Question Author
Tony...Eddie has it right here tonight !
"Trustee" is a slim book, compared to "Alice" Shute was having severe heart problems in the last few months of his life, and its a wonder it got finished at all ! The plot is as Eddie says, but if you are an ex-engineer, like myself, you will enjoy the premise of the book even more....there is a nice little twist in the end, which I won't give away !
Shute is an accomplished author and needs no help in providing images that will explain what he is saying. he developed a deep love of Australia in the 40's and 50's and it shows better in the romantic love affair in "Alice" than any other book he wrote.
Eddie....you are indeed correct about the film....its a pale shadow of the book, like most films made from literary source. In my experience, the original book is always preferable to the film.
My worse experience of a disappointing film being made, from an excellent book is "East of Eden" by Steinbeck. Like most people I guess, I was familiar with the film of the same name, mainly because of its star James Dean. It was OK in its way, and Dean was bloody marvellous of course, but when I then read the book in my early 20's, I realised that the vast majority of the story had been left out by the film-makers.
Anything by Steinbeck is to be recommended as well !
I can recommend other Shute books from his OZ period. Second only to "Alice" is "The Far Country".....and also "In the Wet" , "Requiem for a Wren" and "Beyond the Black Stump"
I run the risk of repeating myself here but I can't recommend Neville Shute too highly.......Not to have "Alice" in a lifetime seems to me a terrible waste of a life !