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avrilhj's review against another edition
4.0
Shute has written a very good description of what would now probably be diagnosed as PTSD; ex-combatants from the Second World War who cannot adjust to post-war life. Shute's also fun to read because of his detailed descriptions of 1950s Australia. I can understand why he was a favourite author of my paternal grandparents. Like Shute they were born in England and settled in Australia after World War Two and in a way he was writing about their world. (Although I can only wish that any of my ancestors were Western District Wool barons, like the narrator of this book.)
archergal's review against another edition
4.0
What a heartbreaking book this is. (NOTE: SPOILERY REVIEW)
It starts at the end of what happens, so you know how it comes out. Then it goes back and tells you what happened to make things come out that way.
Janet Prentice was a WREN in England in WW2, and she was a good one. She worked on guns for ships, and she could hold her own with the men she worked with. She could even shoot guns, though that wasn't her job. But sometimes needs must, and it was her shooting down a plane that changed her life.
After her lover Bill was killed in the war, Janet was at loose ends. She had several tragedies follow, and she became convinced she was in some way responsible for those tragedies because of the shooting. All that finally breaks her, and she's out of the WRENs, and out of the one job where she felt she really belonged. She spent years trying to get back, but couldn't.
I thought of that Robert E. Lee quotation while reading this book: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." War gave her life meaning. She found some solace looking after others (her mother, an aunt, and finally the mother and father of her lover), but in the end she felt that she was in a corner with no way out.
And that's what so heartbreaking. Her lover Bill's brother, Alan, had only met her once, but never forgot her. He searched for her for years, on and off, hoping to bring her into HIS life. And he missed her by one day.
I really quite like Nevil Shute stories. This one was narrated by Patrick Tull. Mr. Tull has a... unique narrative style. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. I liked most of it in this book. He conveyed who was speaking by fairly subtle accent shifts.
There's some language of the time here, like the implication that women who don't have families are in an "unnatural" state and that that's what makes them unhappy. But Shute's characters are well-formed and interesting.
4 stars instead of 5 because I felt the very end was a bit of a cop-out after all that had gone before. But it's a good story. Scribd has a number of his books on audio, and I'm looking forward to listening to more. I'm working my way up to listening to On The Beach. I've been scared of it since I was a girl.
It starts at the end of what happens, so you know how it comes out. Then it goes back and tells you what happened to make things come out that way.
Janet Prentice was a WREN in England in WW2, and she was a good one. She worked on guns for ships, and she could hold her own with the men she worked with. She could even shoot guns, though that wasn't her job. But sometimes needs must, and it was her shooting down a plane that changed her life.
After her lover Bill was killed in the war, Janet was at loose ends. She had several tragedies follow, and she became convinced she was in some way responsible for those tragedies because of the shooting. All that finally breaks her, and she's out of the WRENs, and out of the one job where she felt she really belonged. She spent years trying to get back, but couldn't.
I thought of that Robert E. Lee quotation while reading this book: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." War gave her life meaning. She found some solace looking after others (her mother, an aunt, and finally the mother and father of her lover), but in the end she felt that she was in a corner with no way out.
And that's what so heartbreaking. Her lover Bill's brother, Alan, had only met her once, but never forgot her. He searched for her for years, on and off, hoping to bring her into HIS life. And he missed her by one day.
I really quite like Nevil Shute stories. This one was narrated by Patrick Tull. Mr. Tull has a... unique narrative style. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. I liked most of it in this book. He conveyed who was speaking by fairly subtle accent shifts.
There's some language of the time here, like the implication that women who don't have families are in an "unnatural" state and that that's what makes them unhappy. But Shute's characters are well-formed and interesting.
4 stars instead of 5 because I felt the very end was a bit of a cop-out after all that had gone before. But it's a good story. Scribd has a number of his books on audio, and I'm looking forward to listening to more. I'm working my way up to listening to On The Beach. I've been scared of it since I was a girl.
msjenne's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I wrote this whole review but it got disappeared by the internet and I don't have the energy to redo it. Just imagine it's EVEN BETTER than the Breaking Dawn one.
jeanetterenee's review against another edition
2.0
Nostalgic needs nabbed Nevil by the novelistic 'nads and gnawed them to nubbins.
