In the Wet

by Nevil Shute

Originally published in 1953, IN THE WET is Nevil Shute's speculative glance into the future of the British Empire. An elderly clergyman stationed in the Australian bush is called to the bedside of a dying derelict. In his delirium Stevie tells a story of England in 1983 through the medium of a squadron air pilot in the service of Queen Elizabeth II.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Science Fiction, Adventure, Literature, Fantasy, Historical

358 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.

He used Nevil Shute as his pen name, and his full name in his engineering career, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.

He lived in Australia for the ten years before his death.

Reviews

[Jane Jago · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK let's do the politics first. I have read reviews from people who can't get past Nevil Shute's politics, and if you are a reader who wants to apply a twenty-first century political sensibility to a novel written more than sixty years ago there's plenty to get hot under the collar about. And if it's going to upset you you are probably best off avoiding this author altogether. All his novels are informed by the same political stance, and although it may be a bit more blatant in this book it's there in them all.

However. I'm not too bothered by the man's politics. I see this novel as being very much of its time, but also as exhibiting an eye and a hand for storytelling that I find intensely readable.

The story takes us from Australia in the 1950s to Shute's imagination of what England may be like in the 1980s. The narrative carries well, and Shute's vision of what was for him the future is believable.

I enjoyed it.

So. If you like a rattling good tale, give this a go. But don't blame me if the politics pees you off.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5-stars, rounded down.

In the Wet opens as the story of an English priest serving in Australia in the 1950s. He comes into contact with an old man, known as Stevie, and finds himself at Stevie’s bedside as he is dying. So far, so good…the story was interesting and I wanted to know more about who Stevie was and why he had ended up in his current situation. I was also invested in the priest and his future.

Shute, on the other hand, wanted to tell a tale of reincarnation, so he lets Stevie’s tale be one of the future life he is destined to live in the 1980s. From here, the story became less interesting to me and somewhat unbelievable. I never got swept up into the love story, either.

I had very mixed feelings while reading this book. I am particularly fond of Shute, so I wanted to like it, but there were some glaring problems that I simply could not overlook.

Both the style and the content of the book is very dated, too much of the information is simply superfluous…so, while you might be interested in the planes and the ships, the details become a bit ponderous.

The use of the racial epitaph as a name for the main character was grating. I understood the purpose, as David clearly explains, himself, why he has adopted this nickname. It did not make it easier to read 100+ pages with that recurring on almost every other one. I tried to substitute “David” in my head each time it occurred, but, as you can imagine, that was fairly ineffective.

Third, there is a very awkward transition from the present 1953 to the imagined future of 1980. It took me a while to realize exactly what was going on. It does not help that most of Shute’s predictions are wrong. Just a bit weird to read about Prince Charles’ marriage and family, knowing as we do the tragedy of Princess Diane and the reality of his sons.

And last of all, too much politics. I am not a fan of modern-day political drama and this imagined politics was even worse. Again, that the real 1980s in England and Australia had little or no correlation to his imagined one was not helpful. That I am American might have also added to my lack of interest in the monarch vs. no monarch arguments.

Reading this was quite different from reading a truly dystopian novel, where the dissimilarities are stark and not intended to represent a true depiction–I think this is exactly where Shute thought things were actually headed. It certainly did not have the atmosphere of an Orwell.

This is a fairly long way of saying that I believe this is a Nevil Shute novel that can be skipped. I persisted and finished, but I would put it on the bottom rung of his work.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, I am right in the middle of my Nevil Shute obsession and 'In the wet' is the seventh book I have read of his in the last three months.
Like all the others, it is so well written, within the first few chapters, Shute gets you hooked in and before you've realised it, you can't put it down!
I can't understand other reviewers getting upset and offended by it, don't they realise it was written in 1953? If you read this book in the correct context, with an open mind, it will take you to some amazing places and really make you think, it will also make you appreciate how ahead of the game old Shute was...

[Margie · Rating 1 out of 5]

4/30/2020: Adding information about frequency of objectionable word.

One word ruined this book for me - one word used eighty-one times.

Nevil Shute published In the Wet in 1953.  I try not to criticize or compare books based on social values or standards of today.  I like to read them as time capsules of the past.  I wasn't surprised that quite a few of the characters smoked - my mom was a smoker and I smoked for a few years in college.  The Surgeon General in the 1960s had just started to publish warnings about the dangers of smoking.

