The Children of Men
by P.D. James
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Book Reviews of The Children of Men
Book Review: Better than you would think
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered this book last year, after buying the movie based on it. After a recent re-viewing of the film, I thought it was time to read the book.
Previous reviews cover the basics of the story. It is significantly different from the film, both in terms of plot twists and characterizations, but most importantly in it's main message. That can make it difficult to read at times, as you may attach the actors to the role in the movie and try and fit them into the same characters in the book. If you do that, you will be disappointed.
That said, this is a pretty good dystopian future novel. Some aspects of the world don't seem logical, and in this area I felt the movie did a better job. James' vision is more of a world slowly falling apart, but never to the degree the film portrays it. For example, in the middle of the story the main character takes an off-screen tour of Europe. This isn't a world where civilization is under siege as much as it is a world where civilization no longer seems to serve a point.
The major point James is trying to make concerns power. The Warden may be superficially portrayed as a dictator by some readers, but I think James was making a point about circumstances where democracy doesn't work. If people don't care about their future, who will make the hard decisions? Who will care? And if someone comes along who takes up that mantle, does it matter if you are still allowed the things you care about? The revolutionary group at the center of the story is pretty quickly revealed to have only minor real differences in mind, despite it's self-proclaimed goals. The ending suggests that no matter how good the intentions, the individual man can lose perspective. By the end I no longer found the Warden to be evil, just a normal flawed human being who did what he thought was right, what he thought was best for the group. Even in a democracy, those decisions are made all the time.
Book Review: Doomsday book, with a new wrinkle
Summary: 4 Stars
As I was reading THE CHILDREN OF MEN, I couldn't help thinking about 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD. The similarities are certainly there. It's 2021 and England now has a dictator (or Warden). On the surface he seems benevolent enough, but he will do anything to stay in power. P.D. James also likes to employ the Greek alphabet, labeling the two sections of the book Omega and Alpha. The children born in the year 1995 are called Omegas. They are not only physically striking and intelligent, but also violent and cruel.
The book starts on Friday, January 1, 2021 and the last human being to be born on earth has been killed in a pub brawl. He was twenty-five years old. The narrator of the book is a college professor, Theo Faron, first cousin of the Warden of England and also once his principal adviser.
Faron joins forces with five people who are plotting against the warden's policies of voluntary suicide and deporting of criminals to the Isle of Man as well as the virtual enslavement of immigrants called Sojourners. Faron falls in love with one of the females, Julian, who he later learns is pregnant.
The theme of the novel seems to be "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts completely." The warden, a man named Xan, apparently started out with good intentions, but then used "the end justifies the means" to keep the surviving citizens of England safe. James shows us Xan's background to some degree, but I think he could use a bit more meat on his bones. Where did he go wrong? What incident provoked him into employing nefarious methods?
Much of the book reads like a thriller as Theo tries to help the five escape to Wales. James kept me turning pages and that's all you can ask from any book. I was especially impressed with the ending in that it merely suggests what might happen next, but she leaves enough clues so that you shouldn't have too much trouble formulating the ending she had in mind.
Book Review: Perfect for this genre...
Summary: 4 Stars
I say "Perfect for this genre", but I'm not really sure where I'd put this book. With the "end of the world" stories probably, but without the good vs. evil power struggle such as in The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet) by Stephen King. I guess I could compare this to The White Plague, but I feel that PD James created more realistic and richer characters and left out Herbert's science fiction aspect.
I've never read anything by PD James before and must admit that I really enjoyed her style of writing. My impression is that this book is more of a "literary work" than "pulp fiction" -- the author spent a lot of time developing the main character, Theo, who I felt like I almost knew by the end of the story.
I too saw the movie first... I bought the book because of the other reviewers who mentioned how different they were from each other. I enjoyed the movie but hated the ending... the book's ending was much more positive. I would add that though there were many differences between the movie and the book, the movie producers really cast the actors well: Clive Owen as Theo was brilliant, Julianne Moore as Julian and Michael Caine as Jasper were perfect. I can't name all the other actors in the movie, but they were all great; in fact, the movie did the book justice even with all the changes made to bring it to the theater.
One of the reviewers complained about the "religious overtones" being too heavy. I didn't notice that -- I would expect different elements of society to behave in extreme ways were the end of the world to be eminent. And since the entire story takes place in England, it is not surprising that some of the events occur in churches.
Book Review: What is the Meaning of Life
Summary: 3 Stars
I have never read a PD James novel before, and I read this because a good friend of mine really liked it. I understand this novel may be a little different than her other mystery genre novels.
Much like Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, this novel is set in the not too distant future. The crisis: every healthy person is apparently infertile. It is the story of one man's journey to learn about himself and about fellow man as a species and as companions.
The writing is fine, very British, very readable; the characters may be a little stiff. The story was a little hard to swallow as far as people's behavior in this situation, but I suppose in a world like this, everything would be hard to understand. People have begun to question their faith, their leaders, and their very reason for being. The ending was fairly moving, especially after the somewhat cold first 3/4 of the book.
I guess this book is supposed to be a warning--a possible scenario for the end of our species, other than the meteor hurtling unstoppably towards our planet, the destruction of life through nuclear war, or the annihilation of our planet by the supernova that once was our sun. The infertility of the human species is simply inexplicable, and the author is very non-judgemental about what could be a whole list of possible reasons, but the truth is, it really doesn't matter why. Everyone seems to acknowledge that this is just the end of humans, and nature will continue on without them as people age and die, without leaving offspring to repopulate the planet, and without having the joy that comes with propagation: the beauty of having children in our lives, even if they aren't our own children.
Overall, a different kind of "science fiction" novel. An interesting take on an age old question: What is the meaning of life? Not a bad read.
Book Review: The world ends, and this time, it's personal
Summary: 4 Stars
In a reverse of the way I prefer to do such things, I happened to see Alfonso Cuarón spectacular film "Children of Men" before reading P.D. James excellent novel "The Children of Men." Fortunately, other than 75% of the title and the basic premise, the two have very little in common.
I shall refrain from commenting on the film -- other than to repeat it is spectacular -- and focus on James' book. In a world dying from a quarter century of complete human infertility, Oxford history prof Theo Faron is a brooding, disconnected, sad-sack of a man haunted by personal tragedy and crippling emotional repression (even by British standards). The book follows Theo as slowly, grudgingly he starts to care about a world that no longer cares about itself. In ways both subtle and obvious, James links the erosion of hope to the absence of children with vivid plausibility. As an interesting flip side, she also ties the gradual implosion of society and the unopposed rise of despotism into the scenario with perfect logic. "We will protect you to the end, even if we have eradicate your every freedom." Thus the un-elected Warden of England -- Theo's childhood companion -- would say.
At first, Theo doesn't care; later, he does. How and why is the crux of the story and, in some ways, the least believable thread. Still, as Theo's humanity reawakens and James throttles the story up toward thriller range, the book is compulsively readable. Where the film (forgive the digression) climaxes with astounding action sequences, the book crowns the drama with profound personal transformation. The two approaches couldn't be more different, and both are perfectly suited to their media. P.D. James plies her craft beautifully here and "The Children of Men" stands out even under a cinematic shadow.
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