On the Beach is a book all about the life of Australians after a nuclear war has occurred. Since Australia wasn’t involved, they are the only ones who haven’t been completely wiped out. The book follows Peter and Dwight, fellow crew members in a submarine in the navy.

The book starts out with Peter. The story gradually brings him closer to Dwight who becomes Peter’s commander on a submarine. The navy is all that’s left of military power, and of the navy, submarines are the only craft that can survive. Peter is a married man, with a friend who seems to become interested in Dwight after they spend some time together. This is one of the reasons Dwight plays such a prominent role. The girl’s name is Moira.

Any compliment that I would try to give this book would be an understatement. The writing style is original and impressive. The vocabulary is also very advanced. If you find yourself daydreaming, you shall become lost cause every paragraph matters and every paragraph has something important to say.

This book is very long so being prepared to spend a lot of time with it would be a good idea. The only way that you will ever get through this book is if you find it genuinely interesting. Also, if you read the first few chapters and you’re still uninterested, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop reading it because it does get better.

On the Beach has been deemed an extremely original book and a classic. I have to agree. It’s hardly about action, if you like that stuff. It doesn’t have sci-fi aliens or anything. It’s just the everyday life of people waiting for their imminent death. It can be considered a depressing book and a waste of time by some people, but that’s probably just because they never read it.

Nevil Shute is truly considered a genius because of this book. He thought these people’s life’s through in over 250 pages. The detail in this book is amazing, but not as in-depth as the Lord of the Rings books. You will wonder what’s going to happen in the next chapter every chapter. The ending may seem obvious, but it’s the journey that’s important. The obvious ending also has a small twist.