with the sweeping saga of war and everything that comes with it: violence, inhumanity, and occasionally even heroism.
It's also really easy to like Joe Harman, the Australian soldier held captive by the Japanese who takes an interest in helping the group of women and children being marched incessantly through Malaya. There may have been a moment when I wished I didn't like him so much, but that territory must be avoided, since there be spoilers.
My one complaint about this book is, sadly, an unavoidable consequence of its age. Casual racism. When you get a book that's seen some years, it's not unusual to run across racist and sexist language just littering the landscape like no big deal. Intellectually, I could get past all of that by ascribing it to a different time, but I have to admit that it threw me right out of the story every time. Unless that's something that truly, deeply bothers you, though, I wouldn't let it stop you from reading the book. It's romantic in the old sense of the word: sweeping, epic, steeped in the natural world, and drawing in the whole of human emotion and experience. Impressive for such a little book!
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LibraryThing member Maura49
This remains one of Nevil Shute’s best-known books and it featured in the BBC’s “Big Read” top 100 a few years ago.
The earlier part of the book is the section that most readers remember, the trek through wartime Malaya of Jean Paget and her companions. Based on a true story this ordeal is
When the group are helped by Australian soldier Joe Harman the focus in the novel starts to shift towards the relationship between Jean and Joe. She thinks that he is dead but they are reunited in Australia and the book changes direction as the narrative follows their lives in the Outback.
Shute was an aeronautical Engineer and something of the methodical, measured nature of that work seeps into his novelist’s craft, resulting in an understated and practical style. This irks some readers, but I find that the poignancy is enhanced by the sober quality of the writing. His description of how frequent deaths affect the women and children in Malaya ring true – “ …they had all grown hardened to the fact of death. Grief and Mourning had ceased to trouble them; death was a reality to be avoided and fought, but when it came- well it was just one of those things.”
He frequently writes about ordinary people caught up in extra-ordinary situations and many of his stories are set during the Second World War.
Here he tells of the aftermath of war, of two people who undergo great ordeals, but survive with their spirits intact. It is an optimistic book, it’s theme that of building and re-building, of making something fresh out of ruins. Alongside the love story of the English girl and the Australian stockman there is the inspiring story of reviving a community, and creating a space in which that community can thrive.
The film based on the book used only the wartime story, and did the book a disservice, because important as this opening section is, it shows only one aspect of the heroic endeavour of a memorable heroine.
Only in the last few chapters does the story falter a little as Jean becomes involved in an outback incident and the novel loses a little momentum.
I question whether the framing device of the solicitor’s narration is really needed as it does sometimes distance the reader from the story, and also has the effect of slowing down the start and our introduction to Jean Paget. However this is a minor flaw in an inspiring tale.
The earlier part of the book is the section that most readers remember, the trek through wartime Malaya of Jean Paget and her companions. Based on a true story this ordeal is
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enforced by Japanese Officers who have no camps for women and no interest in providing one.When the group are helped by Australian soldier Joe Harman the focus in the novel starts to shift towards the relationship between Jean and Joe. She thinks that he is dead but they are reunited in Australia and the book changes direction as the narrative follows their lives in the Outback.
Shute was an aeronautical Engineer and something of the methodical, measured nature of that work seeps into his novelist’s craft, resulting in an understated and practical style. This irks some readers, but I find that the poignancy is enhanced by the sober quality of the writing. His description of how frequent deaths affect the women and children in Malaya ring true – “ …they had all grown hardened to the fact of death. Grief and Mourning had ceased to trouble them; death was a reality to be avoided and fought, but when it came- well it was just one of those things.”
He frequently writes about ordinary people caught up in extra-ordinary situations and many of his stories are set during the Second World War.
Here he tells of the aftermath of war, of two people who undergo great ordeals, but survive with their spirits intact. It is an optimistic book, it’s theme that of building and re-building, of making something fresh out of ruins. Alongside the love story of the English girl and the Australian stockman there is the inspiring story of reviving a community, and creating a space in which that community can thrive.
The film based on the book used only the wartime story, and did the book a disservice, because important as this opening section is, it shows only one aspect of the heroic endeavour of a memorable heroine.
Only in the last few chapters does the story falter a little as Jean becomes involved in an outback incident and the novel loses a little momentum.
