Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkable, April 26, 2003
In college I went to a used book store to buy Shute's "On the Beach". They didn't have it, so I bought "Pied Piper" as a consolation. I've read it three times since. Tremendous novel. An aeronautical engineer by training, Shute was a gifted storyteller and writer. Piper is well paced, has many stories within the story of bringing the children back to England - a man coping with old age, feelings of uselessness, the loss of a son; the formation of a deep friendship with the woman his son left behind, and so forth. Shute hits on the timeless themes of courage, fortitude, self-sacrifice, forgiveness etc. without ever coming close to being maudlin. There are no unnecessary speeches from men standing on a hilltop talking about "what it's all for". As John Howard says, while in custody, to the German officer who tells him he must be a very brave man, "No, not a brave man. Just a very old one." For the record, I think it was made into a movie twice. Once with Monty Wooley playing Howard and then again for television - mid eighties, perhaps - with Peter O'Toole playing the role. Still, as the story is so marvelous, it should be done again for the big screen. Considering Anthony Hopkins's performance in "The Remains of the Day" (which was superior to the entertaining but far less nuanced Hannibal Lecter), I think he would be perfect to play Howard, putting the perfect cap on his career.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book and Wonderful Movie, April 6, 2005
Nevil Shute describes the surroundings and characters with such detail it is hard not to see exactly what he wants the reader to imagine. Unlike any other book I have read, I was entranced. I have always been intriqued by stories about WWII, and this is a good one. When elderly Englishman takes a holiday in France trying to get over his sons death, he finds himself the leader of a band of children trying to escape the German invasion.
I was amazed that the movie has not been put on VHS or DVD. The movie follows the book fairly closely. Monty Woolley plays the elderly man, and Roddy McDowall and Anne Baxter play two of the children. Otto Preminger is a German Major. Made in 1942 it is both dramatic and comedic. I highly recommend you try to catch it on TV.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
subtly gripping, January 25, 2002
By A Customer
Nevil Shute's love of humanity and storytelling ability are displayed at their best in this deceptively slow-starting tale of escape from the Nazis in early World War II. An elderly Englishman becomes the improbable -- but utterly believable -- guardian of a group of children trying to reach England from France ahead of the advancing Germans. There are no wild action scenes, no gunshots in the night, none of the trappings of the contemporary suspense novel. But there is tension in large doses as Shute draws the reader in to his tale with careful portraits of ordinary people doing extraordinary things because they simply have no choice. Even minor characters come alive with Shute's vivid writing. All in all, this is one of the most satisfying books I have ever read.
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