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A review by brughiera
The Children of Men by P.D. James
4.0
A departure from her detective novels featuring Adam Dalgleish, this is a dystopian novel. It was published in 1992 when 2021, the period in which the action takes place was well in the future. This makes it a little eerie to be reading it for the first time in 2022, when it is clearly in the past. We can only be thankful that the defining event: no children born anywhere in the world for the last thirty years, has not taken place. The situation that unfolds is eminently believable, bolstered by James' impeccable prose style and strong characters. The lack of young people leads to abandonment of remoter areas and the establishment of an apparently benevolent dictatorship, but there is definitely a feel of 'big brother' overseeing every move. There are ominous events too, such as the Quietus, intended to be a voluntary mass suicide of the willing elderly but, as Theo puts it when meeting the governing Council: "Half of the suicides looked drugged and those who did know what was happening did not go willingly. I saw women dragged on to the boat and shackled. One was clubbed to death on the beach. Are we culling our old people now like unwanted animals?"
Theo is the protagonist, an Oxford history don, cousin of the dictator Xan, to whom he has privileged access. This helps to explain his involvement with a group of rebels, a motley group united in the desire to change processes such as the Quietuses and the barbaric penal settlement on the Isle of Man. Theo's intercession with the governing Council is unsuccessful but leads to his deepening involvement with the rebel group and an absorbing build-up of tension as they flee from the authorities.
The ending, which I am not going to reveal, provides some grounds for hope but also raises more questions about how things will develop. I note that James never did write a sequel, it was probably a little too difficult even for someone of her awesome talents.
Theo is the protagonist, an Oxford history don, cousin of the dictator Xan, to whom he has privileged access. This helps to explain his involvement with a group of rebels, a motley group united in the desire to change processes such as the Quietuses and the barbaric penal settlement on the Isle of Man. Theo's intercession with the governing Council is unsuccessful but leads to his deepening involvement with the rebel group and an absorbing build-up of tension as they flee from the authorities.
The ending, which I am not going to reveal, provides some grounds for hope but also raises more questions about how things will develop. I note that James never did write a sequel, it was probably a little too difficult even for someone of her awesome talents.