I question whether the framing device of the solicitor’s narration is really needed as it does sometimes distance the reader from the story, and also has the effect of slowing down the start and our introduction to Jean Paget. However this is a minor flaw in an inspiring tale.
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LibraryThing member sophroniaborgia
Jean Paget is an ordinary English young woman who heads off to Malaya to take an office typist job, but has no interest in life there outside of her closed world of English expatriates. But when the Japanese invade, she finds herself part of a group of women and children prisoners of war forced to
One of the best things about this book is the character of Jean Paget. Although she is modest almost to a fault and would certainly never have called herself a feminist, she is a feminist heroine in that she is the one with the vision to change her world and the ability to accomplish her goals. None of the male characters come close to her. Reading about the way she changes the tiny outback town where she lives with her husband Joe, I was reminded of economists who have touted the importance of microcredit and female-owned businesses in helping lift villages out of poverty in Africa.
For all the dramatic events described within -- war, torture, lovers separated by death and distance and then reunited -- the writing style is fairly dry and not much concerned with the characters' emotions. Clearly, to Shute, the really interesting stuff was the parts about living in the outback and setting up a new business. If you're looking for passion, look elsewhere. But I found Jean's story involving enough to carry me through, and the details about wartime experiences and outback life certainly seem authentic.
It should be said that this book is marred by racist and sexist attitudes that are probably accurate for the time but made me wince more than once. It's more thoughtless than vicious, but still uncomfortable for a modern reader.
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walk the island searching for refuge. This experience brings out the strength of character and leadership qualities that have been dormant inside her. She leads the ragtag group to a safe haven to wait out the war and is ultimately inspired to use an unexpected inheritance to make her world better -- and she also falls in love.One of the best things about this book is the character of Jean Paget. Although she is modest almost to a fault and would certainly never have called herself a feminist, she is a feminist heroine in that she is the one with the vision to change her world and the ability to accomplish her goals. None of the male characters come close to her. Reading about the way she changes the tiny outback town where she lives with her husband Joe, I was reminded of economists who have touted the importance of microcredit and female-owned businesses in helping lift villages out of poverty in Africa.
For all the dramatic events described within -- war, torture, lovers separated by death and distance and then reunited -- the writing style is fairly dry and not much concerned with the characters' emotions. Clearly, to Shute, the really interesting stuff was the parts about living in the outback and setting up a new business. If you're looking for passion, look elsewhere. But I found Jean's story involving enough to carry me through, and the details about wartime experiences and outback life certainly seem authentic.
It should be said that this book is marred by racist and sexist attitudes that are probably accurate for the time but made me wince more than once. It's more thoughtless than vicious, but still uncomfortable for a modern reader.
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LibraryThing member JenneB
I loved the first half of this and couldn't put it down. The second half was just okay.
I thought it was weird that the author could recognize that Malaysians are humans (they are sometimes even portrayed as actual people with different personalities), but not indigenous Australians? Like, he would
I thought it was weird that the author could recognize that Malaysians are humans (they are sometimes even portrayed as actual people with different personalities), but not indigenous Australians? Like, he would
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literally say something like, "there were two girls working there, and one lubra" (which is apparently an old and offensive word for an Aboriginal woman), as if she didn't count as a person. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntmarge64
An elderly English lawyer searches for an heiress to a small fortune and unexpectedly finds a young woman who survived Japanese captivity during World War II. The war section of the book is set on the island of Malaya, although the events Shute used for the story's basis took place on Sumatra.
Jean
Much of this book is enthralling, with just a few spots that drag, but the overall story is quite a panorama of one woman's ability to make the best of any situation in which she finds herself. There are several very, very dramatic moments during the time on Malaya, one of which made me actually gasp out loud. The book is a combination of war story, love story, and woman's story. Really, the only thing I began to cringe at was the very frequent use of the phrase "oh my word" by various characters (not Jean, thank goodness, since she's in almost every scene). That more than anything else dates the book, and if I never hear that phrase again it'll be too soon, but I'm still delighted to have read this.