But that one word!!
  
OK, here goes.  I can hardly stand to write about it as I have never uttered that word and I cringed every time I read it, which was frequently.  Actually, I was shocked and I don't consider myself a prude about language.  That word was the "N" word.  I can't believe that Shute would write that word, even though it wasn't used to demean the character he was writing about.  In fact, the main character, David Anderson, wants people to call him that.  Why?  "Because I am one.  I'm a quadroon," he explains. "My mother was an illegitimate half-caste."  David, who was taunted as a child with the "N" word by classmates, decides when he becomes an adult that he will get his heritage out in the open.  To deflect all conjectures about race he wants everyone to call him "N."  Really?!  That did not work for me, especially when Rosemary, David's love interest addresses him as "Dear 'N.'"  Ugh!! The word is used in conversation at least eighty-one times, most of it when Rosemary is talking to David, but by others as well.

For that reason alone I would not recommend this book even though it was a pretty good adventure story and time travel yarn. The book starts out in Australia in the 1950s and then goes back and forth between Australia and England in the 1980s.  Queen Elizabeth is involved and Shute even writes about Prince Charles and Princess Anne as adults with Charles having two boys (and a girl.)  Charles was five years old when this book was published in 1953.

The book makes a sudden and confusing transition from Australia in 1953 to England in the early '80s.  It was another one of those timeline transitions that was not well done.  Most of the rest of the book takes place in the early '80s, a future world for Shute.  Shute's aeronautical engineering background is evident in this book and he must have had fun with his version of what flight would be like in the '80s.  He also addresses government in England and the Commonwealth and sets up an interesting scenario for the monarchy.
  
Shute wrote several books that took place in (his) future and he didn't always predict happy outcomes for us.  On the Beach takes place after a nuclear holocaust has destroyed most of the world.  In the Wet is not so dire.  It even has a love story.

Reincarnation is involved in this book and it was hard to see how Shute was going to tie things up at the end, but he succeeded.

If not for that one word, I would have given this book a 3.5 rating, but I can't give it more than one.
What was Shute thinking?  His main character, David Anderson was a decorated pilot in the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) and kept company with officers, professors, politicians and palace staff.  I can't believe that word would have been accepted in "polite" society in the '50s or the '80s, even though random use of it sadly and obnoxiously persists today.  The word was neither accepted nor uttered by anyone I knew in Colorado when I was growing up and that was a long time ago.     

[M.A. McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

'In the Wet' has an unusual plot. It is part set in the Australian Outback, 1950s, and written from the point of view of a Church of England priest. A dying alcoholic tells him a story of his life - except that his life is in the future, maybe a future life. It is a story of involvement in high affairs, when England has become a socialist state, grey and dreary, and her queen finds her life plagued by hostile politicians. She decides that the thriving former colonies might be a better place to live. She is Queen of Canada and Queen of Australia as well as Queen of England, something that is often forgotten.

One thing that Shute talks of that is worthy of some real thought - that the system of one man/one vote will not elect the best politicians, rather it is apt to elect the one who makes the most generous promises. He suggests a multiple vote system - that everyone has the one basic vote, but can earn an extra vote for higher education, another vote for living and earning money overseas for a certain period of time, another for a stable marriage and family, etc. Being a serving officer of the church also earned an extra vote. (this book was written before the scandals of the church and its coverups of child sexual abuse by its priests.) The queen could also award a vote - 'the seventh vote.'

He has a point about his 'multiple-vote' system - surely a person with some education and intelligence should be able to choose more wisely than a no-hoper who never did anything in his life but get drunk, sire illegitimate children and collect the dole.

There is an author's note at the end. I was impressed by it.
'No man can see into the future, but unless somebody makes a guess from time to time and publishes it to stimulate discussion, it seems to me that we are drifting in the dark, not knowing where we want to go or how to get there.'

