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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
*4.5 stars*
I saw the film of this book years ago and my memory of it is vague. I'm glad I don't remember it well. I enjoyed the film but remember enough to realise that I vastly prefer the book.
I adore P.D James' writing style. The story is exquisitely well written - it is engaging and intelligently written without the language being too florid and distracting.
The story revolves around humanity becoming infertile and the last child being born 25 years previously. These circumstances and their consequences are chilling. You are reading about a version of humanity slowly collapsing in on itself.
I found the concept of the book striking. Written in 1992, it is set in 2021. This felt bizarre and made me wonder how people in the mid 80s must have felt reading '1984'. I loved that the writer didn't focus too much on technology - it's development or lack thereof. This made it so much easier to picture the world and its own version of 2021.
I enjoyed how English this dystopia is and realised that the film is far too 'Hollywood'. I enjoyed the toned down action within the book. This doesn't mean the book isn't without drama. There's moments that really stopped me in my tracks - moments of shock and horror and moments where I gasped. One particular moment involving a child (you'll know it if you read it), is etched on my brain as I know of this happening recently in real life. Absolute horror.
All in all, if you're into dystopian fiction, I highly recommend this.
I saw the film of this book years ago and my memory of it is vague. I'm glad I don't remember it well. I enjoyed the film but remember enough to realise that I vastly prefer the book.
I adore P.D James' writing style. The story is exquisitely well written - it is engaging and intelligently written without the language being too florid and distracting.
The story revolves around humanity becoming infertile and the last child being born 25 years previously. These circumstances and their consequences are chilling. You are reading about a version of humanity slowly collapsing in on itself.
I found the concept of the book striking. Written in 1992, it is set in 2021. This felt bizarre and made me wonder how people in the mid 80s must have felt reading '1984'. I loved that the writer didn't focus too much on technology - it's development or lack thereof. This made it so much easier to picture the world and its own version of 2021.
I enjoyed how English this dystopia is and realised that the film is far too 'Hollywood'. I enjoyed the toned down action within the book. This doesn't mean the book isn't without drama. There's moments that really stopped me in my tracks - moments of shock and horror and moments where I gasped. One particular moment involving a child (you'll know it if you read it), is etched on my brain as I know of this happening recently in real life. Absolute horror.
All in all, if you're into dystopian fiction, I highly recommend this.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Excellently written and the premise is so good I would've liked it anyway.
I saw the movie, but it had been YEARS so I had completely forgotten how it ended. So I went into this book pretty ignorant. Told in a mixture of diary entries and third person, The Children of Men, tells the story of a world where no more babies are born. It's been 25 yearss since the last child was born. Schools are closed, playgrounds dismantled, and suicide encouraged as an option for the elderly who know that there is no more "family" to care for them. It's pretty bleak, but people are trying to make due. Theo Faron, a divorced history professor has just muddled along for years, simply existing. That all changes when one day a woman approaches him wanting to use his contacts to the Warden of England. Suddenly, he starts to realize how messed up things are around him, his eyes become open and he wonders if they do have what it takes to turn around the hopelessness. Bleak, depressing, dry at times, but a unique concept that will stick with readers. I definitely want to re-watch the movie now!
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked the concept but the book has serious pacing issues.
Whew! This was a slow one! I gave up listening to it at some point before watching the movie preview and deciding finish it to see if it had one ounce of excitement the movie seems to have. (SPOILER: it doesn't.)
Basically the book is written kind of as a diary of events from a historian's point of view as he watches the world die since no one is capable of having children anymore. He's approached by a secret society because one of the five members went to a class he had taught. He used to be the advisor to the most powerful man in England, and he remains the man's cousin so they were hoping he could use his position to make some changes. Such as ending mandatory suicides when people live past their usefulness, mandatory fertility checks, and the deplorable circumstances that prisoners of the Isle of Man live under. He chooses not to help them and instead takes a tour of Europe. So you need all that backstory to understand what happens when the story finally gets good, but you could just read this paragraph and then read the last 1/4 of the book and you'd know everything you need to know to enjoy this book and you'll have saved a ton of time. You're welcome.
P.S. I thought it was weird that people in general gave up sex, but kept their jobs, and everything in the world kept functioning. Maybe it's something inside of me, because I'm always looking to the future, but I would think society would crumble if they knew that there was no future past the next 50 years or so.
Basically the book is written kind of as a diary of events from a historian's point of view as he watches the world die since no one is capable of having children anymore. He's approached by a secret society because one of the five members went to a class he had taught. He used to be the advisor to the most powerful man in England, and he remains the man's cousin so they were hoping he could use his position to make some changes. Such as ending mandatory suicides when people live past their usefulness, mandatory fertility checks, and the deplorable circumstances that prisoners of the Isle of Man live under. He chooses not to help them and instead takes a tour of Europe. So you need all that backstory to understand what happens when the story finally gets good, but you could just read this paragraph and then read the last 1/4 of the book and you'd know everything you need to know to enjoy this book and you'll have saved a ton of time. You're welcome.
P.S. I thought it was weird that people in general gave up sex, but kept their jobs, and everything in the world kept functioning. Maybe it's something inside of me, because I'm always looking to the future, but I would think society would crumble if they knew that there was no future past the next 50 years or so.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes