On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute, On the Beach (New York: Vintage Ed. , reprint of original published 1957; 2010). 320 pages.

This story is set in 1963 around Melbourne, Australia's southern-most major city. World War Three has devastated the nations of the northern hemisphere. Global air currents carried the nuclear fallout over the northern hemisphere killing all animal and human life. The fallout moves slowly across the equator and starts to cover the rest of the world. The only inhabitable parts of the world are the southern parts of Africa, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Life in Melbourne continues while the invisible radiation moves towards them. An American submarine survived the devastation and now bases itself in Melbourne. The Australian government detects a Morse code signal coming from Seattle. With the hope that someone survived, the American submarine performs a mission to inspect the damage to the cities on the  west coast of the United States, investigate the source of the Morse code signal, and examine the levels of radiation to determine if the levels are falling. The submarine crew examines the cities on the west coast of the United States from the safety of their vessel. They discover that the radiation levels have not fallen, and that the mystery Morse code signal is caused by an object swinging in the breeze and hitting the Morse code key. Upon completion of their mission, the submarine returns to Melbourne, where the crew face their fate along with the rest of the world - death by radiation poisoning. The Australian government distributes suicide pills for those wishing to end things quickly. In their last weeks with the radiation approaching, the people carry on their lives until the radiation sickness emerged. Most of the characters choose to suicide, while the submarine captain leaves port with his remaining crew to scuttle his boat.

This is a bleak and morose book. Don't expect it to cheer you up. After reading it, I have doubts about the authenticity of the characters. The major characters are hardy souls. Some of them are military men. I found it difficult to believe that none of the characters headed to the hills or caves with years of provisions and protective supplies in order to ride out the years of radioactive fallout until it was safe to emerge. I find it hard to believe that the author did not include in his story what we now call "survivalists."  The characters in his book put their faith in the government, waited for the inevitable, and then committed suicide. Maybe that is his point: putting your faith in the government results is suicide.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was bleak and morose, but that is the intention. I always wanted to read this book after hearing the story (false though it was) that Ava Gardner, the star of the film adaptation of the book, said that Melbourne was the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world. I'm pleased I read this book, but could not say that joy or happiness can be found within it's pages. Caveat emptor!

Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, Notes from A Big Country (New York: Doubleday; 1998), 318 pages.

In 1996 or thereabouts, Bryson relocated with his family from England to a small college town in New Hampshire. Soon after his arrival, he was convinced by a colleague at an English newspaper (The Mail on Sunday Night and Day Magazine) to write a weekly column about America. This book is a collection of these articles that were written between October 1996 and May 1998. The articles are printed chronologically and cover a wide range of topics of potential interest to English readers. The book’s chapters include articles on baseball (written during the time of the World Series), the intellectual poverty of American television programs, the pervasiveness of drugs, advertising, congress, food, politics, obesity (how could there be a book on America without this topic being broached), the unique American holidays and how Americans celebrate them, and the rituals of fare welling a child going off to college. Bryson’s articles also contain a few articles on the oppressive bureaucracies one encounters in America (no doubted more oppressive these days), as well as numerous articles on the strangeness of returning to America after being away for a long time and finding that many things have changed and are not as they once were.

Bryson’s books are known for containing generous portions of smart-arse comments, complaints about stupidity and stupid people, and cruel humor often directed towards people simply doing their job. This book does not disappoint those Bryson fans expecting that kind of writing. You have to give credit to the man: he knows his audience. Nonetheless, this humor is at times forced, especially in articles dealing with new technology and having to file income taxes. Bryson complains a lot – he even quotes his wife who accuses him of writing columns that bitch, moan and complain. She is correct, partly. We should be mindful that these articles were written for an English newspaper and Bryson does well to pick the low hanging fruits of complaining about America in a way that appeals to English superiority and their apparent repulsion of American vulgarity. These are easy targets. Where Bryson really excels is in his descriptions of aspects of America that delight and surprise him. These articles are where Bryson’s writing excels. Smart-arse complainers are common: writers that can convey delight wonder and enthusiasm are rare. This is where Bryson’s real talents lie. In this book he shows glimpses of this special talent. As we now know, it took Bryson a few more years and a few more books for him to develop this talent and leave behind completely the callow smart-arse humor that appears here. This book is enjoyable nonetheless. The short chapters make it an ideal book for commuters looking for something to make their daily journeys quickly pass, as well as for men who like to do their reading in the smallest room in the house. Time has dated a few of the chapters, but on balance, this is an enjoyable book that has something for all adults.

Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon

William Least Heat-Moon, Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey, (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 2008),  581 pages.

When William Least Heat-Moon published Blue Highways, he established a reputation as a writer who knew that off the beaten track places offer big surprises. In this book, the author again chronicles his road travels in and around the small towns of the United States of America in search of "Quoz," things strange, incongruous, or peculiar. To Heat-Moon, "Quoz" can be history, hereditary stories retold or invented, or places and locations with a past often in danger of being forgotten or destroyed. The author travelled far and wide with an anonymous attorney friend in search of "Quoz." Within the continental United States, he travelled to the Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, the Northwest and numerous places in between. He did not take one single journey, but a series of journeys over an indeterminate period of time. He traveled to swamps in Florida, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, along an abandoned railway in Idaho on a bicycle adapted for riding on rails, engaged interesting characters in Wyoming, and investigated the so-called mysterious Quapaw Ghost Light of Oklahoma. He re-examined an old cold blooded murder in Joplin Missouri. He also traveled down an old waterway along the east costs of the United States, and to my surprise and enjoyment, wrote in great detail about the Starrucca Viaduct in Lanesboro Pennsylvania, a disused elevated masonry railway bridge of considerable size.

Heat-Moon is a skilled writer. The dust cover to this book does not exaggerate when it describes him as being a chronicler of rare genius and empathy. He has an ear for a good story, the personality to engage  strangers to extract information, and the ability to share it with others in writing. But sharing is too bland a description. Heat-Moon thoroughly investigated backgrounds and facts. He conveys to the reader some real gems of stories. He breathes life into forgotten facts, scandals and history. He makes the ordinary seem exciting. The author should be commended for making the "Quoz" the subject of his book. He avoids the habit so often seen in travel books of making himself and his reaction to his new environment the subject. Rather, Heat-Moon stands in the background highlighting the "Quoz" and by doing so, enriching our lives.

I've read two of the author's other works, Blue Highways and River-Horse, and like those books, I enjoyed this book immensely. I didn't want this book to end. I wanted Heat-Hoon to continue his travels and telling interesting and fascinating stories about the forgotten and overlooked parts of the United States of America. At times slow-paced and detailed, readers should be cautioned to not expect a "rollicking good read." This book is a mosey, a slow-paced and thoughtful examination of interesting and mostly forgotten places and discarded stories. I think this is a wonderful book, and expect many others will think the same after they read it.

The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly, The Gods of Guilt (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 2013), 400 pages.

  

Gods of Guilt is a Michael Connelly crime novel. The story is based around a Los Angeles based criminal defense attorney called Michael Haller, a recurring character in Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series. This book is about Haller defending a man accused of killing one of his former clients, a prostitute that Haller tried to reform or help leave the business. Haller’s defense investigation reveals that his new client was set up, and that the victim may have been killed because of her role as a witness in another case, an appeal against a conviction by an incarcerated drug cartel member. The deceased prostitute was a witness in a case that could free the cartel member if she acknowledged her role as an informant to the Federal Government’s Drug Enforcement Agency (“D.E.A.”). Her testimony could reveal criminal activity by a corrupt D.E.A. agent, including planting evidence that led to the conviction of the cartel member. For Haller to free his new client, he has to show in court the part played by his deceased former prostitute client in assisting the corrupt D.E.A agent commit a crime. This act would introduce to his defense the element of reasonable doubt through the identification of an alternate killer with both opportunity and motive.

This book is a typical Connelly book. It is a fast moving story that maintains the reader’s interest with generous doses of court room drama, suspense, official corruption and troubled relationships. As seems to be the case with most Connelly books, the principal characters are less than perfect and have paid a high price for their success, namely, marriage failures and alienation from their children. Gods of Guilt is an interesting book that would be enjoyed by Connelly’s regular readers, or persons that enjoy realistic crime fiction that accurately portrays the prosecution of crimes in Los Angeles. If the story is truly realistic, Connelly seems to be warning the reader, though his main character Haller, to never talk to police when they are investigating a murder without having a lawyer present because the police will most likely try to pin it on you.