Product Description

John Turner, who has had a head injury in an air crash, is told that he has only a year to live. He decides to spend his last months making the journey to Rangoon, Burma, in a flying boat to rescue a friend who has gone native.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #412633 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 340 pages

About the Author
Nevil Shute Norway worked as an aeronautical engineer at Vickers before setting up his own airship company. He served in both world wars and was a commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, working on secret projects. He flew his own aircraft to Australia to research On the Beach, before settling there permanently. His books are based on his own wartime and aircraft industry experiences.

Customer Reviews

A Good Read
I have read The Chequer Board a number of times and it is one of those books I feel hard to put down.

By modern standards it is both racist and sexist, but in the context of its day in immediate post-war England.

The book commences with Mr Turner seeing a consultant because of giddy spells. The reasons are traced back to an injury sustained in a plane crash whilst Turner is being brought back to the UK to be court marshalled. The prognosis on his condition is poor and he has little time to live. Turner decides to spend his remaining life searching for three other patients he shared his hospital ward with.

One of the patients is the pilot of the plane. The last time Turner saw him he was having difficulty with a feckless wife. Another patient is a young squaddie awaiting court marshall for murder. The third patient is a black american soldier who is recovering from a botched suicide attempt and is facing the prospect of a court marshall for rape.

Shute with masterly form weaves his plot. He shows the weaker side of mankind but as in other books he shows that goodness is far stronger.

We are led on a journey to Burma and also into Cornwall. During the journey we see the relics of the British Empire and an insight into Buddism. Because of the time this book was written we are also shown the post-war austerity of Britain and the social class structure within the country.

This is a quaint old-fashioned book. It is a good read and whilst it probably is not politically correct for todays standard it is worth reading and enjoying nevertheless.

Absolutely brilliant!
I really love this book;it has everything.There are four different stories all woven together,and you get caught up in all of them.
Mr Turner finds out he is dying,and wants to know before he goes what happened to the people he was in hospital with during the war.Cue a very good flashback to 1943 which explains why they were all there, including one of my favourite bits about the black man,Dave Lesurier,who is sent with his colleagues to a small village called Trenarth,just outside Penzance.The locals take to the "coloured"people because they are so polite and helpful,but when white soldiers are stationed there as well,trouble ensues as you can imagine,given the state of racial prejudice in the States at that time. The oldest inhabitant of the village is asked what he thinks of the American soldiers,and he says,"I like them very well,oh,very well indeed.I don't like these white ones that are coming in now,though.I hope they don't send us no more o' them."
Dave plays draughts,or chequers,with Mr Turner,which gives us the title of this book and also refers to the chequered careers of the patient after they leave hospital.Because of the non-PC language,this book may appear at first glance to be racist,but it is actually using the words of the time to show us how people could overcome their prejudices,and how colour does not have to be a barrier.In fact, the white folk in this wonderful story often turn out to be not half as nice as the"coloureds"and two (very happy)mixed marriages occur.I think this must have been a ground-breaking book when it came out, and I always feel better for reading it,which I do quite often.I can't think of many books I have enjoyed more.

Lays To Rest The Old Canard Of Prejudice
Incredibly, this great story has been almost ignored. It is really the four separate stories of servicemen brought together in wartime in an inauspicious circumstance. Their stories are told post war by John Turner, himself dying slowly from an old wartime wound.

The men's stories all illustrate a different aspect of human nature, both in themselves and those around them. The most important story within this framework, however, is that of the young black American soldier-engineer, David Lesurier.

Sent to Cornwall to build an airbase, Lesurier is happily surprised to find the white working class local folk to be helpful and friendly towards his all-black battalion. By contrast, the redneck Southern US servicemen who follow are the archetypical racists - much to the consternation of the local townsfolk, who support the blacks and wish for their continued presence.

Herein is a canard laid to rest. This book was written in the early 1940's - supposedly a time, as sociologists would have us believe - that England was riven by class and race hatred. And yet here we see ordinary people treating folk similar to themselves with the decency and respect they would wish for.

The other characters have stories that are as interesting and well-structured - for Shute was a skillful narrator who wrote in a style of 'beginning, middle, end' that seems to have been largely forgotten.

This book is well worth your attention as a good story and a message to review history.