The Children of Men by P.D. James Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Children of Men
Book Review: PD James is a gifted writer
Summary: 4 Stars
Well written story and well told. But print too small. A depressing story.Book Review: Perfect for this genre...
Summary: 4 Stars
I say "Perfect for this genre", but I'm not really sure where I'd put this book. With the "end of the world" stories probably, but without the good vs. evil power struggle such as in The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet) by Stephen King. I guess I could compare this to The White Plague, but I feel that PD James created more realistic and richer characters and left out Herbert's science fiction aspect.
I've never read anything by PD James before and must admit that I really enjoyed her style of writing. My impression is that this book is more of a "literary work" than "pulp fiction" -- the author spent a lot of time developing the main character, Theo, who I felt like I almost knew by the end of the story.
I too saw the movie first... I bought the book because of the other reviewers who mentioned how different they were from each other. I enjoyed the movie but hated the ending... the book's ending was much more positive. I would add that though there were many differences between the movie and the book, the movie producers really cast the actors well: Clive Owen as Theo was brilliant, Julianne Moore as Julian and Michael Caine as Jasper were perfect. I can't name all the other actors in the movie, but they were all great; in fact, the movie did the book justice even with all the changes made to bring it to the theater.
One of the reviewers complained about the "religious overtones" being too heavy. I didn't notice that -- I would expect different elements of society to behave in extreme ways were the end of the world to be eminent. And since the entire story takes place in England, it is not surprising that some of the events occur in churches.
Book Review: Perspective in Children of Men
Summary: 4 Stars
P. D. James' novel, Children of Men is quite different from the film in that the action is, particularly in the first section (Omega), very internal and driven from the point of view of Theo, the protagonist. The chapters alternate from first person to third person. The reader is thus more or less experiencing the action from Theo's perspective. In the novel, the narrative is very internal. In the film, although the viewer shares Theo's perspective in a number of ways, the narrative is more external. I recommend reading the novel and viewing the film, as different experiences. The film is an action film but the novel, although less so, is very taut. James is a strong stylist and the book is a good read.Book Review: Pretty good
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought this book was pretty good. It was written very well but I felt like the end was a little rushed and it began to come undone a little bit. I really want to see the movie but it looks like I'll have to wait for DVD. I would rather rate it about a 3 1/2 but I rounded up since I felt it was well written.Book Review: Quite different from the movie but interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
As a former fan of PD James, I was surprised to find out that the movie of the same name was based on her book. PD James is a fine writer and I read many of her detective novels for both the plot and the character development (think Jane Austen writing murder mysteries). However, I stopped reading her books after she portrayed a British anti-nuclear activist as an isolated, hapless, socially inept bumbler. (Full disclosure: I was once a full-time anti-nuclear activist so maybe I took it a little personally.)
Once I saw the movie, which was quite impressive, I decided to take another look at her work. However, those folks who are looking for a read which mirrors the film will be quite disappointed. While there are many characters with the same names, they play different roles in the plot and in some cases have different personalities.
Where the book is not as good as the movie: The activists are much more like the anti-nuclear activist described above. Hapless, naive, and clueless about how one mobilizes other people to join a social movement. They contact Theo in order to get the ear of his cousin, Xan, who is the dictatorial leader of the UK. Sorry, Ms. James, but no real activist with half a brain expects that just talking nicely to the man in charge is going to change things. As well, some of the character development makes no sense. People make choices that don't always make sense to me and the pace at which things occur doesn't always work.
Where the book is better than the movie: The book does an effective job of portraying a world which is emptying out. In the movie, the UK is a crowded, busy place, I guess, primarily because of refugees adding to the population. While it makes for an exciting movie, it doesn't really show how the world is becoming emptier and emptier and how empty space and quiet starts to take over people's lives as they have to make decisions about how they will face their deaths in a world without a younger generation to perform the various tasks that keep society running. PD James is a master at portraying what it means to watch the world dying around you.
In closing, if you loved the movie, you may be disappointed by the book but it's still quite interesting on an intellectual level even if the plot is lacking at times.