Rating: 
Summary: A Great WW II book; would make a great movie
Review: "The Pied Piper" is a gripping and human story of evacuation of lost children during WW II. I am surprised that Amazon.com does not have more Neville Shut books. There are a number in print in Europe. He is of course famous for "On the Beach" (book and movie) and "Town Like Alice" (book and TV Movie). These books led me to Pied Piper and many other Neville Shute Norway books in the last few years. I believe they would sell very well today. If no one else re-publishes them, I will when I get a chance. Other NS fans please let me hear your opinions, Yours truly, Thomas B. Reed
Rating:
Summary: A Great WW II book; would make a great movie
Review: "The Pied Piper" is a gripping and human story of evacuation of lost children during WW II. I am surprised that Amazon.com does not have more Neville Shut books. There are a number in print in Europe. He is of course famous for "On the Beach" (book and movie) and "Town Like Alice" (book and TV Movie). These books led me to Pied Piper and many other Neville Shute Norway books in the last few years. I believe they would sell very well today. If no one else re-publishes them, I will when I get a chance. Other NS fans please let me hear your opinions, Yours truly, Thomas B. Reed
Rating: 
Summary: A Respite from Sex and Gore
Review: A somewhat earlier Shute novel that again reveals his positive orientation toward people and life. Shares with many other novels the preposterous notion that some Nazis were humane and thoughtful (I'm thinking of Steinbeck's "The Moon is Down" for one), but I don't hold that against the work. We would all do exactly the same things the old man did to save the children, so there develops a great sympathy for him during the course of the reading. And the book is squeaky clean, one that provides some welcome relief from the current onslaught of, say, two females having sex in the toilet stall in "Bright Lights, Big City." We're way far away from that here. And thank goodness.
Rating:
Summary: A Respite from Sex and Gore
Review: A somewhat earlier Shute novel that again reveals his positive orientation toward people and life. Shares with many other novels the preposterous notion that some Nazis were humane and thoughtful (I'm thinking of Steinbeck's "The Moon is Down" for one), but I don't hold that against the work. We would all do exactly the same things the old man did to save the children, so there develops a great sympathy for him during the course of the reading. And the book is squeaky clean, one that provides some welcome relief from the current onslaught of, say, two females having sex in the toilet stall in "Bright Lights, Big City." We're way far away from that here. And thank goodness.
Rating:
Summary: A great Australian author who's real claim to fame is Ava Ga
Review: G'day - Pied Piper, or any other book written by Neville Shue would make it into my top 10! Neville Shute would have to be one of the most influential Australian writers during the fourties and fifties. Works such as "On The Beach", a great story of the end of the world which was later made in a Hollywood film starring Ava Gardiner. Pied Piper, Trustee From The Tool Room, In The Wet, A Town Like Alice, Marazan, So Distained, Requiem For A WREN and Beyond The Black Stump are but some examples of Shute's superior and refreshingly simple story telling technique - Cheers, Dave Aikman
Rating:
Summary: Pied Piper the Greatest
Review: I have long known of Neville Shute from his ON THE BEACH and TOWN LIKE ALICE books and movies. In the last two years I have read most of his other ~20 books - very hard to find. I am considering republishing some of them in my small press. The PIED PIPER is a great WWII story, far out of the ordinary, concerning an elderly gentleman, caught in Southern France at the outbreak of the war. By the time his adventures are through he has a dozen children that he is taking to England, including an SS officer's son. Riveting! (Recently published in paperback in Europe). I'd be interested in corresponding with any fans of Shute's. ...... TOM REED
Rating:
Summary: A fine writer
Review: I rate this as one of his lesser books, Trustee From The Toolroom, Stephen Morris, and Round The Bend are far better. I have searched for "Sliderule" his autobiography and cannot find it.
Rating:
Summary: subtly gripping
Review: I was so taken by the humanity and love shown by the old man in Pied Piper. He accepted the children as they came--his own kin, the urchins, the abandoned German child... I also liked the realism in the book. War was horrible. It struck the good, the bad, guilty and innocent. The grandfather figure did his best to shield the children from unnecessarily awful realities and explained those he couldn't.You should read this. I hope they reprint, but if not, your local library will have it.
Rating:
Summary: thoughtful, human look at war
Review: I was so taken by the humanity and love shown by the old man in Pied Piper. He accepted the children as they came--his own kin, the urchins, the abandoned German child... I also liked the realism in the book. War was horrible. It struck the good, the bad, guilty and innocent. The grandfather figure did his best to shield the children from unnecessarily awful realities and explained those he couldn't. You should read this. I hope they reprint, but if not, your local library will have it.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: In college I went to a used book store to buy Shute's "On the Beach". They didn't have it, so I bought "Pied Piper" as a consolation. I've read it three times since. Tremendous novel. An aeronautical engineer by training, Shute was a gifted storyteller and writer. Piper is well paced, has many stories within the story of bringing the children back to England - a man coping with old age, feelings of uselessness, the loss of a son; the formation of a deep friendship with the woman his son left behind, and so forth. Shute hits on the timeless themes of courage, fortitude, self-sacrifice, forgiveness etc. without ever coming close to being maudlin. There are no unnecessary speeches from men standing on a hilltop talking about "what it's all for". As John Howard says, while in custody, to the German officer who tells him he must be a very brave man, "No, not a brave man. Just a very old one." For the record, I think it was made into a movie twice. Once with Monty Wooley playing Howard and then again for television - mid eighties, perhaps - with Peter O'Toole playing the role. Still, as the story is so marvelous, it should be done again for the big screen. Considering Anthony Hopkins's performance in "The Remains of the Day" (which was superior to the entertaining but far less nuanced Hannibal Lecter), I think he would be perfect to play Howard, putting the perfect cap on his career.
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