I’m currently reading Shute’s Trustee From The Toolroom. Its much less dramatic than the best romanticism but it has a good sense of life. And I started watching a library vid of Highway. James Stewart if perfect. Shutes’s theme or background of work is a refreshing change from love. I will eventually try to read more Shute.
I disagree with our moderator: the movie is better than the book. In the book, the crucial piece of evidence is located by the use of “secret writing” (Ouija board). This mysticism is not in the movie.
For those unfamiliar with Shute, I suggest Arline Mann’s article in the February 1985 issue of The Objectivist Forum.
I have read several of Shute’s books including Trustee From the Tool Room on a recommendation Yaron made in a Facebook post. Another good one is A Town Like Alice – you may like it better than Trustee.
I just finished Alice and am amazed and pleased at its superiority to Trustee. I could not predict most of the plot, certainly not a POW, forced to walk around Malaya, becoming an Australian businesswoman. Mrs. Boong! And Ive learned Aussie slang. The scenes of Jean planning and buildiing new businesses are very optimistic and rational. Ive requested the movie from a library. Its very good but not philosophical romanticism. Im sad that Ive not heard of this long ago, even in my teens. But we know the nihilism of modern literary critics.
