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The Children of Men | 
 enlarge | Author: P.d. James
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.30
You Save: £4.69 (67%)
New (25) Used (7) from £1.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 91541
Media: Paperback
Pages: 278
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0571228526
EAN: 9780571228522
ASIN: 0571228526
Publication Date: January 5, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Thought provoking January 1, 2009
This is not the easiest book I've ever read. The language is detailed and precise. However, readers may be rewarded for the effort if they show a little patience. Some of the author's insights into people and religion are subtle and intriguing. In addition, the author produces many wonderful turns of phrase.
Grippingly subtle end-of-the-world December 13, 2008
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 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 and gripping premise, and 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, and very subtle. No explosions, no viruses, no mad scientists- just a gradual and total drop in the birth rate in modern day society. The 'science fiction' aspect of why it's happened and 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, and a pretence of 'normality' is maintained by the Governments of the world. Central character Theo is ordinary and 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, and 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 and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 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 and the book- which start from the same root, both have excellent ideas in them and are both worth enjoying.
 A Sudden Ending September 8, 2008
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. But on reflection, it ended rather suddenly. Just seemed a bit like the publisher was there tapping his watch and wanting to wind the whole thing up.
An anti-Lord of the Flies March 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
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, and there is far too much exposition and lack of subtlety and subtext. There are no worries about missing anything here, because important points are stated loud and clear by the protagonist and his diary.
But put that aside and you still have a brilliantly imagined dystopia - James has clearly thought through what a world without children would be like, and her conclusions are thought-provoking, surprising, and 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 and Seeing - it's all in the detail, and there's plenty of it here. Enjoy.
Interesting concept March 16, 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 and it was good to read a book that forced my to use the dictionary for words I'd never come across before.
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