Rating: 
Summary: Carefully constructed dramatisation of Titanic's voyage
Review: It seemed clear to me, when reading this book, that Bainbridge was writing a screenplay rather than a novel; the most obvious example of this is when Morgan (main protagonist) and a friend get a tour of the ship from one of the stokers, and we get a description of the boat from stem to stern. In fact, almost as flimsy a pretext for showcasing the ship as Cameron's two lovers fleeing their pursuers through the engine room... Bainbridge has obviously done her research. Each little portent of doom (so easy to spot in hindsight) is dutifully woven into the narrative, and whilst this is quite satisfying to those of us who like to check off such trivia, this is all done at the expense of any real character development in a book that is already rather short. Worth reading; this is the script Cameron should have filmed.
Rating: 
Summary: what a disappointment!
Review: After all the hype connected with the film 'Titanic', what I already knew about the event itself and reading rave reviews of this book, I'd set myself up for quite a read. I have never been so disappointed by a book...how do reviewers justify the comments made about it? And how on earth did the author get nominated for anything else other than 'turkey of the year'? It was just as well that I knew what was going to happen from other sources because this book certainly did not enthrall me in the slightest. I didn't care whether the characters lived or died...they were all so two-dimensional...so flat. I couldn't feel anything for any of them. What a great story line to use in a novel...and didn't Bainbridge just make me lose interest in the whole incident. As member of a reading group (and believe it or not having been the person to select this book) I felt a sense of duty to see it through to the bitter end...and I have never wished so much to finish a book, so that I could give it away. What a waste of time. (And by the way my sentiments were echoed by the rest of the reading group too) To be avoided at all costs. Nice cover though.....
Rating: 
Summary: Read this book and forget about the movie.
Review: Beryl Bainbridge's account of the Titanic disaster is a poignant coming-of-age drama cunningly cast against a backdrop of the world's most publicised naval mishap. Period costume notwithstanding, its central character's lust, love, and identity yearning are as valid today as it was almost a century ago. For those who prefer an intelligent read to some mindless, overhyped celluloid product manufactured only by Hollywood, the book will not leave you dissatisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully Written, Very English
Review: Beryl Bainbridge's story of the Titanic is different from any of the multitude of other accoungs, fictional or not, which are out there. And that is a very good thing. One of the main joys of this novel is having history become personal. This is not a adventure story about the Titanic but rather a small novel of the personal lives of various people which gets interrupted by the disaster at sea. Those looking for big cinematic thrills are advised to look elsewhere. But those looking for a glimpse of a group of interesting characters just before a life changing event will enjoy this tale. The other joy of this novel is the compact, effective writing. Dialogue and narrative are told with an elegant sparseness. A nice read.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written, Very English
Review: Beryl Bainbridge's story of the Titanic is different from any of the multitude of other accoungs, fictional or not, which are out there. And that is a very good thing. One of the main joys of this novel is having history become personal. This is not a adventure story about the Titanic but rather a small novel of the personal lives of various people which gets interrupted by the disaster at sea. Those looking for big cinematic thrills are advised to look elsewhere. But those looking for a glimpse of a group of interesting characters just before a life changing event will enjoy this tale. The other joy of this novel is the compact, effective writing. Dialogue and narrative are told with an elegant sparseness. A nice read.
Rating:
Summary: It's not a Movie
Review: Beryl is perfect. You collect all the swells, all the gentlemen, all those perfect graduates of all the right schools that at the end of the Edwardian Era believe themselves to be the best of the best. You add to that roster all the blatant goldiggers, the social parentheticals and all those female trollers in whom their mothers had all the best hopes. You put them all on a ship bound into the winter North Atlantic; and in just one Neptunian inhalation you sink the boat. Never in the history of biology has fate and genetics so conspired to remove from our presence such a conceited and disgusting group. Beryl wrote this book with a sigh of relief and a chuckle; you should chuckle too. We are all better for the story and the biology.
Rating: 
Summary: hastily written Titanic saga..
Review: Every Man for Himself chronicles the lives of a several wealthy passengers on the Titanic. The sinking of the Titanic, while making the end of the book a rather emotional read, does not compensate for the dreary, impersonal narration which characterizes most of the novel. The wealthy passenges involved are pretentious, insecure, and thoroughly unlikeable idiots. Similar emotional traumas have been played out in much better novels than this. Worse, Ms. Bainbridge focuses too much time on the dialogue between the main characters. For much of the novel you forget that they are on a ship, let alone on the Titanic. Every Man for Himself is certainly not a bad novel. It's just very ordinary, .. a wasted opportunity.
Rating:
Summary: hastily written Titanic saga..
Review: Every Man for Himself chronicles the lives of a several wealthy passengers on the Titanic. The sinking of the Titanic, while making the end of the book a rather emotional read, does not compensate for the dreary, impersonal narration which characterizes most of the novel. The wealthy passenges involved are pretentious, insecure, and thoroughly unlikeable idiots. Similar emotional traumas have been played out in much better novels than this. Worse, Ms. Bainbridge focuses too much time on the dialogue between the main characters. For much of the novel you forget that they are on a ship, let alone on the Titanic. Every Man for Himself is certainly not a bad novel. It's just very ordinary, .. a wasted opportunity.
Rating:
Summary: What is all of the fuss about?
Review: Having only read this recently in paperback, some time after its Booker nomination, I found it difficult to see what all of the fuss was about. It's nicely written but has sacrificed character development or plot for technical description and, 'look at my research' detail. It's hard, I thought, to care about any of the characters at all and our exorphic knowledge of the ship's imminent fate led me to feel apathetic about the characters' fate rather than sympathetic. It doesn't seem to be ABOUT anything and, as we already know what happens, it's not a potboiler either.Bainbridge's prose is neat and clear but, ultimately, this is a novel less than the sum of its parts.
Rating:
Summary: Weird people, no one I could identify with...
Review: I bought Every Man for Himself because I LOVE tales about the Titanic. When I read the reviews on the back cover, I expected to be as swept away as they sounded. It started out confusing, and the characters were just so unlikable. I simply could not connect with the characters or story at all. I gave up.
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