The Children of Men by P. D. James
I just finished The Children of Men by P. D. James, making it my 38th book in my personnal reading challenge. This book is actually a re-read : I first read it more than 10 years ago. I was on a P. D. James trend and I was reading all her Adam Dalgliesh novels I could find. The town library also had her one sci-fi novel, so I read it. I remember liking it, and when I saw it on sale a few weeks ago, i decided it was time for a re-read.
The blurb on the back, stolen from Amazon:
The year is 2021. No child has been born for twenty-five years. The human race faces extinction.
Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiat, the Warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the Warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is, until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind.
My thoughts :
Amazon calls this book a thriller, but it's really more a sci-fi novel. True, it's not an usual sci-fi book, but the whole story has an "apocalypse / end of civilisation" that is really a sci-fi trope. So, this book is not for usual sci-fi fans, there is not a lot happening, and the style is quite litterary : I like that, but it's not what sci-fi fans are usually looking for in a book.
I enjoyed this book but there were several points that seemed not-good to me:
The blurb on the back, stolen from Amazon:
The year is 2021. No child has been born for twenty-five years. The human race faces extinction.
Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiat, the Warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the Warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is, until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind.
My thoughts :
Amazon calls this book a thriller, but it's really more a sci-fi novel. True, it's not an usual sci-fi book, but the whole story has an "apocalypse / end of civilisation" that is really a sci-fi trope. So, this book is not for usual sci-fi fans, there is not a lot happening, and the style is quite litterary : I like that, but it's not what sci-fi fans are usually looking for in a book.
I enjoyed this book but there were several points that seemed not-good to me:
- the whole diary/narration thing. The story begins with Theo's (the main character) diary, and it's all we have for the beginning of the book. Then, there is plain narration, and, towards the end of the book, Theo destroys his journal. Why begin with a diary if you don't stick with it afterwards?
- Theo Faron, the main character, is not very consistent. He does evolve during the story, and it's one of the best point of this book, but there are some aspects of his characterisation that I did not understand : why does he help the rebels at the beginning?
- Why do people stop having children, and why does it start again? There are no answers in the book, and it's quite frustrating.
- What's with religion? It seems both very important to the plot, and not important at all. Make up your mind! The various characters spend a lot of time thinking about religion, but, except two of them, they don't believe... then, it seems to me that religion should not be such an important theme in the bok... but maybe that's just me.