The only reason I read this all the way to the end was because I wanted to know how Janet Prentice ended up at Coombargana. I'm giving it two stars rather than one because Shute demonstrates very well how people who have served in a great war are at loose ends when the war is over. They find themselves wishing for another war so their lives can once again have meaning and camaraderie. Can't say I'd recommend the book, though. Dreadfully dull, and that's coming from someone who usually enjoys WWII novels.
The only reason I read this all the way to the end was because I wanted to know how Janet Prentice ended up at Coombargana. I'm giving it two stars rather than one because Shute demonstrates very well how people who have served in a great war are at loose ends when the war is over. They find themselves wishing for another war so their lives can once again have meaning and camaraderie. Can't say I'd recommend the book, though. Dreadfully dull, and that's coming from someone who usually enjoys WWII novels.
escape_through_pages's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
‘... a war can go on killing people long after it’s all over.’
Firstly, I am in love with the title of this book, it is just so beautiful and entirely fitting of the novel.
This is a stunning, poignant and melancholic story that is set in the years shortly after the end of the Second World War. It was first published in 1955 and I really felt that the proximity of the writing of the book to the war itself added a sense of realism. It often reads like a factual recollection rather than a piece of fiction. It did, however, bring a few difficulties. There were several abbreviations used for example, which if you were reading in 1955 and had lived through the war itself, you would understand, I did not. This alongside the slightly different language of the time meant I took a slower pace reading this but it was worth it. I did have to graze over one particularly irritating sentence that read ‘... her action drawings were unusually good for a woman.’ but I promise that is the extent of my criticism!
The story starts with the return to the family home of Australian wartime fighter, Alan. His homecoming is marred by the suicide of his parents’ much-loved parlourmaid. Alan seeks to find out what could have driven this quiet, unassuming woman to end her life. He soon discovers that both he and his brother Bill, who died a war hero, had previously known this woman who served in the Navy during the war. Alan starts to piece together the events of her life and we are taken through the war years and beyond through his discoveries and recollections.
What unfolds is an emotional tale that depicts the effects of war and the permanent shadows it can cast over the lives of those who fought. It captures the essence of yearning for a return to war for those who served as despite having been broken by war, without it they feel lost and lack a sense of purpose.
I think my appreciation for this book has deepened in the time I’ve had to reflect on it.
girlwithherheadinabook's review
4.0
Review originally published here: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2016/07/review-requiem-for-a-wren-nevil-shute.html
Nevil Shute is one of those authors that I know little of but who I keep hearing about. He wrote A Town Like Alice amongst others but the first book of his that I happened to find in the library was Requiem For A Wren and so here we are. Written in the 1950s, this is a melancholic reflection on life as a World War Two survivor, with very little in the way of joy and much to mourn. It lingers in the mind as an unhappy novel, depicting the tragedy of a veteran generation who did not die. Alan Duncan returns home to Australia after a long absence to discover his parents' home in uproar as the previously entirely respectable and reliable parlourmaid has committed suicide the night before. Despite never having met the girl, Alan is determined to discover what could have driven her to such a step but his investigation leads him to a heartbreaking revelation about her true identity. This is a quiet and very 'stiff upper lip' kind of a novel contemplating how the experiences of wartime can continue to overshadow the lives of those who lived through it. Both the title and the opening event make it clear that this was never going to be a happy tale but it never feels overblown. Stunning.
I feel unwilling to detail the plot here - it is not so much a story built on cliffhangers and twists but it is a book where one gets to know the characters. Alan seems to be a rather shallow character at first; he is returning from England having completed a law degree which he seems to have done for purely recreational purposes because he was not ready to face up to his responsibilities on the family farm. He has lost both feet as part of his wartime service as a pilot so one might forgive him for wanting to have a good time but he is honest with himself about how little attention he has given his parents over the years. His younger brother Bill died during the war and his sister Helen appears to be permanently settled in England - the reliable parlourmaid has been a more dutiful daughter than Alan has been a son. Yet Alan is shocked to discover Jessie Proctor's true identity - before taking her own life, she had unsuccessfully sought to destroy all traces of the fact that she was in fact former Leading Wren Janet Prentice, who had been engaged to Bill at the time of his death. The story of how Janet came to be working on the farm and hiding her true name consumes the rest of the novel as Shute attempts via Alan to explain how the war service can scar those who appeared to have emerged unscathed.
