Customer Reviews

The Seafarers

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The novella "The Seafarers" is the first new work by Nevil Shute published since 1961, and it will come as both a delight and a reminder to readers familiar with his other works.

The story is in many ways a different treatment of some of the themes which were at the core of his later book "Requiem for a Wren", published in the US under the title "The Breaking Wave". Readers of that book will recognize the character of Leading Wren Jean Porter, who finds her direction in life altered but unclear following five years of military service during WW2. Unlike the gothic and ultimately tragic themes of the later book, however, "The Seafarers" shows her finding a path in which her life is built up on the basis of her wartime experiences, instead of being destroyed by them.

It goes without saying that this novella, written around 1946-1947, shows Shute at the very height of his powers as a storyteller. His narrative skill and observation of characters is fully on a par with later works like "A Town Like Alice" and "Round the Bend". While it is perhaps fashionable in these days to decry Shute's storytelling as overly-simplistic and out-of-date, readers who have enjoyed his other works will enjoy this one also, and will recognise in it the common theme of almost all of his books - that '. . . the true success is to labour.'

I'm a huge Shute fan. I have virtually all of his books, sometimes in multiple editions. I bought this to fill out my set. However, the publication of this early draft as a finished book does not do Nevil a service. It's like reading a class assignment where the students are asked to write a short story in the style of Shute.

I'm not a big fan of books based on unfinished manuscripts where the writer dies before he finished. But a manuscript published post mortem where it is clear the author didn't choose to publish it, that sucks.

Just writing this has caused me to reduce my rating from 3 to 2.