Nevil Shute (1899–1960)

When it comes to fiction, readers are willing to accept the most fantastic and supernatural, but this willingness has a lot to do with the genre. We can accept almost anything in Fantasy or Science-Fiction that we could not accept in psychological fiction. This is more or less the case with The rainbow and the rose.

Like many of Nevil Shute's novels The rainbow and the rose is set in the world of aviation. More than other novels, The rainbow and the rose describes a lot of bravoura and daring-do, even to the point where endangering others is discussed by characters in the novel. To see what people are willing to do for others, the true test of friendship and loyalty, are an important theme in the novel. Some of the norms and values in Shute's work are now quite distant to us, and start feeling quaint. Although The rainbow and the rose is one of Shute's final novels, first published in 1958, Shute's moral framework belongs firmy to the 1920s - 40s. Still, unlike much other fiction from that period, the novels of Nevil Shute are still very readable because they are so well-written.

What is a bit difficult about The rainbow and the rose is the jumping perspective. The narrator who for the most part is the main character sees the past through they eyes of another character. When this first happens, the circumstances seem very natural, as the narrator, Ron Clake, is deadly tired and stays the night in the home of the other character, John Pascoe. However, throughout the novel this happens a few more times, really stretching the reader's willingness to go along in this. Toward the end of the novel the narrator even has a moment that by the end of the novel is explained or supposed to have happened around the time Pascoe died. Still all in all this is a powerful and memorable novel.… (more)