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| Plot Summary of Ruined City |
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"Henry Warren's success in banking is at least partly the result of his careful assessment of the risks of investments and his single-minded pursuit of profit. He doesn't undertake risky loans, especially during the depression. When a town near London, his bank's home city, seeks a loan to develop land that could provide needed jobs for its citizens, he refuses.
Warren's life begins to unravel. He separates from his wife. He is unable to sleep. His grueling work schedule is affecting his health. Finally, on doctor's orders, he takes a walking vacation in the north of England. During the vacation he collapses, and is treated at hospital in the town of Sharples. Brought in by a truck driver, his wallet lost, Warren is taken for an out-of-work clerk tramping around the country seeking employment. He allows the hospital staff and patients to believe this. As he talks to them and sees how they live, he begins to understand the plight of workers who are literally starving to death in the hospital's wards. Since the town's main industry, a shipyard, closed, many of the workers are living on the dole with but five shillings a week for food. Shaken, he returns to London with an understanding that his bank can do some good for these people.
Warren, using his own money, buys the shipyard, and immediately sells it to a dummy corporation that will run it. To get orders for ships, he bribes officials in the country of Lavaetia. His bank is financing an oil pipeline to a Lavaetian port,from which the oil will be shipped. He twists enough arms and spreads enough bribe money to get the order for tankers placed at his yard.
As he tells the hospital's almoner, Alice McMahon, “it's not going to be very easy to get Sharples going. Nobody's going to get that yard working again and keep his hands clean.”
The yard reopens, and nearly 2,000 workers are hired as work on the tankers proceeds. Success breeds more success, and other orders begin to roll in. Warren becomes something of a local hero, but even as the town comes back to life, he faces charges of securities fraud and the possibility of a prison term. Yet he believes even prison might be worth it, given his role in redeeming a ruined city.
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David Gordon, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Ruined City |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- upbeat
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Life of a profession:
- businessman, good overcoming bad ones
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- business executive
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 (some)
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Nevil Shute Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Gordon
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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