From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

A Town Like Alice

Nevil Shute

Start date: September 7, 2021

Finish date: October 6, 2021

Discussion leader: Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂

Why we're reading this: A firm favorite for many in this group.
[close] A firm favorite for many in this group.

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Jul 06, 2024 Moonkiszt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adults-authors-explaining-stuff, diaries-journals-letters-herein, healing-helping-caregiving, agrarian-concerns-and-living, braveness-here, imprisonment-work-camps-death-camps, wars-and-rumors-of-war, travelogue-culturesplaining, far-from-home, geo-jolly-old-england

A captivating read. . . by an author whose writing is evocative. . .and appalling. He wouldn't have made the same choices today, and I am certain with his talent and skill he would have still created as compelling a read with a big injection of cultural sensitivity. I watched elder relatives who suffered from this same unfortunate tendency shape up quite well before they passed on. . . and a number who . . .didn't. So there is that. . .my only warning.

This is a love story. On many levels. It is A captivating read. . . by an author whose writing is evocative. . .and appalling. He wouldn't have made the same choices today, and I am certain with his talent and skill he would have still created as compelling a read with a big injection of cultural sensitivity. I watched elder relatives who suffered from this same unfortunate tendency shape up quite well before they passed on. . . and a number who . . .didn't. So there is that. . .my only warning.

This is a love story. On many levels. It is a war story about a sidelined community overtaken. It is a story about community building, and the surprising elements used. This is a story about a woman who let nothing stop her. A discerning reader may take away an understanding of the seductive power of a sarong, or fabric enticingly draped. This is a crucifixion story - not the one considered every sabbath. This is a story based on a true happening, for which I provide the Author's Note at the end of the book, his reason for writing:

On the publication of this book I expect to be accused of falsifying history, especially in regard to the march and death of the homeless women prisoners. I shall be told that nothing of the sort ever happened in Malaya, and this is true. It happened in Sumatra.

After the conquest of Malaya in 1942 the Japanese invaded Sumatra and quickly took the island. A party of about eighty Dutch women and children were collected in the vicinity of Padang. The local Japanese commander was reluctant to assume responsibility for these women and, to solve his problem, marched them out of his area; so began a trek all round Sumatra which lasted for two and a half years. At the end of this vast journey less than thirty of them were still alive.

In 1949 I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Geysel-Vonck at Palembang in Sumatra. Mrs. Geysel had been a member of that party. When she was taken prisoner she was a slight, pretty girl of twenty-one, recently married; she had a baby six months old, and a very robust sense of humour. In the years that followed Mrs. Geysel marched over twelve hundred miles carrying her baby, in circumstances similar to those which I have described. She emerged from this fantastic ordeal undaunted, and with her son fit and well.

I do not think that I have ever before turned to real life for an incident in one of my novels. If I have done so now it is because I have been unable to resist the appeal of this true story, and because I want to pay what tribute is within my power to the most gallant lady I have ever met. --Nevil Shute

All the stars, in spite of many flaws so apparent through today's lens (just as many of our present tomes will be so viewed by those who inherit our bookshelves and libraries). Will be reading more of Nevil's ouevre. ...more

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