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jplayjames's review
4.0
This is very much a product of its times - and it is very clear that that time was about a decade and a half before the publication of The Feminine Mystique - but apart from that it is a great book. I'm not sure why I left it so long after reading the (even better) On the Beach, but I'm glad I read this.
I went in knowing nothing but the title, and from that would not have expected a book about aeroplane safety, and yet this was both engaging and very funny.
I went in knowing nothing but the title, and from that would not have expected a book about aeroplane safety, and yet this was both engaging and very funny.
warrenl's review against another edition
4.0
After taking years to get around to reading Nevil Shute I'm left with mixed feelings. This is far from a flawless book. There's enough in here to make a modern feminist freak out and foam at the mouth, for example. And then there's the curious business of Dr Scott's apparent omniscience. Numerous chapters are narrated by him in the first person, and that's fine because he was there. But then we'd move to a different scene, often thousands of miles away from Dr Scott, and the narrative would switch to the third person, except for the odd comment from Dr Scott, weirdly just dropped in there. I couldn't figure it out.
Nevil Shute's writing is workmanlike. He is no great prose stylist in the vein of, say, Graham Greene. There is no great exploration of the human condition going on here. But he writes an intelligent, engaging story. I'd give it 3.5 stars but, and I'm sure I've said this before in a Goodreads review, I think it's fairer round it up to 4 rather than down to 3.
Nevil Shute's writing is workmanlike. He is no great prose stylist in the vein of, say, Graham Greene. There is no great exploration of the human condition going on here. But he writes an intelligent, engaging story. I'd give it 3.5 stars but, and I'm sure I've said this before in a Goodreads review, I think it's fairer round it up to 4 rather than down to 3.
georgecooke8809's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
dawnlizreads's review against another edition
4.0
I was really pleased to receive a Shute novel in a vintage book subscription package I've signed up to - Shute's A Town Like Alice was one of my favourite books as a teenager, so I was delighted to get the chance to read another of his books.
This is a great escapist read of the "little man" going up against major players in his bid to prove his theories about how "metal fatigue" might affect an aeroplane. Mr Honey is a complex oddball but a likeable character at the same time. Amusingly, he does seem to have no issues attracting women (I suspect this is wish fulfilment on Shute's part) despite being described as having the features of a toad.
The big issue with it is that it's a product of a its time. It's unbelieveable sexist. An underlying theme is that women are happiest being wives and looking after their men. So you do have to keep reminding yourself that it was written in 1948.
This is a great escapist read of the "little man" going up against major players in his bid to prove his theories about how "metal fatigue" might affect an aeroplane. Mr Honey is a complex oddball but a likeable character at the same time. Amusingly, he does seem to have no issues attracting women (I suspect this is wish fulfilment on Shute's part) despite being described as having the features of a toad.
The big issue with it is that it's a product of a its time. It's unbelieveable sexist. An underlying theme is that women are happiest being wives and looking after their men. So you do have to keep reminding yourself that it was written in 1948.
archergal's review against another edition
4.0
Nevil Shute can sure write a nice book. Rhe first part was really engrossing. The story does taper off a bit in the last half, but it's still enjoyable.
The story's a little old-fashioned, with a certain amount of talk about how a woman's life is more complete when she's a wife and/or mother. Ignore that, and remember the book is a product of its time. Notice how much GOODNESS there is among the characters of the book. Doing the right thing is really important for a couple of the characters, and their attitude impacts others' attitudes too. It's a character study, and a very touching one at that.
A good story. I liked it a lot.
The story's a little old-fashioned, with a certain amount of talk about how a woman's life is more complete when she's a wife and/or mother. Ignore that, and remember the book is a product of its time. Notice how much GOODNESS there is among the characters of the book. Doing the right thing is really important for a couple of the characters, and their attitude impacts others' attitudes too. It's a character study, and a very touching one at that.
A good story. I liked it a lot.
bundy23's review against another edition
4.0
Another Nevil Shute story about a nice man putting himself out to do a nice thing and eventually being rewarded with a happy ending. I should despite this shit, but nope, so far I've read 9 of his books and all have been impossible not to love. I don't know how he does it...
thomcat's review against another edition
3.0
Saw the film first, liked it. The book has much more; wonder if I missed any hints in the movie? Time to rewatch I guess.
becsti's review
2.0
★★☆☆☆ | 2 Stars
Found this to be rather tedious and wasn't a fan of how the female characters were portrayed.
Found this to be rather tedious and wasn't a fan of how the female characters were portrayed.
archergal's review
4.0
Nevil Shute can sure write a nice book. Rhe first part was really engrossing. The story does taper off a bit in the last half, but it's still enjoyable.
The story's a little old-fashioned, with a certain amount of talk about how a woman's life is more complete when she's a wife and/or mother. Ignore that, and remember the book is a product of its time. Notice how much GOODNESS there is among the characters of the book. Doing the right thing is really important for a couple of the characters, and their attitude impacts others' attitudes too. It's a character study, and a very touching one at that.
A good story. I liked it a lot.
The story's a little old-fashioned, with a certain amount of talk about how a woman's life is more complete when she's a wife and/or mother. Ignore that, and remember the book is a product of its time. Notice how much GOODNESS there is among the characters of the book. Doing the right thing is really important for a couple of the characters, and their attitude impacts others' attitudes too. It's a character study, and a very touching one at that.