Janet and Alan only ever met briefly, one lovely afternoon when Bill introduced them - keen to get his elder brother's approval about his prospective bride. Despite Alan's emotional reticence as a narrator, there is a sweetness to how Alan quietly assures Bill that he will write to their mother to let them know that Janet is 'all right.' Bill is delighted, proud of the Leading Wren he has met, who is a local celebrity as a crack shot and also for her ability to spot a rusty gun at ten paces. The engagement is to remain a secret until after 'the balloon goes up', with all these young people's lives put on hold by war. Of course, Bill will be dead only a few weeks later and not long after that Alan's plane is shot down and he nearly dies and with one thing and another, it is a long while before he gets round to contacting Janet to offer his condolences. He is never able to trace her, but yet we hear about the circumstances of her life through those who did know her as Alan treads in her footsteps, trying to catch up with her.
Set in the mid 1950s, the characters have a guilty kind of nostalgia for their wartime lives. Alan acknowledges to himself what a ghastly creature he has become, unable to function during peace. Her father's death in combat, the loss of Bill and then one final tragedy on top drive Janet out of the Wrens, to her ever-lasting regret. In Janet's diaries, we chart her struggles to rejoin and hear her hopes that the Korean War will get worse so that the Wrens will need her again. One of her former colleagues tells Alan that this is what is to be expected - they were young at the time of the war and are young no longer, so they naturally wish for war again as it was the time of their lives. Still, I was reminded of hearing an interview with one of the children of the Birmingham Six who was devastated upon her father's release that he would speak wistfully of his time in prison, since it was there that he had spent the best years of his life, even if they should rightly have been spent elsewhere. People died in the war, hopes were shattered and loves lost but yet still Janet, Alan and others like them look back on this time with pride and longing. They have been broken by war and yet without it, they are lost.
Perhaps very little happens within Requiem For A Wren - stepping outside of Alan's narration, a man returns home after a long absence to receive the fatted calf of welcome from his parents and then reads their recently deceased parlour-maid's diaries in his room. The rest of it is happening in his mind, somewhere where we have a unique privilege. Janet Prentice is never able to speak for herself, she is doomed and dead before the novel ever begins - the two of them just miss each other. There is almost Shakespearean mis-direction and a deeply melancholic overall tone but yet I still felt that despite the improbable circumstances, Shute was speaking for a generation, a generation who were primed to win a war and then did not know what to do with themselves afterwards. Lost souls like Alan have no choice but to take a deep breath and do the right thing, to feel fortunate to still have family connections who love them but it feels like right to pause and remember those like Janet who were less lucky.
Nevil Shute is one of those authors that I know little of but who I keep hearing about. He wrote A Town Like Alice amongst others but the first book of his that I happened to find in the library was Requiem For A Wren and so here we are. Written in the 1950s, this is a melancholic reflection on life as a World War Two survivor, with very little in the way of joy and much to mourn. It lingers in the mind as an unhappy novel, depicting the tragedy of a veteran generation who did not die. Alan Duncan returns home to Australia after a long absence to discover his parents' home in uproar as the previously entirely respectable and reliable parlourmaid has committed suicide the night before. Despite never having met the girl, Alan is determined to discover what could have driven her to such a step but his investigation leads him to a heartbreaking revelation about her true identity. This is a quiet and very 'stiff upper lip' kind of a novel contemplating how the experiences of wartime can continue to overshadow the lives of those who lived through it. Both the title and the opening event make it clear that this was never going to be a happy tale but it never feels overblown. Stunning.
