In recent years the novels of Nevil Shute have come into the public domain, so a reprint was timely, making them available again in crisp paperback editions shortly before free versions could be found in many places on the Internet. It seems unlikely that all of Shute's novels will remain in print, or will be canonized, as a fairly large number of them nowadays have a very outdated feel to them, just like many of the adventure stories of John Buchan, and, in fact, a little bit like Stella Gibbons whose The Charmers I read recently. While Gibbons's novels seem old-fashioned because of their emphasis on class in British society, Buchan's novels because of their exaggerated portrayal of communists, Shute's novels breathe the atmosphere of the late 1940 - 50s with their emphasis, also, on class and racism. Nonetheless they are all very well-written books that tell a good story well, and can be immensely satisfying, as indeed The chequer board proved to be a moving story.

The novel tells the story of an army man, who, in the last months of his life due to an injury sustained in the war has a limited time to live. His wish is to set things right (in his mind at least), and therefore wishes to re-engage with three men who shared the same ward with him at the military hospital. His wound or injury is rather telling, as it can be seen as a flaw or scar in his brain. Besides, his former judgement was blind, so to speak, as his head was bandaged while he was in the hospital, nonetheless the issue seems to be he did not do them right.

The structure of the book is cleverly constructed to avoid a boring or repetitive narrative of three quests. As the story progresses it turns out that he had misjudged each of these three men, and that the actual circumstances were entirely different from what they seemed. The issues at hand are class, race and matrimony, which were all at the forefront during the late 1950s.

As I said, The chequer board is an interesting and moving novel about seeing this black or white, but it will no longer be considered palatable or readable by everyone due to its dated and old-fashioned style, and, for instance, the frequent use of the n-word (even retained in the 2009 reprint). ( )

Nevil Shute, being English, was struck by the form that racism took in the American Army during WWII. A Black American Airman is falsely accused of rape, and is driven to attempting suicide, rather than deal with the upcoming Court-martial. However, after recovery, he does have the charge reduced to six months confinement due to high quality legal tap-dancing at the court. ( )

Well. It wasn't bad - mildly interesting setup for recounting of wartime adventures (no, not battle. Quite different), and one trip out of England. And there's quite a bit about racism, from multiple angles - white American troops vs black American troops vs Brits who didn't see what all the fuss was about; "he married a _coloured_ woman!" being a reason to cut a man out of his family; and so on. But there's really no point, no plot, no climax or...anything. He just sort of wanders about and learns things about his wartime hospital mates - doesn't even talk to all of them - and story over. The improving relations with his wife are the only real arc in the book. Mildly enjoyable to read (it is a Shute, after all), but I doubt I'll ever bother to reread. Worth reading the once, though. ( )

It seems that Jackie Turner is having medical problems. From time to time he passes out, cold. It's related to a medical problem he picked up in the war some ten years previously when he got shrapnel embedded in his brain. He had spent quite some time recovering from the wound in hospital in Cornwall. But his ward was actually a prison ward. Jackie had made some sketchy deals while in the military. Another of his mates, Duggie Brent, had murdered a man in a fight over a woman. A third, Flag Officer Morgan was just there because there was no place else for him. He didn't need to be imprisoned. The fourth was an American, Dave Lesurier, who was African American and was charged by his southern, white officers with rape, because he was "walking out" with a white, British woman, Grace Trefussis.

Well, anyway, to help with his recovery, the other people in Jackie's ward were tasked with reading and talking to him. Over time, he developed quite a fondness for them all. So, when Jackie is told that he likely has only a year to live, he decides to go on an investigating tour to see what happened to his mates from the prison hospital.

It's quite an interesting tale. Morgan had been shot down in Burma and eventually took up residence there and married a Burmese woman. Duggie Brent eventually became a butcher in Cornwall. Dave Lesurier stayed on in Cornwall and eventually married Grace Trefussis, the woman he was accused of having raped.

There was quite some meditation on racism in this book. It seems that there was a group of African-American troops in Cornwall who got along just fine with the local population until a bunch of white American troops were deployed to the region. Then problems arose. Then too, people in Britain couldn't imagine that Morgan had voluntarily taken up with a Burmese woman, and figured he was a brain-damaged beach comber.

( )

The Chequer Board by Nevile Shute is another fine example of this author’s work. This is a multi-part story telling of the experience of John Taylor, whom the doctors have given just one year to live due to injuries that he sustained in a wartime plane crash. Turner decides to use his remaining time to trace three men that he got to know while recovering in the hospital.

Turner and two others were under guard while in hospital as all had been charged with crimes. Turner served some time in military prison for stealing supplies from the army and selling the supplies at a profit. Corporal Duggie Brent was under a murder charge as this British Commando killed a man during a bar fight, and Pfc Dave Lesurier, a black American servicemen, had tried to kill himself after he had been accused of trying to rape a young English girl. The third man, Flying Officer Philip Morgan, who had displayed a certain amount of racism, had relocated to Burma, and had matured and learned to be much more tolerant of race issues. The outcome of Turner’s search lead to a few surprises as the lives of these men was much different than what Turner had expected.

I found this an interesting story, perhaps a little too idealistic and simplified, but Shute is at his best when writing of the average man and his story-telling skills are put to good use here. The parts that dealt with the question of racism was handled well and he obviously had a great deal of sympathy for the black American servicemen and the tensions that surrounded them. One word of warning in that the word N ----- was used frequently, but fit with the story as this term was commonly used in the late 1940’s . The Chequer Board is a heart-warming morality tale of second chances and is a great read for anyone who needs their faith in their fellow man restored. ( )