So Nevil Shute made a few guesses, and even though little of the world as he imagined it, actually happened, it made for a very good yarn.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book in some part is slightly dated with some of the language but however in some parts its quite forward thinking as its a mixture of the present 1953 and a story of a man's future story with the political change/system and fast aircraft.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange book. I would recommend it to people who are interested in reincarnation or who are into looking at books that in the story expressed prophetic (and some not so prophetic) visions of the future.

brief synopsis:

Written in 1952, In the Wet is situated mainly in England but starts out in Australia. The local parish priest goes out to an isolated house to attend to the dying of the local town drunk and ne'er do well named Stevie. (For some reason, the blurb on the bookcover gives his name as Georgie, and I was so dumb I kept waiting for Georgie to appear in the story!). Stevie is being tended by a Chinese man who raises & sells fresh veggies to the locals, and stereotypically he is an opium smoker. The priest & the sister who came with him decide that if Stevie needs the opium to help him with his pain, so be it, so he smokes a few pipefuls while he's dying. The priest himself isn't in such great shape; he gets hit with another round of recurring malaria and is suffering from fever while he sits holding Stevie's hand. So the priest asks Stevie if he has a wife or anyone they can contact & Stevie throws out the name "Rosemary." He begins to tell the priest about Rosemary, and from there comes out the story that is the major thrust of this book -- it is the story of David Anderson who serves in the Royal Australian Air Force as the pilot to the Royal Family. Now you could chalk this up to the fact that Stevie's totally stoned, but the strange part is that Anderson's story takes place in the future, and that a lot of things that Stevie tells just frankly haven't happened at the time in which the novel is set.

So, you could argue that In the Wet is Shute's "prophecies" about England & the entire British Commonwealth. It is also a look at the fate of the Queen and the royal family, almost in an alternate setting -- there have been three wars; England has suffered under thirty years of socialist misrule; mass out-migration by British people to other countries of the Commonwealth, which stand in contrast to the vision of England as flourishing & a prosperous place to be.

I liked this book. I was admittedly a little taken aback and to be honest, a little put off by the use of Anderson's nickname and I think that this factor got in the way of my reading, but then again, the book was written originally in 1952 so I guess I can overlook that. I thought the characterizations were good -- a little stereotypical, but again, probably a product of the times. The story was intriguing & kept me reading.

[Jim Puskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every so often, Shute liked to spin one of his favorite "tricks", suddenly shifting from one situation into an entirely different time and place, with his main characters transported in some supernatural or strangely spiritual manner. He did that very skillfully in "An Old Captivity" and "Lonely Road" and again here. As long as the reader is willing to suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride, it can be very effective. In this case, he over-reaches by speculating on a future of his own imagining and the tale is made less appealing because of Shute's decision to color it with his own off-beat political views; the fact that the future evolved in a vastly different manner than he envisioned renders it even less credible when read today. So, this is a book for those who, like myself have a great liking for Shute and his old-fashioned style. Despite those flaws, it's still a compelling story, largely because his main character David is such a likeable fellow. Rock-ribbed socialists and anti-royalists will detest this book. Devotees of Ayn Rand would probably love it regardless of its weaknesses.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Nevil Shute e-book I have recently purchased - my original paperbacks having disintegrated years ago.
This read as well as it did the first time I encountered it. Yes, there are some aspects that - had this book been written even fifty years ago - would have had me deleting it in disgust, but I wasn't born when this book was first published in 1953, and certain words/ attitudes that were considered 'acceptable' then are now abhorrent.

I'm not going into that part of the writing. The story is what concerns me and the skilful way in which Shute morphs from one point of view into another without any effort at all. The writing is a little bogged down in places with descriptions of plane journeys, but there is a real sense of tension in the tale and even though I know the story back to front, I still find myself re-reading certain parts just to enjoy the way Shute built up the tension.

A fabulous story, deftly handled with an interesting look at politics without being overbearing.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shute weaves another interesting story, of a mixed race Aboriginal / European man sharing his amazing life with the Australian Air Force and then with HM Queen's flight team during the time that Australia left colonial rule. Not as good as some of the very good stuff he has written, but highly interesting take on the political climate of the fading British Empire. 5 out of 12.

