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Review
"A book of such accelerating tension that the pages seem to turn faster as one moves along." --"Chicago Tribune"
"As scary and suspenseful as anything in Hitchcock." --"The New Yorker"
"Extraordinary. . . . Daring. . . . Frightening in its implications." --"The New York Times"
"Fascinating, suspenseful, and morally provocative. The characterizations are sharply etched and the narrative is compelling."--"Chicago Sun-Times"
"Extraordinary ... daring ... frightening in its implications."
--"The New York Times"
"She writes like an angel. Every character is closely drawn. Her atmosphere is unerringly, chillingly convincing. And she manages all this without for a moment slowing down the drive and tension of an exciting mystery."
--"The Times" (UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"As scary and suspenseful as anything in Hitchcock." --"The New Yorker"
"Extraordinary. . . . Daring. . . . Frightening in its implications." --"The New York Times"
"Fascinating, suspenseful, and morally provocative. The characterizations are sharply etched and the narrative is compelling."--"Chicago Sun-Times"
"Extraordinary ... daring ... frightening in its implications."
--"The New York Times"
"She writes like an angel. Every character is closely drawn. Her atmosphere is unerringly, chillingly convincing. And she manages all this without for a moment slowing down the drive and tension of an exciting mystery."
--"The Times" (UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Stunning paperback repackages celebrating the world's pre-eminent crime writer and over forty years of detective fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Theo Faron is an uncomfortable hero, perhaps even an anti-hero. Beginning with Theo's diary entry for 1st January 2021, we are asked to empathise with a fifty year old man who has never loved, in spite of having been married and fathered a child. He writes with more warmth of the family cat, and turns his back on an old colleague in his hour of need. It's hardly surprising that Theo isn't exactly slitting his wrists at the idea of humankind dying out. He doesn't seem to like humans very much anyway.
All this changes, however - as so often happens - with the arrival of a beautiful woman, the oddly-named Julian, a pre-Raphaelite goddess with a misshapen hand. (The polar opposite of Julianne Moore's gung ho character in the film, if you've seen it.) Julian is one of a small group of would-be activists, wanted by the State Security Police. The moment that Theo's diary gives way to breathless ramblings about this nubile creature buying oranges in the supermarket, you know it's only a matter of time before he too is in trouble.
The book is divided into two sections - Omega and Alpha. Omega makes good use of the diary conceit to feed us the ghastly details of James's imagined Britain: desperate woman pushing dolls about in prams; christenings held for kittens; old people 'encouraged' to take their own lives. With this cowardly new world firmly established, book two - Alpha - cranks up the pace, with a cat and mouse pursuit through the countryside. A more traditional third-person narrative takes hold of the story when it's no longer safe enough for Theo to keep a diary. The violence is real and bloody, and some tight plotting saves plenty of surprises for the end.
Religious symbolism is there in spades if you want it. It's a genuinely thought-provoking book for many reasons, but just read it as a good old-fashioned thriller if you like. Yes, P.D. James is a little stuffy at times, a litte stern - a tightly-corseted Victorian governess of a writer - but once Theo is free of his precious Oxford museums the story itself takes on new life. If you've seen the film and didn't like it, try the book anyway - they're chalk and cheese.
My only real complaint is that James has an annoying habit of introducing several characters at once - in painstaking detail. The scenes where Theo meets the activist group and then, later, the Warden's Council, remind you all of a sudden that you're reading about this in a book instead of actually living the story. The narrative breaks for an intricate description of each character, one by one, and then resumes just as suddenly. An amateur mistake for such a smoothly professional writer.
All this changes, however - as so often happens - with the arrival of a beautiful woman, the oddly-named Julian, a pre-Raphaelite goddess with a misshapen hand. (The polar opposite of Julianne Moore's gung ho character in the film, if you've seen it.) Julian is one of a small group of would-be activists, wanted by the State Security Police. The moment that Theo's diary gives way to breathless ramblings about this nubile creature buying oranges in the supermarket, you know it's only a matter of time before he too is in trouble.
The book is divided into two sections - Omega and Alpha. Omega makes good use of the diary conceit to feed us the ghastly details of James's imagined Britain: desperate woman pushing dolls about in prams; christenings held for kittens; old people 'encouraged' to take their own lives. With this cowardly new world firmly established, book two - Alpha - cranks up the pace, with a cat and mouse pursuit through the countryside. A more traditional third-person narrative takes hold of the story when it's no longer safe enough for Theo to keep a diary. The violence is real and bloody, and some tight plotting saves plenty of surprises for the end.
