Rating: 
Summary: Okay, a quick read
Review: I am an avid fan of end of the world ANYTHING (ranging from the religious to the ridiculous), and this is one EVERYONE's top apocalyptic lists, but I just didn't feel riveted like many others. THis book was small, but it still felt slow in its story. And depressing? You better believe it! But the point of the story is its realism; nuclear holocaust is supposed to depress the hell out of you! I could've passed on the trashy alchoholic character, but for its time frame (Australia in the post apocalyptic 1950's) and its size (less than 200 pages in my paperback), it is worth an afternoon to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly Real End of Life Scenario
Review: No giant rat creatures or bands of ugly-chic warriors. No heroic action sequences. No great battles for humanity.Just the end of hope, the end of the future, the end of life. This is a depiction, stark and realistic and unromantic, of how humans deal with the knowledge that the end of life on Earth has come, that they are going to die and leave nothing behind. Quite possibly the most depressing post-apocalyptic work of them all, but a real tour de force. A vivid work that stays with you long after you've finished.
Rating: 
Summary: ppft it [was bad]!
Review: ok well how can i start, i go to a private school in SUrrey B.C and im unfortunatly forced to read this book as a novel for our english class. what can i say it [is bad]! the characters just dont do logical things! ok if u knew the world was ending in less then a year would you just pretty much ignore it.. go on a submarine for half the time and forget about everything that was happening and not even try and save yourself? no, of course not. human nature is to survive! not to be willing to die and just deal with it... its human nature to stand up and try and not give up. obviously mr shute didnt know that while writing this book. He is very sexist towards woman and his style of writing is QUITE borring, i did NOT enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: BAD!
Review: This book was horrible and boring. I was very disapointed in the aweful writing and sexist comments coming up often while i was reading the book. I do not recommend this book to anyone. It is one of the worst books i have ever read. ...
Rating:
Summary: A Major Let Down
Review: Well, we had to read this book in English class. It is supposedly a classic, but many of the members of my class agree with me that it does not deserve its award winning title. First of all the characters in the book have very odd relationships, not resembling those of real people. Secondly, human nature is to protect oneself and its offspring. All the characters in the novel are taking their death as it comes, but if they were smart they could build underground shelters, stay there for 5-10 years and then return to the surface when the radiation has lessened. All in all it was a bit of a dissapointment, however the movie is very well done and I would recommend that first and foremost before the book.
Rating:
Summary: Is This How It Ends?
Review: I generally post my book reviews within days of finishing them, while they are freshest in my mind. However, in a strange twist of fate, I read 'On The Beach' during the second weekend in September of 2001, and I don't need to remind anyone what happened on the following Tuesday. When I closed the book, I had chills up my spine, but at the same time I was relieved, complacently sure that the events described by Nevil Shute could never happen. After all, the Cold War ended years ago. Then, just days later, the world as I knew it was suddenly changed, and the impossible was possible once again. During those first few surreal days after September 11th, I found my thoughts returning to this book time and time again as I stared at the horrifying images on my TV screen and listened to the chilling speculation about what would happen next. But each time, I consciously pushed it out of my mind, because it was suddenly hitting a little too close to home. Even before the specter of nuclear war became a more tangible threat, this was a frightening book because it's so realistic (despite the scientific inaccuracies ' keep in mind, this was written half a century ago). Other reviewers have complained that there's not enough action, but think about it ' if you knew you were going to die in a few months and there was nothing you could to do to prevent it, what would you do? I think most of us would find ourselves spending our final days more in the manner of Shute's characters than like anyone in a Bruce Willis film. We'd be the young married couple, tending our prized garden and cherishing our baby daughter. We'd be the lonely naval commander, dreaming of the wife and children we lost. We'd be the party girl, cramming in all the good times we could. In other words, we'd be doing what we knew for as long as we could, until we were forced to face the unknown. Maybe we'd try something we'd always dreamed about, like the Grand Prix, if the opportunity came along. Maybe, like Moira, we'd grow a little, and salvage something out of what remained of our life. But there wouldn't be any Hollywood style heroics to save the universe. If you're looking for a Die Hard type action adventure story, this is not the book for you. If you want a subtle, thought provoking psychological drama, it is.
Rating:
Summary: Best book ever....
Review: Poignant in its depiction of a selected few attempting to come to terms with the inevitable end of everything and everyone they have ever known and ever loved, On the Beach is a moving portrayal of those who have the courage to live those few, numbered days remaining to them as passionately and as fully as possible, even in the face of the end of the world. As they make plans that they know, within their souls, will never come to fruition as the world meets its doom, we become emotionally involved with Shute's characters, and we are reminded of how precious even such a mundane act as planting a garden can be. On the Beach makes you think, but it also makes you feel: this book is one of a small group of items in any medium that has ever made me cry. I can, with conviction, say On the Beach is the best book I have ever read, even being the bibliophile that I am. This book should be required reading for not only every student, but everyone. Period.
Rating:
Summary: On the Beach
Review: I found this book to be slightly boring. It didn't help that it tended to have no climax and was very repetious. On the contrary I have learned what would happen if ever a severe nuclear war occurred.
Rating:
Summary: If the world was ending, I wouldn't want to be On the Beach
Review: On the Beach was written to give the effect of the world ending. It did this very well but it was also quite dull. The book opens your eyes to some things we all never really thought imaginable and it makes you think. I feel Nevil Shute could have accomplished this better with some action and grabbing the reader.
Rating:
Summary: On the Beach: A very BORING book.
Review: Review: I rate On the beach 1 1/2 stars. On the Beach is one of the most boring and repetitious books I have ever read in my entire life. Each successive chapter is much like the one before it, in terms of mood and feeling. The overall feeling is one of such utter hopelessness and depression that it seemed to make me almost regret reading it in the first place. The only reason that allows me to be glad that I wasted my time reading this book, is that I now know never to read it again. If you are interested in reading about hopelessness, read Dante's Inferno, or Slaughter House 5, or The Green Mile, or the first book of The Stand. I promise you that those books will be far more interesting and meaningful than On The Beach. This book is about the end of the world, and yet there is very little symbolism of any kind, religious, philosophical or otherwise. On the whole, this book was very shallow and each chapter left me with little new to think about, much less discuss. On The Beach was meant to be a kind of anti-war warning, but other than that, it is about as puddle on a barely degraded roadway. There is some interesting characterization yes, but many of the characters seemed fairly dull despite how ever much time was spend on them. I would have to be paid 90 dollars to ever want to read this book again. In many ways this book struck me as more boring than The Complete Journals of Lewis and Clark. On The Beach should have been written as a short story, not a full size book. A short version of On the Beach would have spared me of its terrible multi-doses of boredom while still effectively conveying its plot and feeling.
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