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A review by sarahrosebooks
Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
4.0
The sinking of the Titanic. It has been done and re-done several times over the years, in books and on film, and some may say that we've had just enough of it - after all, we all know exactly what happened.
This book itself came out the year before the famous James Cameron film Titanic, so cannot be accused of copying the film despite both having similar themes. The difference in this book, however, is that the view of the social classes (as seen through the main character, Morgan, himself an upper class person), is one of the main themes of the story, where as in the film it is the romance which takes precedence.
Here, Morgan is shown to be at times quite sensitive, having a sometimes morbid outlook and a tendency towards self-destruction, as seen later on in the novel. He is the nephew (I think) of the owner of the White Star Line, and so has an important place on board the ship, where as in actuality he did very little on the ship's actual design and is only seen as important because of who his uncle is. He sees the faults of his class quite clearly, though he can do little about it.
The best thing about this novel is the last chapter, where the Titanic has hit the iceberg and begins to sink. It is Morgan's view of this, so similar to what we know from the film, which seems quite heartbreaking. There is some kind of resolution to this, as it is also a tale of how Morgan changes from the beginning of the book to the end.
The negative? Probably that we know the tale, so without such an interesting main character and a host of secondary characters to keep us interested, the story would have fallen flat.
Definitely worth reading if you like character-studies and don't mind the fact that the story is built around a well-known ship and it's sinking.
This book itself came out the year before the famous James Cameron film Titanic, so cannot be accused of copying the film despite both having similar themes. The difference in this book, however, is that the view of the social classes (as seen through the main character, Morgan, himself an upper class person), is one of the main themes of the story, where as in the film it is the romance which takes precedence.
Here, Morgan is shown to be at times quite sensitive, having a sometimes morbid outlook and a tendency towards self-destruction, as seen later on in the novel. He is the nephew (I think) of the owner of the White Star Line, and so has an important place on board the ship, where as in actuality he did very little on the ship's actual design and is only seen as important because of who his uncle is. He sees the faults of his class quite clearly, though he can do little about it.
The best thing about this novel is the last chapter, where the Titanic has hit the iceberg and begins to sink. It is Morgan's view of this, so similar to what we know from the film, which seems quite heartbreaking. There is some kind of resolution to this, as it is also a tale of how Morgan changes from the beginning of the book to the end.
The negative? Probably that we know the tale, so without such an interesting main character and a host of secondary characters to keep us interested, the story would have fallen flat.
Definitely worth reading if you like character-studies and don't mind the fact that the story is built around a well-known ship and it's sinking.