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On the Beach
- Narrated by: James Smillie
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
Australia is one of the last places where life still exists after nuclear war starts in the Northern Hemisphere. A year on, an invisible cloak of radiation has spread almost completely around the world.
Darwin is a ghost town, and radiation levels at Ayres Rock are increasing. An American nuclear-powered submarine has found its way to Australia, where its captain has placed the boat under the command of the Australian Navy. Commander Dwight Towers and his Australian liaison officer are sent to the coast of North America to discover whether a stray radio signal originating from near Seattle is a sign of life.
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Three Comrades
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- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
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The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can have never imagined.
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Love and friendship in a dying world.
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The 42nd Parallel
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This first entry in John Dos Passos's celebrated U.S.A. trilogy paints a grand picture of the United States at the dawn of the twentieth century.
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Powerful document of an all-too-familiar past
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Offshore
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On Battersea Reach, a mixed bag of the temporarily lost and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the tide of the Thames. There is good-natured Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by chance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, an ex-navy man whose boat, much like its owner, dominates the Reach.
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S.O.S
- By SB on 03-26-22
By: Penelope Fitzgerald, and others
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The Hunters
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Captain Cleve Connell has already made a name for himself among pilots when he arrives in Korea during the war there to fly the newly operational F-86 fighters against the Soviet MIGs. His goal, like that of every fighter pilot, is to chalk up enough kills to become an ace. But things do not turn out as expected.
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The Hunters
- By Nicholas on 10-25-15
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Daughters of Eden
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Daughters of Eden focuses on the lives and fortunes of four very different young women at the outbreak of the Second World War. Marjorie, left at a boarding school by her emigrating mother; plain Poppy, pushed into marriage with a mean-spirited aristocrat; Kate, despised by her father, but determined to prove herself; and man-mad Lily, who turns out to be the bravest of them all. That all of them are chosen to work undercover for the espionage unit at Eden Park is a surprise, not least to them.
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An amazing book everyone should read.
- By XX on 09-11-05
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Driving Force
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A dead hitchhiker, empty canisters found at the bottom of several trucks, and the murder of a harmless mechanic are the bizarre events that lead ex-jockey Freddie Croft to suspect that his transport company, Driving Force, is involved in drug smuggling, or something far worse.
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A Good Suspenseful Mystery....
- By R. Pontiflet on 04-12-15
By: Dick Francis
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Introibo Ad Altare
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What listeners say about On the Beach
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Jason
- 12-28-10
What could have been.
An almost true story about the aftermath of the very brief WWIII (due to the inclusion of nukes). Considering how one man prevented this from happening during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this story is quite realistic. It lets you look into the psychology of people who have the luxury/curse of knowing the date of their death because of the upcoming nuclear fallout. It gives them fear while also letting them truly live. It's an interesting concept to observe as you wonder just how you would live if you knew when you were going to die. Nevil Shute pulls no punches as this is a very sad story overall.
Be warned however that unless you find the subject matter fascinating you may not greatly enjoy this. It can be a little depressing and there isn't much excitement in the story. It is more about observing how ordinary people in Australia live knowing they will soon be dead because of a war they did not want.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Bob
- 06-24-11
I So Wanted to Like This
This is not a book about submarines, survival, apocalypse, disaster. This could very well have been a book about a group of people dying of cancer. In other words: We are sick, we know we are dying, we know how much time we have left, we know everyone else is dead, how do we cope until the end. Depressing and slow. If you enjoy being depressed and listening to people lament, then this book is for you. Zzzzzzzz!
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark
- 03-13-11
One of the Best Doomday Novels
Any thought of doomsday is not attractive. This novel portrays a possible scenario of the elimation of mankind based upon faulty information.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jennifer
- 12-31-10
Depression Hurts
This book could send you right over the edge... WOW. What a hopeless story. Umm, I just couldn't understand why these people, given like a whole year to prepare, couldn't use all of the resources they had to build an underground shelter to house as many people as possible. They had plenty of time to come up with a decent system of underground living area that could have given them a fighting chance to survive as many years as possible trying to wait out the nuclear winter.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Soccerman71
- 07-22-15
Dying With Dignity
Where does On the Beach rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
On the Beach is definitely the best apocalyptic audiobook I've listened to. It's a classic for a reason and Nevil Shute handled his subject matter masterfully.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
How to answer this one. Not really 'edge of my seat' as I knew going into it what the outcome would be. I would say that the plot definitely kept me 100% engaged with the characters the entire time.