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of Nevil Shute's work is created using a fairly large canvas (one thinks of "A Town Like Alice," more than any other), most of his novels are simple tales about everyday life. The trick, or real art, which they demonstrate, is in showing us a slice of that ordinary world we think we all know, as though it were the most normal thing in the world, and then bringing out the oddity that is never far below the surface. So "In the Wet," one of his more imaginative novels, takes us bit by bit into the remote parts of tropical northern Australia, building up tiny details from characters and race days and scraps of conversation, until the real story, hidden just below the surface, begins to emerge. Shute, whose background is very much that of an experimental scientist with oil on his hands, is never more impressive than when he leads the unsuspecting reader through the mundane material world that we think we see, onto another plane altogether. Not afraid in the least of exploring spirituality, Shute acts as an intelligent, well-informed guide for the reader on a voyage of discovery. Never intruding on the narrative, yet masterfully keeping it in rein, he is an author whose novels have long been considered merely "popular," when in fact they are often penetrating inquiries into the meaning of life.

One other characteristic of Shute's writing that is perhaps more apparent today than it was in the fifties and sixties is that his work is always set in the contemporary period of a world undergoing vast change. He lived and served and worked through two world wars and the effects of these cataclysmic events were such as to shake up the foundations of the very science which had made so many people feel so secure for a time. Therefore, his texts today also provide interesting excursions into that world, from 1920 to 1960, which was not only metamorphosing into the more colourful world of the Beatles, Vietnam and Tricky Dicky Nixon, but which has since very completely disappeared from the ken of anyone much under fifty. Of course, if all you are after is a good story told by a competent storyteller, you won't be disappointed either.

[Jenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird one. Most of the book takes place in 1983 (it was written in '53) but it took me little while to figure that out, since apparently nothing had really changed in 30 years except that airplanes go faster, and England is still under rationing, and Australia has a new political system. (Multiple voting, where you can earn extra votes for various things like education or experience overseas or raising a family)

This is basically what I call a hobbyhorse novel (like the Da Vinci Code or the Celestine Prophecy) where the author has some cool idea they want you to know about so they think up some story to illustrate the idea. (Which in this case is The Evils of Socialism, or, How Australia Is Awesome and The English Are Losers.)

Still, it's by Nevil Shute, so it's crazy readable and there's lots of stuff about airplanes.
Also, it was timely with all the Queensland flooding lately, because that's what the title refers to.

And finally, just to warn you, the main character's nickname is the n-word, and they use it all. the. time.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent display of imagination and style in the way the narrative switches from the present to the future and returns seamlessly... makes a few key points about British politics and commonwealth relations that seems uncannily prescient but then Mr Shute's storytelling capabilities were never in doubt...

[Mary Mimouna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. Written in 1953 but set in 1983. Provides Shute’s vision for what England and the Commonwealth, and the Monarchy, could become in 30 years’ time into the future, if England continues down the road on the path to socialism, going forward from 1953.

By chance I learned a lot about the duties and concerns of a Parish priest when serving a dispersed rural population, about the procedures in organizing the flying of private jets (which would certainly be applicable with all of today’s multi-millionaires and billionaires who fly around on private jets. It’s a good look at the behind-the-scenes duties and concerns of pilots and staff.

Is an American, I learned more about the monarchy as an institution in modern times and something about the Commonwealth, although I still don’t have a deep understanding of the latter. This book has given me the desire to read a book on the Commonwealth.

Shute seems to be somewhat of an elitist and thinks that the concept of one man, one vote, brings countries down. He creates in his novel a multiple voting system in Australia, where those deemed “worthy” can earn the right for up to seven votes each for various accomplishments in life. I found this intriguing and will have to think more about it.

Issues of racism and use of the word Nigger is throughout the book, where the main character (a quadroon) asks his future wife to call him that as a term of endearment! The novel also deals with the theme or reincarnation.

The book comes to an amazing and satisfying conclusion.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 1 out of 5]

My experience with Nevil Shute is limited to his post-apocalytic On the Beach, which I read ages ago and remember liking. So when I found this second-hand, I thought I’d try it. The jacket synopsis sounded promising: mysterious old man on his deathbed tells another man his life story which impossibly takes place 30 years in the future (circa 1983). But after about 100 pages I’d had enough. The “future” turns out to be concerned mainly with the political development of England and Australia and their subsequent relationship – and that’s it. It’s so mundane that if not for the jacket synopsis, at first you’d never know he was talking about future events unless you’re fairly well versed in Commonwealth political relations and democratic structures. And even then, you might think he was merely making things up, not talking about the future – it’s not until he mentions specific years that you realize something is up. And Shute’s fascination with political evolution comes at the expense of everything else – apart from democratic processes, societal norms and technologies seem to be the same in 1983 as they were in 1953. It doesn’t help that the old man – who is of mixed-race heritage – deliberately goes by a nickname that’s also a racial epithet (ostensibly to throw it in the face of anyone who might have a problem with his racial background, which is interesting, but still, it doesn’t translate well in 2017). Other people might get something out of this, but as speculative fiction goes, I found it both tedious and unconvincing.

