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readinginmaine's review against another edition
5.0
A sweet and simple book that entertains and uplifts.
shaunwaldie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mantissabolt's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I recently attended the Life Celebration for mentor mine (back in the 90's). His daughter gave a speech about growing up in his house. He would talk about this book and how important it was to him. So, I picked it up. This is a story about a wonderful engineer, as described in the blurb. But he seems simple and, of course, is not. He needs to make it to a tiny South Pacific island to resolve his niece's trust. How he get there makes for a wonderful story about genuinely kind people committing a monetary crime for the right reasons.
carolyneaton's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Nevil Shute is such a great story teller. A very unassuming man on a great adventure, a story about good people helping one another.
mischievous_monkey's review against another edition
5.0
What a fantastic book. I am still smiling when I think of it, days after I finished listening. This is a wonderfully told story of reaping what you sow. Lovers of the movie It's A Wonderful Life might enjoy this book as well.
margaretmechinus's review against another edition
4.0
The audio book with Frank Müller narrating was delightful. A sweet story. Simple but sophisticated. Complex characters. I just love the way Neville Shute writes. My husband has read and collected Neville Shute books for 60 years. I am just now catching up.
This book is about pursuing what you love and being rewarded for it. It is about doing the right thing and being helped and encouraged along the way. It is about a simple man who has a great adventure and we get to go along for the ride.
This book is about pursuing what you love and being rewarded for it. It is about doing the right thing and being helped and encouraged along the way. It is about a simple man who has a great adventure and we get to go along for the ride.
jayceecee0716's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to this book via audible.com and absolutely loved it! An ordinary man doing extraordinary things. I enjoyed the characters, the imaginary and the narrative. It's nice to see the good guy 'win' every now and then and this story left me with a warm wonderful feeling. I highly recommend this simple story of perseverance.
lgpiper's review against another edition
3.0
According to GoodReads, I've read eight books by Nevil Shute. This one is the ninth, and the one I've liked the least. The first half rather dragged. Then it got more Shute-like, and I did rather like the last half or so. Still, I think that, if you're trying Shute out for the first time, you'll find better books than this to begin sampling his work. This is ok, but as I just said, not his best, IMHO.
The story revolves around a rather ordinary man, Keith Stewart, who has a hobby of making small models of things in his basement machine shop. He builds little engines, electricity generators, clocks, and such like. He's quite the accomplished designer and machinist. He writes articles about his creations for a hobby magazine, Miniature Mechanics.
His brother-in-law and his spouse decide to move to Vancouver. But they thought to make the trip in their sail boat. They leave their daughter in the care of the Stewart and his spouse. Before going off, however, they call on Stewart's engineering skills to bury a sealed box, allegedly containing some of the wife's jewels, into the keel of their boat.
Well, they shipwreck on a coral reef in the South Pacific and die. Keith Stewart is left as the trustee of his niece's alleged fortune. It turns out that there doesn't appear to be much to the fortune. Shortly before leaving, the brother-in-law had converted all his assets into diamonds, and no one knows where the diamonds might be. But Stewart has an idea that he needs to get to the South Pacific to find the wreck and to discover what exactly was in that box he had implanted into the keel. Perhaps it's his niece's inheritance.
So, anyway, we follow Stewart's trip to the South Pacific and his work there. He has no money, so contrives to get to one place and another by the seat of his pants, so to speak. It turns out that his fame from having written all those articles in Miniature Mechanics opens up a few doors for him. Like all Shute books, there's a lot about sailing and engineering. I found some of it a bit more tedious than in all previous Shute books I've read. But still, all in all, it's a pretty GoodRead. I'm discovering that one pretty much can't go wrong with Nevil Shute.
The story revolves around a rather ordinary man, Keith Stewart, who has a hobby of making small models of things in his basement machine shop. He builds little engines, electricity generators, clocks, and such like. He's quite the accomplished designer and machinist. He writes articles about his creations for a hobby magazine, Miniature Mechanics.
His brother-in-law and his spouse decide to move to Vancouver. But they thought to make the trip in their sail boat. They leave their daughter in the care of the Stewart and his spouse. Before going off, however, they call on Stewart's engineering skills to bury a sealed box, allegedly containing some of the wife's jewels, into the keel of their boat.
Well, they shipwreck on a coral reef in the South Pacific and die. Keith Stewart is left as the trustee of his niece's alleged fortune. It turns out that there doesn't appear to be much to the fortune. Shortly before leaving, the brother-in-law had converted all his assets into diamonds, and no one knows where the diamonds might be. But Stewart has an idea that he needs to get to the South Pacific to find the wreck and to discover what exactly was in that box he had implanted into the keel. Perhaps it's his niece's inheritance.
So, anyway, we follow Stewart's trip to the South Pacific and his work there. He has no money, so contrives to get to one place and another by the seat of his pants, so to speak. It turns out that his fame from having written all those articles in Miniature Mechanics opens up a few doors for him. Like all Shute books, there's a lot about sailing and engineering. I found some of it a bit more tedious than in all previous Shute books I've read. But still, all in all, it's a pretty GoodRead. I'm discovering that one pretty much can't go wrong with Nevil Shute.
kynan's review against another edition
3.0
What a wonderful world
If this book were a movie I suspect the voiceover folks would say something like "The feel-good story of the summer", or something along those lines. Not usually my thing but I thoroughly enjoyed it; there's a little bit of everything that I like and was beautifully written to boot!
I started this book after powering through all six of Jack Campbell's "Lost Fleet" series back to back, so possibly my feelings are a little overwrought after a break in the monotony but trustee really felt like a breath of fresh air.
The characters are beautifully portrayed, no matter how long they're in the story for. The story itself is well told with plenty of detail in everything that matters (which in this case is miniature engineering and sailing).
If this book were a movie I suspect the voiceover folks would say something like "The feel-good story of the summer", or something along those lines. Not usually my thing but I thoroughly enjoyed it; there's a little bit of everything that I like and was beautifully written to boot!
I started this book after powering through all six of Jack Campbell's "Lost Fleet" series back to back, so possibly my feelings are a little overwrought after a break in the monotony but trustee really felt like a breath of fresh air.
The characters are beautifully portrayed, no matter how long they're in the story for. The story itself is well told with plenty of detail in everything that matters (which in this case is miniature engineering and sailing).
jennchandler's review against another edition
Nevil Shute is becoming an author that I quite like. This book, similar to his others, is about normal people, put in an extraordinary situation, and rising to the occasion. I quite enjoyed it.