Religious symbolism is there in spades if you want it. It's a genuinely thought-provoking book for many reasons, but just read it as a good old-fashioned thriller if you like. Yes, P.D. James is a little stuffy at times, a litte stern - a tightly-corseted Victorian governess of a writer - but once Theo is free of his precious Oxford museums the story itself takes on new life. If you've seen the film and didn't like it, try the book anyway - they're chalk and cheese.
My only real complaint is that James has an annoying habit of introducing several characters at once - in painstaking detail. The scenes where Theo meets the activist group and then, later, the Warden's Council, remind you all of a sudden that you're reading about this in a book instead of actually living the story. The narrative breaks for an intricate description of each character, one by one, and then resumes just as suddenly. An amateur mistake for such a smoothly professional writer.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In a world where no child has been born for 25 years a small group of five rebels begin to plan to challenge the ruling dictatorship of England. But the five are far from united and seek help from Theo Faron, an academic who is the cousin of Xan the Warden of England. He believes there are many injustices and agrees to help them albeit reluctantly. He is also strongly attracted to Julian, a mysterious and lovely member of the group.
The Children of Men is a beautifully written dystopic novel The infertility has caused changes in attitudes and morality as the population becomes distorted. Many social issues are raised:
-"voluntary" suicides of the elderly
-indulgence of last born Omegas leading to criminality
-importation of other races to fill the labour gap but without being given any rights
-brutal suppression of criminals
The author also explores the way in which the regime in power wants to "do the right thing" but ends up prioritising policies and never quite coming to grips with the most serious problems.
A really interesting and thought provoking novel - and Theo is a great invention as the reluctant hero.
The Children of Men is a beautifully written dystopic novel The infertility has caused changes in attitudes and morality as the population becomes distorted. Many social issues are raised:
-"voluntary" suicides of the elderly
-indulgence of last born Omegas leading to criminality
-importation of other races to fill the labour gap but without being given any rights
-brutal suppression of criminals
The author also explores the way in which the regime in power wants to "do the right thing" but ends up prioritising policies and never quite coming to grips with the most serious problems.
A really interesting and thought provoking novel - and Theo is a great invention as the reluctant hero.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The premiss of this novel is without parallel to my knowledge; and for all its unfamiliarity it comes across as thoroughly convincing and moving both because of the skill and care taken over the presentation of its setting and because of the way James blends the outworking of its grim thesis with the timeless themes of "faith, hope and love."
"Sci-fi" is a total misdescription: it may be set in an hypothetical future, but this future is - deliberately - so close to the present that literal accuracy or technical prediction is clearly beside the point. Like "1984" and other dystopic visions, its strengths lie in its terrifying picture of a world which can be all too easily extrapolated from the commonplace realities of the world that we accept almost without question.
I've read and much enjoyed several of the author's Dalgliesh detective novels, but I have no hesitation in saying that this is a greater, more imaginative and probably more important work than any of them. It's one of those really rather few books that I can't imagine ever forgetting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A frightening dystopia
The Children of Men is a book that paints a disturbing picture - if human beings ceased to be born, what would happen to the world? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Kat from The Aussie Zombie
Brilliantly Bleak
I hadnt realised PD James was such a good writer but after reading this book I'll be checking out more from her. Read more
Published 8 months ago by VB
BOOK REVIEW
Futuristic and rather bizarre story comparable to Orwell's '1984'. Plausible extrapolation of what society may be like in ten years time but written nearly twenty years ago! Read more
Published 14 months ago by DR
One of the greatest novels
This is possibly one of the greatest books of all of literature. From the first page you are transported into a conflicted world: fully engaged in the race to discover the cure to... Read more
Published 15 months ago by twiggy100
The end....or a new beginning?
This is an engrossing yet disturbing book. Rather than concentrate on the potential reasons for the sterility of the human race in the near future (there's no reason for things... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Little Green Alien
Nightmare vision of humanity without a future
There have been a lot of good reviews of this book written already, so I'll keep it short.
The story is set in a world where no children have been born for over 20... Read more
The story is set in a world where no children have been born for over 20... Read more
Published on 8 May 2010 by Dr. Andrew Phillips
Grippingly subtle end-of-the-world
I'd watched and enjoyed the 2006 movie version of "Children Of Men" before I read the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the film but the book is even better, as well as quite... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2008 by Mr. Stuart Bruce
A Sudden Ending
I read this book in two days whilst on holiday and loved it. I didn't speed read and by-pass the story (for a change) and really enjoyed the book. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2008 by Flappy Touchy Baby Books
An anti-Lord of the Flies
If you've seen the movie, don't think you've read the book: the film takes the basic premise and tells an almost completely different story, from beginning to middle to end. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2008 by Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw
Interesting concept
Another reading group read which I did enjoy. However, I felt the end was a very weak but forgone conclusion. It was interesting to read something very different by P D James. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2008 by Margaret York
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