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did something with this novel that I haven't done since I was in high school - I went to alternate sources for explanation of what I was reading because I got lost. I was reading one story, then suddenly I was reading another, and it took me quite a while to figure out how I'd been transitioned.

This is one of many things that Nevil Shute does for me; he keeps me on my toes and pushes me out of my comfort zone. The novel starts with the rather simple (and, at the outset, rather dull) story of a priest working in Australia, and trying to get to people who need him during the wet season. During the long night of someone's dying, something else begins. He isn't prepared for this, and neither was I. I almost gave up on the story when it was just about the priest and his lonely little experiences, and I'm so glad that I didn't give in to the temptation. I kept saying to myself "this is Shute; there's got to be more to the story." I was right to stick with it.

There's a great deal of Shute's own political outlook here, and one of the characters nicknames himself with the N-word in order to beat the racists to it. The novel as a whole makes for interesting, thought-provoking reading.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked some parts of this book. It was a fairly good story, some adventure, politics, romance, and humor. Really the only thing I didn't like about the book was that it felt like the author basically made up the romance (which is probably the main thread throughout the story) in order to foist his political opinions on the reader. I am fine with authors having political views and changing the politics in their stories to reflect that, it just felt a little clunky here. Overall a good story though. I also found many of the characters very likable and I thought in particular the main character (David 'N*****' Anderson, yes that N word is the characters nickname and he is referred to as such throughout the book. By the end I started to think of that word as just his name and am now a bit worried I might say it in reference to the book and get frowned upon. Perhaps that is another thing the author is trying to point out. That word only has power because of how we perceive it.) and the priest who is used to intro the book were well written.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reason to read a book that's 70 years old is for the different viewpoints the people have, starting with the author. To start with, the shocking word that is David Anderson's nickname is made easier to take because of the habit in Australia back then of people using nicknames, even horrible ones such as is seen for "Pisspot Stevie" with his friend who punched him and then stood him a round. I laughed when Shute said the name Pisspot was being bandied about in the most amiable manner without any offense whatsoever. To us David Anderson's nickname sounds very shocking, but David robs it of any shock value by being asked to be called that. So that changes things. And just like Huckleberry Finn, the novel is actually making a point about race that's positive, even while using a word that's far more offensive in our society than it was in the early 50s.

I love Shute as a storyteller because he makes you care about the people, and because he shows ordinary people like the clergyman doing extraordinary things. Also because his viewpoint that everyone has worth is as sound and important today than it ever was back then. I think history vindicated him in that.

I laughed again when David was told (when he objected to being chosen for the Queen's flight due to his color) that they weren't asking him to marry into the royal family. I thought, "that's right, you aren't Megan Markle" which marriage is only 20 years after the time the book is set, and how much has the world changed since then? Princes William and Harry were even little kids during the time the book is set, though not at the time it was written.

So yes, the book shows how white men of the 50s thought about race, and also about gender, and Asian people, and many things that have changed since then gave no hint to Shute of happening at the time. It's interesting for that reason and mainly because Shute is just a great storyteller, but amid his awful politics he's strangely progressive in his views. He demonstrates that Stevie, who is dismissed as unimportant by the people at the time, is spiritually quite important (as shown by the way the animals acted, and by the way the veil was pulled back for Roger at his death) and as a person he matters as much or more than anyone.

[D.P. Clarence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read four Shutes in the past six months or so and this one falls well short of A Town Like Alice or On The Beach. Not his best work. For modern readers, the constant use of outrageous racial slurs will be hard to bear, as others have noted.

But that's not the reason for the low score. It's unfair to score a book low for language we find horrific now that, apparently, was the norm at the time. The problem is the story itself just isn't great. Shute is basically having a political rant in novel form. I realise plenty of authors do, but this story is unusually clumsy and cumbersome and the politics awkwards, hackneyed and shoveled on thick.

