On the Beach

De: Nevil Shute

Narrado por: Simon Prebble

A war no one fully understands has devastated the planet with radioactive fallout from massive cobalt bombing. Melbourne, Australia, is the only area whose citizens have not yet succumbed to the contamination. But there isn’t much time left, a few months, maybe more—and the citizens of Melbourne must decide how they will live the remaining weeks of their lives, and how they will face a hopeless future.

Published in 1957, On the Beach is considered a classic nuclear holocaust novel, and a masterpiece of speculative fiction.

©1957 Nevil Shute Norway (P)1991 Recorded Books, LLC

You won't be able to put this down

The characters and their lives are described realistically, with compassion, attention to detail, and even humor. The story could happen as easily today as when the story was set over 50 years ago. It will give you a new perspective on your own life as you realize we could share the same fate today if we don't take nuclear disarmament seriously.

Possibly the bleakest book ever

Yes, it is bleak, but most of the bleakness is below the surface. Human nature dictates that most people will attempt to go on with their lives as best they can. Shute never lets go of that tension between bleakness and everyday life, yet there is very little preachiness in his telling. The behavior of the people in this situation feels right for the most part. Shute attempts to account for the range of possible reactions while keeping his cast of characters to a manageable size. I think by and large the population would react with the vague sense of unreality that he describes. Modern studies of people's reactions to major natural disasters bear him out on this. There are some very human and touching moments such as Commander Towers looking for presents for his children.

Shute also avoids trying to explain too much about how the world got into the situation presented in the book. The why is unimportant. The 1959 movie struggled with both the issue of a backstory and the preachiness aspect. I sympathize with the film maker's need for the ending to make more of a statement. As a thought experiment, I think Shute makes the wiser choice of leaving it up to the reader to ponder.

Life's A Beach

Would you listen to On the Beach again? Why?

I might play it again.

What did you like best about this story?

When the girl's bra fell off.

What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?

He did a good job.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

If you only see one movie for the rest of your life....

Nothing like it

Absolute must read.

I just finished it and honestly i don't have the heart to say more. Devastating but beautiful.

Excellent story

An excellent and sad book about the end of humanity.
The narrator is good. WW3 is truly horrific.

Beautiful, haunting.

What more could be said of this book. It’s a classic. Beautiful, haunting, a warning that is very far from outdated. It could have been written today. Expertly narrated.

Timeless story of world tradgedy and human dignity

I read the book in about 1959 and found it topical and emotionally moving. Now, in 2025, the book is still very relevant (perhaps more so than when it was published in about 1957).
Not a book about riots in the streets and everyone armed with heavy weapons. Instead, the characters face their destiny with quiet courage and dignity.
Over the decades, I have enjoyed the both movie and the book. I found this narration to be especially powerful and very well read.
I know I'll listen to this recording again.

Enough about brandy!

Where does On the Beach rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I saw the movie adaptation of this several years ago, and decided to read the book. The premise was interesting, and I liked the story. I just didn't love it, and at times, it was downright annoying.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story takes place after a nuclear war, where the only the Southern hemisphere was spared. The radiation fallout is apparently moving South, and the scientists believe that everyone has six months to live.

The book follows several characters and how they choose to live out their remaining time. The characters were well developed, and I liked all of the story lines for the most part. By far, my favorite part of the book was the Australian Grand Prix, and the concept of an auto race where all of the participants have nothing to lose.

The problem I had with the story is that the author would dwell on certain topics, and it became annoying. One of the characters spent her time as an alcoholic, and every few minutes of her dialog would be about brandy, drinking brandy, going somewhere to drink brandy, etc.... It got old. The second idea that was overplayed was actually a pretty good concept, just overplayed to death. Many of the characters would make long term plans for things that would be years away, despite that they only have a short time to live. This denial seemed realistic, and I thought it was very clever the first couple of times it happened, but the author keeps dragging this concept to the forefront again and again, and after a while it got really old.

Overall, I liked the book, but I was really ready for it to be over by the end of the book. Well, a couple chapters before the end.

Any additional comments?

The narration was very good.

Frightening but memorable.

Post-apocalyptic books are always thought-provoking. I find them interesting. And I really like the way that Nevil Shute writes his stories. I have read this one a couple times.

Lessons for our time

I read this book many years ago and think about it whenever tensions escalate between super-powers. It is one of the most depressing book ever written. By our own hand, we could lose the wonderful gift that is this planet of ours. One thing leads to another; things get out of hand. It's so plausible that it almost seems inevitable. The narration captures well the somber story line.