Jean
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Paget, twenty-ish at the time, is part of a group of English women and children captured during the Japanese invasion and, because the Japanese don't know what to do with them, are marched from village to village for many months (historically, the women were Dutch, and the march lasted for two and a half years). In Shute's version, the women eventually manage to get permission to settle in an isolated village, where they live as natives and help produce rice in the paddies. When Jean is located in London after the war, she tells the lawyer her story, and she continues to write him for several years after as she travels back to visit the village where she lived and then goes on to Australia. Much of this book is enthralling, with just a few spots that drag, but the overall story is quite a panorama of one woman's ability to make the best of any situation in which she finds herself. There are several very, very dramatic moments during the time on Malaya, one of which made me actually gasp out loud. The book is a combination of war story, love story, and woman's story. Really, the only thing I began to cringe at was the very frequent use of the phrase "oh my word" by various characters (not Jean, thank goodness, since she's in almost every scene). That more than anything else dates the book, and if I never hear that phrase again it'll be too soon, but I'm still delighted to have read this.
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LibraryThing member hailelib
I've read this book several times and always enjoy it. The World War II section is based on an actual incident although Mr. Shute changed the location and the main characters involved. When he moves to Australia , the author is excellent at giving us a real feeling of knowing this place and these
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people. If you have enjoyed Shute's other books, then this is a must read. ( "The Legacy'"was originally published in England as "A Town Like Alice" and there is at least one film version.) Show Less
LibraryThing member JBarringer
The worlds described in A Town Like Alice are variously cruel, sexist and racist. For a sensible, capable woman like Jean Paget, it seems especially unfair that men in England can't imagine she has the sense to manage money before she's 35 years old. Considering all she survived in her years
In A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute takes the reader through three distinct but interconnected stories, taking place in Great Britain, Malaya and Australia, and in each place Shute does a fantastic job of making the settings seem real. It's a lot of ground to cover in one book, and Shute manages to tell the whole epic tale in under 400 pages, a feat many modern authors seem to find daunting even with just one setting. The pacing is not rushed, and the characters are well developed and realistic. In short, here is one classic that deserves the name, and ought to remain on reading lists for a very long time.
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leading up to her receiving her inheritance, Miss Paget seems more than capable of running her own life, better in fact than what most men would manage. In her further travels she encounters and in a way fosters racism against 'Abo' Australians and sexism that would cause modern women to bristle. Her character seems so modern, so easily relatable for modern female readers that it is hard at first to imagine Jean just going along with such standards. But, I think that is part of what makes this book interesting, for modern women (and men). Jean starts out learning how to pick her battles under the most harsh and terrible circumstances, so she does not lose sight of her goals in the face of socially ingrained unfairness, regardless of where she is. She accepts what she can't change and works with existing circumstances to improve on what is there already. As a heroine Jean Paget seems like a great role-model, seen from that perspective.In A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute takes the reader through three distinct but interconnected stories, taking place in Great Britain, Malaya and Australia, and in each place Shute does a fantastic job of making the settings seem real. It's a lot of ground to cover in one book, and Shute manages to tell the whole epic tale in under 400 pages, a feat many modern authors seem to find daunting even with just one setting. The pacing is not rushed, and the characters are well developed and realistic. In short, here is one classic that deserves the name, and ought to remain on reading lists for a very long time.
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LibraryThing member smfoster
Wonderful story, told in a flat, matter-of-fact style that, I suppose, befits the 70+ year old narrator. Still, I couldn't help wondering how it might read if written by a different author. The 1940s-1950s insensibilities to racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes will offend many readers, but
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hopefully not to the point where they put the book down before finishing it. In spite of the fact that our heroine must allow her men-folk to handle much of her business and financial affairs for her, she's still the real brains of the outfit, and they know it. Show Less
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
This is a truly inspiring tale of Jean Paget, a young woman taken prisoner by the Japanese in Malaya during World War II. As there is no prison camp for women, Jean and a group of British women keep walking from place to place under the direction of a Japanese commander. During their march, Jean
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encounters an Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who risks his life to help her and who Jean believes to be death for years after the war. When Jean discovers that Joe survived, she journeys to his hometown in the Australian Outback. A Town like Alice is an ultimately satisfying tale and an enjoyable read of two people who find each other after a long separation. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1950
Physical description
170 p.; 18.4 cm
Local notes
Omslag: Indbundet
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "The Legacy" af Elly Sandal
Lommeromanen, bind R 109
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "The Legacy" af Elly Sandal
Lommeromanen, bind R 109
Other editions
Arven, bind 2 by Nevil Shute (Hardcover)
Arven by Nevil Shute (Paperback)
Similar in this library
Pages
170
DDC/MDS
| 823.912 |