What isn't politics is logistics. F*** me, Shute spends a long time telling us how long flights will take, where's the best place to refuel, the food arrangements, and so on. It's beyond tedious, as it contributes nothing, but there's a good paragraph of it on practically every page.

Finally, there's the massive structural "record scratch" of the total switch of the story from the 1950s to the (imagined) 1980s. It just doesn't work. The 1950s section is pointless and ponderous. And yet that's where we start. He's done time-shifts and narrative switches before (see Requiem for A Wren, A Town Like Alice) and they've worked well. I know he can do them. But here, it just leaves the reader asking "wut?" and "why?"

I expected Shute's works to be dated. They were written a long time ago. But I do generally enjoy them. This was hard going though.

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 bk 324. The title includes the words "a strange leap into the future..." This is a book about opportunities. The narrator at the beginning and the end is an Anglican priest who has served in missionary posts and now, after suffering from malaria, is assigned a parish in Australia where he won't have as far to travel. He comes to know his parishioners, and one in particular, Stevie. Stevie is an alcoholic and comes to a dying state in the midst of flood season. The priest, a nurse, a Chinese roommate, spend that last long evening with Stevie. What the story unfolds to the priest is nothing less than fantastical - or is it? To a believer in reincarnation the question of 'can a person foretell who they will become next?' A well written book that foretells the future as it might have been in the 1980's This is one a read over again as each reading reveals something new to me.

[Steven Batty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll start of by saying that if you are one of those folk who get easily offended or morally outraged at a drop of a hat, then this is not a book for you.

I'm new to the work of Nevil Shute and In The Wet is only the second novel (more on order) I've read by him. The story is clever yet never too clever for it's own good. Yes, some of the language is of it's time but if you keep in mind the age of the book, then it should not cause concern.

Can highly recommend this novel. Look forward to building a collection of his books.

[Patrik Sahlstrøm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read many of Shute's books, and this is by far the weakest. To be fair, it's best considered as a time capsule from the 50s that has aged badly, so I won't rant about the racism, misogyny or the inane political agenda.

Because even besides that, this book is not good. The first part in the outback is Shute at his best as always. But then it deteriorates quickly. The rest is all description about how awed Shute is by the royal family, 50s aeroplane navigation, a dumb romance sideplot and the authors hamfisted attempts at showing why a factory worker should have less voting power than a member of the upper class (like the author himself). And how horrible it would be if the posh people no longer could live the luxurious life.

Even diehard Shute fans better stay away from this book and re-read one of his good ones instead.

[Jwt Jan50 · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I'm a Nevil Shute fan. Don't expect an 'objective' review. Second, I'm an easy 'A' - especially when I've been entertained and moved. That doesn't mean that I'm not reading 'critically,' it just means that I'm prepared to overlook minor 'oops' in the premise, or a transition, or perhaps something left out. If you're not a Nevil Shute fan, I wouldn't start with 'In the Wet.' I'd be more inclined to steer you towards 'The Pied Piper' or 'A Town Like Alice.' Unless you've done some long range, over water flying - then 'Pastoral.' There is an excellent article to be found using Google. Type in 'Nevil Shute and Buddhism.' You'll find an excellent 5 part article by Reverend Wilcox that briefly explores Nevil Shute's spirituality. I've read the 'first page' reviews here, and while some of them are effusive and accurate, I'm not sure they get quite to the heart of this tale or Shute's ability/charm as a writer. So, before jumping into 'In the Wet' - I'd encourage you to read his autobiography 'Slide Rule' and Anderson's biography 'Parallel Motion' - and pay special attention starting around page 225 in Anderson. Then, have at it and no reading the last 2 pages before you get there.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a great deal but I’m unsure how to review it. So much of it seemed so REAL and I have to remember that it’s all fiction!

Even though it’s fiction it was interesting to read the parts about Queen Elizabeth (then) knowing what we know about Queen Elizabeth now. I wonder if she’s read this book. I can imagine her loving a respite on Christmas Island.

I loved the love story between Rosemary and Nigger. Nevil Shute writes a great love story in between telling me about airplanes and yachts and Australia and the work of a pastor.

I listened to this on my morning walk and the reader did a very good job. I did like his ‘voice’ for Rosemary better than his ‘voice’ for David Anderson. It was amazing to have the story come round full circle. Each character having a part to play. Just like real life.

I recommend.

