|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
02-24-2013, 06:24 PM | #31 | |
Indie Advocate
Posts: 2,863
Karma: 18794463
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: Kindle
|
Quote:
|
|
02-24-2013, 06:44 PM | #32 | |
Indie Advocate
Posts: 2,863
Karma: 18794463
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: Kindle
|
Quote:
He lived in Australia in the 50s so he might have had a bit more exposure. I'm not actually sure what exposure he had to Alice Springs and gulf country though. I've lived in Australia all my life and haven't had that much exposure to either. I think the closest I've got to gulf country was a holiday to Port Douglas/Cairns - not exactly a thorough exploration. |
|
02-24-2013, 06:52 PM | #33 | |
o saeclum infacetum
Posts: 20,550
Karma: 224837692
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: New England
Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5
|
Quote:
Last edited by issybird; 02-24-2013 at 07:00 PM. |
|
02-24-2013, 06:59 PM | #34 |
o saeclum infacetum
Posts: 20,550
Karma: 224837692
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: New England
Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5
|
Honestly, that's why I'm calling him a hack. He's a good raconteur, but I don't think he cared enough about the underpinnings of his story. I suspect, for example, that he knew he ran into a problem with the omniscient Strachan, but essentially said the hell with it.
|
02-24-2013, 09:43 PM | #35 | |
Indie Advocate
Posts: 2,863
Karma: 18794463
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: Kindle
|
Quote:
|
|
02-26-2013, 04:37 PM | #36 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 75,906
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
|
03-04-2013, 09:03 AM | #37 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,129
Karma: 11500000
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: UK
Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch
|
I read Shute's No Highway last year. It was the first Shute I had read, and happens to be the book before A Town Like Alice. It suffers from the same omniscient narrator issue, and has the same unnecessary ending with the decision to write the book. I just saw it as a stylistic quirk, and went with it.
My general feeling from Alice is that Shute was a great story-teller. It almost doesn't seem to matter what he's talking about, he has the knack of keeping you interested. The casual racism is really a cause for disappointment with the past rather than with Shute. I think he was generally more aware of it than most - as the Malaya section shows - and I believe his earlier book The Chequer Board covers the subject in some depth, but it's so ingrained that he can't help doing it himself. The attitudes to the role of women aren't exactly modern, either, but at least Jean is a strong and forward-looking character. |
03-04-2013, 09:40 AM | #38 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,435
Karma: 25151986
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Seattle, US
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Libra 2
|
|
03-04-2013, 10:19 AM | #39 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,375
Karma: 26915798
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Ireland
Device: Kindle Oasis 3, 4G, iPad Air 2, iPhone IE
|
|
03-04-2013, 01:28 PM | #40 |
Bah, humbug!
Posts: 39,072
Karma: 157049943
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.
|
I look at racism in books written prior to the Civil Rights movement in the 60s very differently than I do racism in books written since. The phrase "consciousness-raising" was used extensively in the 60s to describe the process of enlightening the unaware and awakening the sleepers. Many people simply never had taken the time to challenge the assumptions with which they had been raised, which is hardly surprising as people generally don't change their learned ways of thinking and acting until something or someone first makes them aware that a change is needed.
|
03-04-2013, 03:05 PM | #41 | |
Close to the Edit!
Posts: 9,797
Karma: 267994408
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 8", Kindle 6"
|
Quote:
Last edited by orlok; 03-05-2013 at 05:30 AM. Reason: typo |
|
03-05-2013, 02:04 AM | #42 | ||
Indie Advocate
Posts: 2,863
Karma: 18794463
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: Kindle
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
03-05-2013, 03:48 AM | #43 | |||
Home for the moment
Posts: 5,127
Karma: 27718936
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: travelling
Device: various
|
Quote:
But I liked to read the uncomplicated, heroic story of Jean; she succeeded in all she did, married a nice guy, 'happy endings' and all that. I wouldn't have chosen it to buy though, as I have a restricted budget for books..... Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
03-06-2013, 03:36 PM | #44 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 75,906
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
I don't know that I'd call A Town Like Alice a classic. But it is a good story overall. If you can ignore or get past the flaws such as the narrator knowing more then he should, it works. The prejudice is what was for the time and it makes things more authentic even though we may not agree or even like it.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Historical Fiction Shute, Nevil: What Happened to the Corbetts.v1.16 August 2012 | mrmikel | ePub Books (offline) | 0 | 08-16-2012 04:28 PM |
Other Fiction Shute, Nevil: So Disdained.v1.10 April 2012 | mrmikel | ePub Books (offline) | 0 | 04-10-2012 08:48 AM |
Other Fiction Shute, Nevil: On the Beach. V2. 5 Apr 2011 | seagull | Kindle Books (offline) | 8 | 09-23-2011 02:38 AM |
Romance Shute, Nevil: A Town Like Alice. V1. 2 Mar 2011 | seagull | Kindle Books (offline) | 0 | 03-02-2011 07:33 AM |