The second of a two-part sweeping epic of a Naval family starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I definitely liked this second part of the story a...moreThe second of a two-part sweeping epic of a Naval family starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I definitely liked this second part of the story also. I've read it at least twice.(less)
I have just finished reading this extremely good book. The 80% or so was fairly good as the author brought all the pieces together, but the last 20% w...moreI have just finished reading this extremely good book. The 80% or so was fairly good as the author brought all the pieces together, but the last 20% was so very exciting as the hurricane winds bore down on all the characters. Heroic action by a very diverse group brought the story to a very exciting conclusion. I highly recommend it, especially for those who love tales of the sea.(less)
Nevil Shute is one of my favorite authors. Ruined City began a little slow but picked up quickly. A fairly young and very successful, workaholic finan...moreNevil Shute is one of my favorite authors. Ruined City began a little slow but picked up quickly. A fairly young and very successful, workaholic financier Henry Warren realizes that his failing marriage is about to come to an end. The latter issue disturbs him very little, but he grows very concerned about his poor physical condition which is the result of his having driven himself extremely hard to reach the level of success that he has. He knows that he gets very little exercise and vows to make radical changes in his lifestyle. He has his chauffeur drive him from his London home about 300 miles north and drop him off for an undetermined period of time near the vicinity of Newcastle near the northeast coast, not far from the border with Scotland. It is from there that he begins his new routine of walking 20 miles per day. Following a week or so of this, when he is beginning to feel like a changed man, he experiences a severe intestinal attack. He is taken to a local hospital in the small town of Sharples in a delirious condition. He must have an immediate operation to relieve the obstruction. Unshaven for the week he has been walking, with little money on him, and having lost his identification, he is taken for an unemployed, homeless man. When he realizes this following his successful operation, he decides not to disabuse them right away of this extremely incorrect assumption and instead welcomes the anonymity that such circumstances provide him.
During his six weeks of post-operative recovery, he learns much about the town and people of his once-prosperous town. The local shipyard has been closed for more than five years along with the rolling mills and mine. After these primary employers closed their doors, the majority of the small businesses that existed in prosperous times had no choice but to close also with the vast majority of the local workforce being unemployed. He learns a great deal by just observing the “gaunt and listless” fellow patients, hearing them talk as if there is nothing worth living for, and noting that there seems to be a rather high mortality rate. He talks with the hospital almoner, i.e., social worker, Miss McMahon and learns that so much of this is due simply to lack of proper nutrition because they have so very little money. She tells him of what Sharples was like prior to the widespread unemployment. When he asked her why she doesn’t leave, she said because it is her home and because she firmly believes that prosperity will return in some manner.
As he reaching this end of his recovery period, he asks Miss McMahon if she can arrange for him look at the closed shipyard, rolling mills, and mine. She does arrange this, although she is quite puzzled as to why he, as an unemployed clerk (so she thinks), wants to do such a thing. He is finally discharged so he can continue his supposed search for employment. He promises Miss McMahon in writing to begin paying off his hospital bill as soon as he is employed again.
On his way back to London he realizes that he has found his new reason to continuing working instead of retiring. He vows that he will do everything in his power to become the catalyst that will result in prosperity returning to the economically dead city of Sharples. He immediately begins this “heroic gamble” at very substantial risk to his extensive fortune and impeccable reputation.
Nevil Shute is a wonderful storyteller and this tale is no exception. While not among my top favorites of his novels, Ruined City is quite good, and I do give it a very favorable recommendation.
Nevil Shute is a terrific author. I so very much enjoy his novels and his style of writing. His characters seem to come alive from the start. The prot...moreNevil Shute is a terrific author. I so very much enjoy his novels and his style of writing. His characters seem to come alive from the start. The protagonist in Pied Piper is John Howard, a 70-year-old English widower whose son was recently killed in action against the Germans very early in World War II. He very much wants to make some sort of war-effort contribution to his country, such as air-raid warden, but is always found to be too old. Very restless, he had to get away for a while and decided to go for a two-week fishing holiday in the Jura Mountains of southeast France near the Swiss border. His timing for this vacation could not have been worse, because it coincided with the German invasion of northern France through The Netherlands and Belgium. He was not overly concerned at first, because he felt that the French would defend their country with more effort than they did.
After a few days of fishing, he began to realize that he needed to leave for England right away. During the latter part of his stay, he had befriended an English couple and their two children. They have lived in Geneva, only 20 miles away just over the Swiss border, for the last 10 years where the man is a very dedicated employee of the League of Nations there. The man has decided that he must remain at his job to work for peace, and his wife wants to remain with him. They ask Mr. Howard to escort their two children Ronnie and Sheila, ages 7 and 5, to their aunt’s home in England. He very reluctantly agrees, anticipating no more than a quick day–and-a-half journey via train to Calais and thence via ship to Southampton.
Soon after they depart, Mr. Howard finds out that the Germans have advanced much more rapidly than anyone anticipated and that the trains have stopped running. They proceed toward the French coast by various means, but are soon forced to walk after their bus is strafed by the German air force. Along the way, Mr. Howard is first asked to add a little French girl Rose, age 10, to their group. Her mother wants her safely out of occupied France. Again he reluctantly agrees because of the help she will be in helping with the younger ones. Next, a small French boy Pierre, whose parents were killed in the strafing, joins them.
They arrive at a Chartres with great difficulty. Here Mr. Howard seeks assistance from a family he met the previous year on a more pleasant trip to the Jura Mountains. He finds that the man has been captured by the Germans. His wife and their daughter Nicole devise a plan for their escape. This involves Nicole travelling with them as far as the French coast. At first Mr. Howard won’t consider it, but soon he learns that Nicole and his deceased son were essentially engaged, a fact unknown to him. He hesitantly consents, because he is exceedingly tired and recognizes the value of her assistance with the children. Before long a little Dutch boy Wilhem, age 5, becomes a part of their growing party, because the local French peasants think he is German and are about to kill him.
They soon acquire a Polish Jew who has come to be in France all alone after his parents were killed by the Germans. This most unusual travelling group finally makes it to western France and is very close to realizing their goal of escape to England on a small fishing boat, when they are discovered by the Germans. Things get extremely tense for the entire group before a very unusual turn of events and the addition of their final fellow escapee.
I VERY MUCH recommend this excellent tale, especially to those who enjoy the stories of World War II. It is very heart-warming and a most enjoyable read. If any of you do read this book and it is the first of Nevil Shute’s books you have read, I predict that you will soon be seeking more of his titles.
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