Customer Reviews
Thought provoking - By: Mr. Curt W. Von Keyserlingk, 01 Jan 2009 
This is not the easiest book I've ever read. The language is detailed & precise. However, readers may be rewarded for the effort if they show a little patience. Some of the author's insights into people & religion are subtle & intriguing. In addition, the author produces many wonderful turns of phrase.
Grippingly subtle end-of-the-world - By: Mr. Stuart Bruce, 13 Dec 2008 I'd watched & 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 different.
The premise is the same- approaching the middle of the 21st century, no human child has been born for nearly twenty years. It's an absolutely brilliant & gripping premise, & extremely haunting. I'm a big fan of 'end of the world' type stories but the "Children Of Men" concept is one of the best, because it's so simple, & very subtle. No explosions, no viruses, no mad scientists- just a gradual & total dropin the birth ratein modern day society. The 'science fiction' aspect of why it's happened & how to fix it is barely touched on, as the story is really about how mankind would act. It's definite food for thought.
Compared to the film, the book,in particular the first half of the book, is very civil. Human civilisation is still fairly much intact, & a pretence of 'normality' is maintained by the Governments of the world. Central character Theo is ordinary & unassuming, his only unusual characteristic being that he's the current Warden (prime minister)'s old friend. This connection means he's contacted by a small group of activists who have some shocking news, & suddenly he's on an unstoppable journey into danger. The second half of the book is almost totally unrecognisable from the film- a different pregnant woman, a different chase, being chased by different people. The parts played by Michael Caine & Chiwetel Ejioforin the movie are pretty much non-existant.
Rather than complain about "the movie's not as good as the book" or whatever, the real upshot is that you can enjoy two different "Children Of Men" stories- the novel & the book- which start from the same root, both have excellent ideasin them & are both worth enjoying.
A Sudden Ending - By: Flappy Touchy Baby Books, 08 Sep 2008 
I read this bookin two days whilst on holiday & loved it. I didn't speed read & by-pass the story (for a change) & really enjoyed the book. But on reflection, it ended rather suddenly. Just seemed a bit like the publisher was there tapping his watch & wanting to wind the whole thing up.
An anti-Lord of the Flies - By: Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw, 25 Mar 2008 
If you've seen the movie, don't think you've read the book: the film takes the basic premise & tells an almost completely different story, from beginning to middle to end.
PD James' original is, if you've seen the movie,in many ways disappointing. The writing, as other reviewers have commented, can be a little pedestrian, & there is far too much exposition & lack of subtlety & subtext. There are no worries about missing anything here, because important points are stated loud & clear by the protagonist & his diary.
But put that aside & you still have a brilliantly imagined dystopia - James has clearly thought through what a world without children would be like, & her conclusions are thought-provoking, surprising, & terrifying.
This is an anti-Lord of the Flies - a world ruled by adults, with no infant influence to reign them in. A tyranny of the elderly.
Like the best dystopian fiction - Day of the Triffids; Saramago's Blindness & Seeing - it's allin the detail, & there's plenty of it here. Enjoy.
Interesting concept - By: Margaret York, 16 Mar 2008 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. I liked the way she made 2021 feel as though "the end was nigh" rather than over-futuristic; it's quite how I would imagine the world to be once the human race has lost the ability to sustain itself. Well written & it was good to read a book that forced my to use the dictionary for words I'd never come across before.