I feel unwilling to detail the plot here - it is not so much a story built on cliffhangers and twists but it is a book where one gets to know the characters. Alan seems to be a rather shallow character at first; he is returning from England having completed a law degree which he seems to have done for purely recreational purposes because he was not ready to face up to his responsibilities on the family farm. He has lost both feet as part of his wartime service as a pilot so one might forgive him for wanting to have a good time but he is honest with himself about how little attention he has given his parents over the years. His younger brother Bill died during the war and his sister Helen appears to be permanently settled in England - the reliable parlourmaid has been a more dutiful daughter than Alan has been a son. Yet Alan is shocked to discover Jessie Proctor's true identity - before taking her own life, she had unsuccessfully sought to destroy all traces of the fact that she was in fact former Leading Wren Janet Prentice, who had been engaged to Bill at the time of his death. The story of how Janet came to be working on the farm and hiding her true name consumes the rest of the novel as Shute attempts via Alan to explain how the war service can scar those who appeared to have emerged unscathed.
Janet and Alan only ever met briefly, one lovely afternoon when Bill introduced them - keen to get his elder brother's approval about his prospective bride. Despite Alan's emotional reticence as a narrator, there is a sweetness to how Alan quietly assures Bill that he will write to their mother to let them know that Janet is 'all right.' Bill is delighted, proud of the Leading Wren he has met, who is a local celebrity as a crack shot and also for her ability to spot a rusty gun at ten paces. The engagement is to remain a secret until after 'the balloon goes up', with all these young people's lives put on hold by war. Of course, Bill will be dead only a few weeks later and not long after that Alan's plane is shot down and he nearly dies and with one thing and another, it is a long while before he gets round to contacting Janet to offer his condolences. He is never able to trace her, but yet we hear about the circumstances of her life through those who did know her as Alan treads in her footsteps, trying to catch up with her.
Set in the mid 1950s, the characters have a guilty kind of nostalgia for their wartime lives. Alan acknowledges to himself what a ghastly creature he has become, unable to function during peace. Her father's death in combat, the loss of Bill and then one final tragedy on top drive Janet out of the Wrens, to her ever-lasting regret. In Janet's diaries, we chart her struggles to rejoin and hear her hopes that the Korean War will get worse so that the Wrens will need her again. One of her former colleagues tells Alan that this is what is to be expected - they were young at the time of the war and are young no longer, so they naturally wish for war again as it was the time of their lives. Still, I was reminded of hearing an interview with one of the children of the Birmingham Six who was devastated upon her father's release that he would speak wistfully of his time in prison, since it was there that he had spent the best years of his life, even if they should rightly have been spent elsewhere. People died in the war, hopes were shattered and loves lost but yet still Janet, Alan and others like them look back on this time with pride and longing. They have been broken by war and yet without it, they are lost.
Perhaps very little happens within Requiem For A Wren - stepping outside of Alan's narration, a man returns home after a long absence to receive the fatted calf of welcome from his parents and then reads their recently deceased parlour-maid's diaries in his room. The rest of it is happening in his mind, somewhere where we have a unique privilege. Janet Prentice is never able to speak for herself, she is doomed and dead before the novel ever begins - the two of them just miss each other. There is almost Shakespearean mis-direction and a deeply melancholic overall tone but yet I still felt that despite the improbable circumstances, Shute was speaking for a generation, a generation who were primed to win a war and then did not know what to do with themselves afterwards. Lost souls like Alan have no choice but to take a deep breath and do the right thing, to feel fortunate to still have family connections who love them but it feels like right to pause and remember those like Janet who were less lucky.
gillyp's review
3.0
My least favourite of all of Nevil Shute's books I've read so far, but the ending was satisfying I guess. I think part of the problem was that I didn't really like the narrator, it always makes or breaks an audiobook for me.
jenne's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I wrote this whole review but it got disappeared by the internet and I don't have the energy to redo it. Just imagine it's EVEN BETTER than the Breaking Dawn one.
stephend81d5's review
4.0
interesting read based around the time of the D Day landings and relationships between 2 brothers and a WREN who later appears in Australia after the war and the events around DDay and her life until that fateful day as researched by the remaining brother.