Ruined City

Wow, a book for our time too! [a:Nevil Shute|21477|Nevil Shute|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206158172p2/21477.jpg]'s story is about whether companies should put workers first or investors first. This is a timeless story about an effort to put the people of a city back to work in manufacturing when the economy of the place has all but dried up and social assistance and debt are the only things keeping the place and its people alive at all. The protagonist,a banker and financier, realizes that "There's only only one thing really worth working for in the City. That's to create work. . . . the thing most worth doing in this modern world [is to] create jobs that men can work at, and be proud of, and make money by their work. There's show more no dignity, no decency, or health today for men that haven't got a job. All other things depend on work today; without work men are utterly undone". Not a straightforward feel-good, redemption story of the typical sort. The protagonist admits that though his intentions are good his methods (if they are to succeed) can not be because of the tension between serving investors and creating work where industry has failed once before . . . he says "Nobody's going to get that Yard working again and keep his hands clean" and that's what the story's about -who takes the risk, and why in a capitalist system sometimes somebody has to take a fall when you turn a place and the lives of its people around. . show less

Oh, that's good. Like A Town Like Alice, but more personal. I like Warren - including the way he's willing to take responsibility for his actions. Though his punishment was exactly what he needed - hope he can keep that going. She'll keep him straight. Only one real villain, or maybe two, in the whole book - the major opponent is circumstances. And seeing a depressed town come back to life is great in itself. This is going to be one of the regular rereads.

Another gem by Nevil Shute. This time, we're dealing with an investment banker, Henry Warren. He's rather a workaholic, and his lively, entitled spouse is carrying on an affair with a "black man", which in this instance is an Arabian prince, or perhaps a Pakastani one. At any rate, not a "black man" by modern reckoning, by which we mean someone whose origins trace to sub-Sahara Africa (Yup, the Brits were pretty racist 75 or so years ago). When, on a business trip to Paris, he sees his spouse dining with the "black man", he resolves to divorce her, unless she agrees to give up her "gay" life and retire to boredom in the country. She, of course, is unwilling to do that.

Shortly thereafter, Warren, feeling run down and depressed, heads show more north for a bit of walking. He has an attack of something in his gut (twisted intestine I believe) and ends up in the hospital of a small city. He poses as another of their charity cases, an out-of-work itinerant clerk. The time is 1934, and everyone is out of work.

This particular town was once a thriving center of ship building. "Did you know that seven destroyers from the shipyard fought in the Battle of Jutland?" is a common refrain. But the shipyard, local rolling mill, and mine have all shut down some five years previously. The town and all its inhabitants are run down, both physically and emotionally. Mortality is exceptionally high at the hospital, and it is despair, rather than poor medical attention that is killing the patients off.

Warren befriends the "Almoner" at the hospital, which I think is likely the social worker who deals with the charity patients. Through her, he learns about the town and its troubles and resolves to do something about it, but quietly if possible. Along the way, we are introduced to some international corruption and intrigue, things that always seems to be a part of high finance. We also have a budding romance between the "Almoner" and Warren, but done in the Shute style of two people developing a strong friendship. None of this jumping ino bed stuff like modern literature. Personally, I think the Shute style is more appropriate for building lasting relationships.

Anyway, it's a good book. Perhaps a bit calm for those whose taste lies more with warriors, plagues and gore. But it is an apt commentary on the lives of real people in 1934, but the book's concerns also still mostly true today. show less

Review Immensely readable Guardian Not only a brilliant fluent storyteller but also an ironic commentator on the world scene Harpers & Queen There is little that Shute does not know about choosing an appealing story and telling it in a gripping way The Times Product Description Henry Warren ends up in a hospital in a Northern town ruined by the closure of its shipyard. Moved by the fate of the town’s inhabitants, Warren risks his fortune and reputation to save the shipyard and restore the town.