A good story. I liked it a lot.
hayesstw's review
4.0
It's interesting to re-read a book after a long time, and see whether your opinion of it has changed. I first read [a:Aldous Huxley|3487|Aldous Huxley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1547138835p2/3487.jpg]'s [b:Brave New World|5129|Brave New World|Aldous Huxley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575509280l/5129._SY75_.jpg|3204877] when I was about 17, and found it very exciting and stimulating. I re-read it when I was 57, and after 40 years found it rather flat and dull. I've just finished reading [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] after a gap of about 60 years, and found it as good as when I first read it.
It was interesting to see what I remembered and what I had forgotten. I was about 13 or 14 when I first read it, when I was still crazy about aeroplanes and wanted to be a pilot. By the time I was 15 my ambitions had dropped, and my main interest was cars. From the age of 11 to 14 most of what I read had something to do with aeroplanes, and if [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] had not been about aeroplanes I would probably not have read it at all.
When I first read the book the most memorable things were the technical bits to do with the aircraft. I could recall the love story vaguely, but I could not recall the British Israelite angle at all, though it is quite prominent in the story, though I did recall the part with the planchette.
I read it about the time that the first commercial jets, the De Havilland Comets, were in the news because of unexplained crashes. I seem to recall that when it was determined that the cause of the crashes was metal fatigue I knew what that meant because it was central to the plot of [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] but it is possible that it was the other way round -- that I understood the point of the plot because of the real-life incidents with the Comets.
It was the first book by [a:Nevil Shute|21477|Nevil Shute|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1547804311p2/21477.jpg] that I had read, and because I had enjoyed it I went on to read others written by him, though I still thought (and after re-reading it still think) )that [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] was one of his best. I think it has aged well. Of course, one is aware that it belongs to its time, and that many things have changed since then. On the technical side the most obvious thing is air navigation. Back then the cabin crews were small (because the planes were smaller and carried fewer passengers) but the flight-deck crew was large, including, in addition to two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a wireless operator. Advances in electronics have made the last two redundant.
Social attitudes too are different. One of the most noticeable is that sex has replaces smoking as one of the most commonly-described recreational activities. Another is that sex roles were much more rigid back then: males were useless at cooking and cleaning and buying clothes for children; females were useless at research and design.
I find the social differences interesting too, because I'm also reading a historical novel, [b:Dissolution|138685|Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake, #1)|C.J. Sansom|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329914905l/138685._SY75_.jpg|133702] by [a:C.J. Sansom|80212|C.J. Sansom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1236778813p2/80212.jpg]. When reading historical novels I always have one eye out for anachronisms, things that the author gets wrong about the period in which the novel is set. [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] is set in our past, but it was contemporary when it was written. So when I first read it, it was much closer to the time in which it was set and I did not notice such things, but the second time around, it gives an authentic view of a vanished past. Give it another 60 years, and some things in the book may need to be annotated, because there will then be no one around who lived thourgh that period. But I thought it was a good read back then, and it's still a good read now, and probably will be in 60 years' time too,
It was interesting to see what I remembered and what I had forgotten. I was about 13 or 14 when I first read it, when I was still crazy about aeroplanes and wanted to be a pilot. By the time I was 15 my ambitions had dropped, and my main interest was cars. From the age of 11 to 14 most of what I read had something to do with aeroplanes, and if [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] had not been about aeroplanes I would probably not have read it at all.
When I first read the book the most memorable things were the technical bits to do with the aircraft. I could recall the love story vaguely, but I could not recall the British Israelite angle at all, though it is quite prominent in the story, though I did recall the part with the planchette.
I read it about the time that the first commercial jets, the De Havilland Comets, were in the news because of unexplained crashes. I seem to recall that when it was determined that the cause of the crashes was metal fatigue I knew what that meant because it was central to the plot of [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] but it is possible that it was the other way round -- that I understood the point of the plot because of the real-life incidents with the Comets.
It was the first book by [a:Nevil Shute|21477|Nevil Shute|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1547804311p2/21477.jpg] that I had read, and because I had enjoyed it I went on to read others written by him, though I still thought (and after re-reading it still think) )that [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] was one of his best. I think it has aged well. Of course, one is aware that it belongs to its time, and that many things have changed since then. On the technical side the most obvious thing is air navigation. Back then the cabin crews were small (because the planes were smaller and carried fewer passengers) but the flight-deck crew was large, including, in addition to two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a wireless operator. Advances in electronics have made the last two redundant.
Social attitudes too are different. One of the most noticeable is that sex has replaces smoking as one of the most commonly-described recreational activities. Another is that sex roles were much more rigid back then: males were useless at cooking and cleaning and buying clothes for children; females were useless at research and design.
I find the social differences interesting too, because I'm also reading a historical novel, [b:Dissolution|138685|Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake, #1)|C.J. Sansom|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329914905l/138685._SY75_.jpg|133702] by [a:C.J. Sansom|80212|C.J. Sansom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1236778813p2/80212.jpg]. When reading historical novels I always have one eye out for anachronisms, things that the author gets wrong about the period in which the novel is set. [b:No Highway|557153|No Highway|Nevil Shute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346958173l/557153._SY75_.jpg|1039548] is set in our past, but it was contemporary when it was written. So when I first read it, it was much closer to the time in which it was set and I did not notice such things, but the second time around, it gives an authentic view of a vanished past. Give it another 60 years, and some things in the book may need to be annotated, because there will then be no one around who lived thourgh that period. But I thought it was a good read back then, and it's still a good read now, and probably will be in 60 years' time too,