[Jason McCracken · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. 38%. My first Shute fail. The story was pleasant enough, very typical of Shute' style, nice people doing nice things in a horrible world, but the absolute sledge hammering of his politics became impossible to take after while. You'd get 3 sentences dealing with the plot then 8 telling you why the Queen is great and how socialism has ruined England. It became so ridiculous I just couldn't continue. Oh yeah, and calling someone nigger is a-ok too, as long as the nigger is cool with it.

[Garth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I am not attracted to this kind of book the author has kept me at it because it was written so well. I, as an atheist, was not entranced by the whole “ God’s messenger” claptrap but the story was very good and had a happy ending of sorts. I think I’m going to have to read a few ( dozen) more of Nevil Shute’s work. I didn’t know he existed but for a mention by, of all people, the inimitable and great Christopher Hitchens at a discussion he had in Australia.

[Paul Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly I should say that I am a Shute fan and have been since I was a schoolboy in the 1970’s. “Trustee From The Toolroom” and “On The Beach” would both always feature on any list of my favorite novels.

Somehow I had never read “In The Wet” previously and I am glad for that because if it had been the first Shute novel that I had read it would probably also have been my last.

One accepts that Shute had an old fashioned writing style (even for the 1950’s) and that his political views were to the right even by the standards of the day. His misogyny and passive racism were also apparent in many of his works. Despite those elements he had a gift for story telling that made his novels very readable.

The subjects of this novel (Britain under socialism, monarchy in peril, colonial countries coming to the aid of the crown, multiple voting, mysticism) are interesting but the execution was disappointing.

The author used a literary feint to look into the future using a dying man and his apparent conduit, a priest suffering from malaria. I found that to be an unnecessary deceit and it was not really pertinent to the main story.

Let’s deal with the language first. Shute uses the N word nearly 100 times in the book. The word is offensive and was offensive in 1953 when the book was written. The derogatory phrases “touch of the tar brush”, “Boong”, “Abo” and “half caste” are also used often as are other racial slurs. These elements combined to make the book uncomfortable reading.

Then there is the story itself. One of Shute’s meritorious abilities in novels such as “No Highway” and “On The Beach” was his capacity for predicting the future. In this work he gets literally everything wrong, even his predictions for future technology, one of his hallmarks. Even the plane in the novel was based on the Vulcan that was already in production in 1953.

In Shute’s vision of Britain in 1981 we have a “socialist” government run by ill educated former shop stewards and communists. Shute clearly felt that government should be reserved for elders and betters of his social class.

In fact during Britain’s main period of “socialism” during the 60’s and 70’s most of the leading figures (amongst them Wilson, Benn, Castle, Crossman, Jenkins, Stewart and Healey) went to Oxford! Even working class Jim Callaghan passed the Oxbridge exam but chose to join the civil service instead. Although there were anti monarchist elements such as Willie Hamilton in the Labour Party they were not in government and their views were never prominent. Hamilton was generally regarded as an oddity and a figure of fun.

We know from other novels that Shute was not in favor of the NHS or the welfare state and no doubt felt that the ordinary people of Britain, having fought and died in their hundreds of thousands in WW2, were a bloody ungrateful lot to kick Churchill out straight afterwards! The fact that they now felt that they deserved more than their parents had, such as decent healthcare, education and social reform, was anathema to Shute. The book was written three years after Shute himself left Britain to live in Australia and he clearly despised what he saw as creeping socialism in the UK. Ironically when the novel was published Churchill was once again resident in Downing St.

Shute sees 1980’s Britain as a failing country with rationing, a downtrodden and undernourished working class populace and a political class that resents the monarchy. Huge numbers of Brits have abandoned this dystopian hell and have moved abroad to welcoming countries such as Australia and Canada.

By contrast Shute’s Australia in 1981 is a Nirvana where food is plentiful, life is good for everyone and the country is not only strongly pro monarchy and proud to be ruled by the Queen but open to mass immigration from the UK! I’m sure Bob Hawke had apoplexy if he ever read the book. We won’t even get into the reality of how good “white” Australians had treated the indigenous populations, something Shute ignored.

