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A review by jstilts
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A classic that hasn't aged entirely well, but worth a read.
It starts off with the odd air of an Agatha Christie (without a murder) as a lawyer locates and works out a trust fund for a young woman. It's a little dull but mercifully a small part of the book, yet almost enough to put me off continuing except I knew a rough outline of the plot to come.
She - Jean - tells him of her experiences as a prisoner of war during WWII in Malaysia, and this tale is a large part of the book and by far the most enthralling. Based on a true story we follow a group of women forced to march around the country as everywhere they are sent they are sent on (still under guard). There are many sad tragedies and feats of endurance along the way, proving Jean to be a strong and capable person.
Without spoiling the romantic heart of the story, the second half finds her in remote Australia with lofty ambitions to turn a ghost town around, and here it's less compelling - it's an okay tale but not a patch on the Malaysian half, and I find the main Australian character to be boorish and a "simple-minded farmer" stereotype of rural white Australians.
My real trouble is with some aspects of the book that now seem archaic and at times offensive. While the lead character is the young woman Jean, the author insists on returning to the male Lawyer as the narrative character, with long chapters seemingly from Jean's perspective turning out to be Noel's re-telling of her letters to him (some of which is highly unlikely to have been committed to correspondence). It's as if the author doesn't trust the reader to be interested in a woman's story, or doesn't have confidence in committing to telling one.
Elsewhere there is a lot of racist language used to refer to the Malaysians, the Japanese and to Australian Aboriginals - much of it from the main Australian character. While this may be an accurate retelling of the times, at publication in 1950 other authors of Australian Fiction such as Arthur Upfield were not doing this without other characters or the narration calling them out on it or examining it in interesting ways.
Also disappointing is Aboriginal characters having ridiculous names from products such as "Palmolive", "Bournville" etc. While it's true that white Australians did indeed name or rename Aboriginal people in this manner, not even the character Jean - who is newly arrived in Australia - remarks on this odd practice, which seems both a missed opportunity and an endorsement by the author of this degrading racist practice.
It starts off with the odd air of an Agatha Christie (without a murder) as a lawyer locates and works out a trust fund for a young woman. It's a little dull but mercifully a small part of the book, yet almost enough to put me off continuing except I knew a rough outline of the plot to come.
She - Jean - tells him of her experiences as a prisoner of war during WWII in Malaysia, and this tale is a large part of the book and by far the most enthralling. Based on a true story we follow a group of women forced to march around the country as everywhere they are sent they are sent on (still under guard). There are many sad tragedies and feats of endurance along the way, proving Jean to be a strong and capable person.
Without spoiling the romantic heart of the story, the second half finds her in remote Australia with lofty ambitions to turn a ghost town around, and here it's less compelling - it's an okay tale but not a patch on the Malaysian half, and I find the main Australian character to be boorish and a "simple-minded farmer" stereotype of rural white Australians.
My real trouble is with some aspects of the book that now seem archaic and at times offensive. While the lead character is the young woman Jean, the author insists on returning to the male Lawyer as the narrative character, with long chapters seemingly from Jean's perspective turning out to be Noel's re-telling of her letters to him (some of which is highly unlikely to have been committed to correspondence). It's as if the author doesn't trust the reader to be interested in a woman's story, or doesn't have confidence in committing to telling one.
Elsewhere there is a lot of racist language used to refer to the Malaysians, the Japanese and to Australian Aboriginals - much of it from the main Australian character. While this may be an accurate retelling of the times, at publication in 1950 other authors of Australian Fiction such as Arthur Upfield were not doing this without other characters or the narration calling them out on it or examining it in interesting ways.
Also disappointing is Aboriginal characters having ridiculous names from products such as "Palmolive", "Bournville" etc. While it's true that white Australians did indeed name or rename Aboriginal people in this manner, not even the character Jean - who is newly arrived in Australia - remarks on this odd practice, which seems both a missed opportunity and an endorsement by the author of this degrading racist practice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, and War
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Slavery and Violence