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Ruined City Paperback – January 1, 2000

by
Nevil Shute (Author)
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Nevil Shute (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: House of Stratus Ltd (January 1, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1842322907
  • ISBN-13: 978-1842322901
  • Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.2 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,953,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsShute tackles economic depression
By John L. Velonis on April 4, 2000
Format: Hardcover
Synopsis: Henry Warren, wealthy London merchant banker, finds himself incognito in the hospital of a depressed northern English town. During his convalescence, he is confronted with the unhappy state of the town since the local shipyard, its sole industry, closed down five years before. Returning to London, he decides to start up the shipyard again in order to revitalize the town; but the problem is finding the first customer. He is forced to resort to some rather shady deals which could land him in prison if discovered.
I am of two minds about this novel. On the one hand, it's classic Shute -- the quiet, competent hero who succeeds through conviction and kindness to others, with the mandatory love story and Shute's characteristic heartwarming plot, enlivened by the ancient "king masquerading as beggar" device.
On the other hand, the central plot is a case of the end justifying the means, which I find rather disturbing; and the novel seems to glorify socialism (not without a dig or two at communism) -- though of course this was written in 1938, when socialism seemed a more viable solution. The novel grapples with one of the fundamental economic problems facing our society -- what to do with people whose skills are superseded by changing circumstances -- and though the answer Shute propounds does not seem workable to me, at least he makes you think about the issue.
On the whole, this is definitely worth reading, especially if your only experience of Shute is "On the Beach". But you may want to try another of his novels first -- "A Town like Alice", "No Highway", "Trustee from the Toolroom", or "The Chequer Board".
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5.0 out of 5 starsEntrepreneurship tale from 1930s Britain
By Paul A. Martin on January 20, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Shute used his own experience (as the aircraft designer Nevil Shute Norwell) of the economics of ramping up a company on the depths of a worldwide depression -- and finds both the joy and the despair of the whole process. He provides a window to the realities of that time while building entertaining characters one can relate to.
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4.0 out of 5 starsRuined City - Nevil Shute
By V. Bhagwat on December 23, 2007
Format: Mass Market Paperback
A nice satisfying, fast-paced novel with a touch of romance, adventure, heroism, & glimpse into the human side of business. I had read this book as a teen, & remembered it long enough to want to read it again.

The book arrived in good time with good packaging & the condition was as described. Thank you!
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5.0 out of 5 starsRefreshing Read
By dickens on November 22, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Shute really turns on a dime in this one. Change after change gallops past in this work and the pace doesn't slacken. I'm amazed at the seeming knowledge of depression-era high finance Shute endows his hero with in this excellent novel. I'm a slow reader and I was finished in a week. Almost unheard of for me but I was needing my Shute fix.
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5.0 out of 5 starsdifferent age, different world
By Michael John Smith on January 3, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
A story of romance with a vintage feel. Easy to read novel with a heat-warming storyline, this novel revolves around a run-down town that was a successful ship-building yard in the past. The shipyard was poorly managed and lost orders leaving the town without the main source of employment. In steps the anonymous hero banker who happens to taken to the town hospital to have an emergency operation. The gradual buildup of the relationship with the hospital almoner, the determination of the banker with a new mission and the consequences of rather risky re-launch of the shipyard make up the web that Nevil Shute weaves to captivate the reader. A good story, even many decades later.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA period piece that resonates in the current financial crisis times
By Philip Ballard on June 4, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
A classic tale of mistaken identity a little akin to secret millionaire where taken for a down and out the hero is able to put in place a rescue plan for his unknowing benefactors. Heart warming if you like that sort of thing.
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5.0 out of 5 starsClean and Healthy Reading
By Terence Patrick O'Neill on July 7, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
As with all Neville Shute novels they make very enjoyable reading, even second or more times reading them.
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