A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

genre: fiction

When our narrator meets Jean Paget, he quickly learns that she's had a most unconventional life.  While living in Malaya as a young women, she and her town are captured by the Japanese at the beginning of what would become WWII and led on a march through the jungle that takes her to what would be the edge of sanity - for most women.  But Jean is tough and resourceful and her knowledge of the language and local culture help her carve out a life during the war.  Her war experiences will eventually lead her to a tiny town in the Australian outback and a capacity to create the kind of life that only she could imagine.

The beginning of this book bored me so badly I almost stopped.  I was listening to it and I actually stopped and ended up getting a Kindle version to read because I was reading it for a challenge and really wanted to give it a shot.  After a few chapters, once I met Jean, I was hooked. She is a rock star with an optimistic and pragmatic personality that make you eager to know what she'll do next.  I liked that this book took me all over the world, that I honestly had no idea what would happen next.  It has a light romantic thread and the writing, while not lyrical or necessarily beautiful, was solid.  I"m glad I finally got to this one.