What does James Smillie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
James Smillie did a brilliant job of bringing this classic to audio form. For me, one of the biggest compliments I can pay a reader is that they don't get in the way of the source material...and he definitely passes this test. I also believe that he does a great job of really bringing life into the different characters.
If you could rename On the Beach, what would you call it?
Just like my title, "Dying with Dignity." That said, I wouldn't want to rename the novel. On the Beach is a naval phrase for "out of commission", and I believe that covers things perfectly.
Any additional comments?
I went into this expecting all doom and gloom and, don't get me wrong, that is definitely always there. However, this isn't some sort of nihilistic view of the end of the world.
I grew to love the characters and the dignity with which they faced their certain outcome. Shute paints a picture of the end of the world really bringing out the best of the human race instead of a more Cormac McCarthy viewpoint (with all respect to both authors).
The thought of unavoidable death in the means of a radioactive cloud that is ruthlessly making its way south is horrific, but the characters Shute has created are heroes in my mind in the manner of how they individually deal with this fact.
This novel isn't for everyone and I would definitely stay away from this (as well as most apocalyptic novels) if you tend towards depression due to the last 3 chapters alone. However, if the subject matter interests you and if you are a fan of novels such as "Alas, Babylon", then I couldn't recommend this novel more. Again, it's a classic for a reason.
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4 people found this helpful
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- apocalyptic fiction
- 09-06-12
Nuclear War Classic
On the Beach, written by Nevil Shute and published in 1957 is a somber post apocalyptic novel that follows survivors in Australia after a nuclear war and subsequent radioactive fallout has contaminated most of the world. Much of the story revolves around an American nuclear submarine, the last of the US Navy, docked in Melbourne and under the command of Captain Dwight Towers. The post apocalyptic world has been contaminated with high levels of radiation stemming from the use of cobalt bombs by the Russian and Chinese military forces. This story is character driven, focusing on the struggle for people to maintain some sense of purpose in spite of their doom. It was slightly disappointing that most of the people in On the Beach basically give up and passively accept death. Why didn’t they attempt to create a shelter in which some people could survive until the levels of radioactivity decreased? (scientists mention several times that the radioactive cobalt has a 5-10 year half-life) Released at the height of the Cold War, On the Beach has elements of a warning or cautionary tale and is clearly written with some political intentions in mind. While On the Beach is a well written novel that explores some important ideas worthy of consideration, it is slow-paced and uneventful at times. If you are looking for excitement and entertainment you may want to look at some other reading options.
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4 people found this helpful
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- bionichands
- 03-21-12
well read classic novel of post nuclear apocalypse
I've had this book on my list to read for quite a long time. I was glad to finally find it on audible, and it didn't disappoint. If you're a fan of Hemingway's war novels, I'd say this would be a safe bet for you. Its a little sad and depressing given the bleak subject matter, but still a good and ultimately rewarding read.
My favorite part of the audiobook was the narrator who does a fantastic job. In particular, I loved his voice for Capt. Towers. Sounds like a weird mix of Christopher Walken and Dean Martin! I quite enjoyed it.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Darryl
- 08-15-16
Classic apocalyptic
This is simply a classic and well written. Not as brutal as The Road, but still powerful as the people can do nothing but wait and find ways to fill their remaining days with distraction. I've read this and now listened to it a couple more times and it has aged well. One of the early apocalyptic novels, and one of the best. No zombies, no ridiculous shoot em up stuff, just realism.
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3 people found this helpful
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- D. Tucker
- 04-03-14
Facing the end with poise
If you could sum up On the Beach in three words, what would they be?
Satisfying. Tragic. Resilient.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Peter Holmes. He seems to entertain no illusions about the future of the world, but doesn't seem to be despondent like Moira, or optimistic to the point of delusion like Dwight or Mary. His argument with his wife over the pills, the fruition of his frustration over her choice to be blissfully ignorant is compelling. He is a realist, but not without a sense of hope.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Nothing. All inflections and accents done sublimely.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When the source of the radio transmissions was found, it was a particularly bleak moment, but it was the feeling I needed at that time.
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- Stephen E. Russell
- 09-19-20
On The Beach...where I would be
This book is not it all what I expected it to be when I opened it and begin to listen. The love story within groups your heart and seems as though it’s going to break it but in the end it all makes sense and you know that’s the only way it could end.
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1 person found this helpful