The other big point that Shute wanted to get across was the idea of the multiple vote. The concept of one man one vote, something most of us think of as democracy, was somehow abhorrent to him. Presumably because it meant that the ordinary man had as much say in who governs him as people like Shute himself? So to redress the balance extra votes can be earned, for instance by being commissioned (officers only obviously) in the armed forces, being an official of the Christian church (no Muslims, Jews, Sikhs or Hindu’s need apply) or by having a high income! Once again Shute uses his pulpit to remind the ordinary Joe that he really should leave the business of government to his “betters”.

Shute, for all his virtues as a writer, exposes himself in this work as a racist and misogynistic snob and it rather goes to underline how out of step his views were with the coming age, even in 1953. This reads not do much as a novel but as Shute’s personal tirade against what he believed to be socialism and his disaffection with progress and equality.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nevil Shute also delivers a rollicking read— but you have to brace yourself for some very retrograde racism & sexism, liberal use of the N word, and in your face politics that aren’t everyone’s cup of tea

[Diana Kitson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love a good yarn about reincarnation. Makes you think.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anfang der 50er Jahre: der Engländer Roger Hargreaves ist nach dem Tod seiner Frau nach Australien zurückgekehrt, wo er in jungen Jahren schon einmal gelebt und gearbeitet hat, und ist nun Pfarrer in Queensland. Sein Gemeindebezirk besteht aus weit versprengten Kleinstädtchen und Farmen, Besuche bei seinen "Schäflein" bedeuten tagelange Trips durch karges, ödes Land. Während der Regenzeit, "in the wet", sind manche Orte praktisch gar nicht über Land erreichbar. So ist auch die Reise zu einem sterbenden alten Mann, der weit draußen bei einem chinesischen Gemüsebauern lebt, ein äußerst schwieriges Unterfangen. Gemeinsam mit einer Krankenschwester begleitet Hargreaves, selbst gesundheitlich angeschlagen, die letzten Stunden des Kranken und versucht sich einen Reim auf dessen wirres, fiebriges Gestammel zu machen.

Parallel erzählt Shute die Geschichte Davids, eines jungen australischen Fliegers, der in den 80er Jahren zum Piloten eines der persönlichen Flugzeuge der Queen ernannt wird. England ist seit Ende des 2. Weltkriegs sozialistisch, aus Nostalgie hat man aber bislang am Könighaus und am Commonwealth festgehalten. Während in Australien und Kanada Wachstum und Wohlstand herrschen, ist das Mutterland seit Jahrzehnten wirtschaftlich auf dem absteigenden Ast und kann kaum seine Menschen ernähren - und es brodelt immer mehr beim Volk, das die persönliche Flugzeugflotte für die Queen für eine riesengroße Geldverschwendung hält ...

Shute ist ein wunderbarer Erzähler, der mit schlichten Worten und ohne große Umschweife das Australien der 50er Jahre und seine Bewohner lebendig werden lässt, die "kleinen", einfachen Leute, die harte Arbeit, die Naturgewalten, von denen alle abhängig sind und die mehr oder weniger klaglos hingenommen werden. Irgendwas hat sein klarer, einfacher, vielleicht auch ein wenig altmodischer Stil, das mich viel mehr berührt, als es manchmal ausschweifende Schilderungen vermögen.

Zudem ist er ein Meister der Überraschungen. Auch hier nimmt das Buch eine erstaunliche Wendung, diesmal hin zu einer düsteren Zukunftsvision in Großbritannien, die ich gerade deswegen interessant zu lesen fand, weil die geschilderte Zukunft für heutige Leser schon 30 Jahre zurückliegt. Spannend, dieses "so hätte es sein können" mit der jetzigen Welt zu vergleichen.

Roger und David sind beide auf ihre Art sympathische Protagonisten, die mir ans Herz gewachsen sind - der auf ruhige Art engagierte Pfarrer, der merkt, dass er nicht mehr so viel Kraft hat wie früher, und der junge Pilot, der seinen Beruf über alles liebt, sich aber über seine Karriere nie allzu große Gedanken gemacht hat und äußerst überrascht ist über die neue, verantwortungsvolle Aufgabe, für die er ausgewählt wurde.

Lange Zeit habe ich mich gefragt, wo wohl die Verbindung zwischen den beiden Handlungssträngen liegt. Die Auflösung mag nicht jedermanns Sache sein, mir hat sie jedoch gut gefallen, und auch dieses wird nicht mein letztes Buch von Shute gewesen sein.