THE CHILDREN OF MEN, A No-Spoiler Review of the novel by PD James
If you’re a person born before 1990, you’ve probably seen the film Children of Men, based on the novel by PD James. I recommend this scifi novel without reservations. This book is rated PG and appropriate for young adults. The rating is due to adult themes and some violence. I’m guessing it would make a great audiobook…especially if you enjoy listening to British voice actors.
The Short Review. Why read when you can watch the film instead?
- I recommend you do both! I loved the film which adopted the premise of the book, but the novel is unique and interesting in a different way
- Beautifully written
- Decent tension and a mystery to solve
- Subtle ideas about Christianity (Anglicanism in particular) that only partially made it into the film
The Longer Review
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness of Holland Park, was a much beloved writer of primarily detective novels. Her first was published in 1962. It was later in her career, in 1992, that she wrote THE CHILDREN OF MEN. While this book is not exactly a detective novel, James unrolls the story with a similar template. She tells the story from the perspective of one man, Theodore Faron. Theo, as he is mostly called in the novel, is a fifty-year old professor of History at Oxford University. More importantly, the backdrop or the world in which he is living is aging and sterile. In the story (all set in England), no one has had a child for over twenty-five years.
The story opens with Theo’s journal entry about the violent death of the “last born” child on earth.
Early this morning, 1 January 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl in a suberb of Buenos Aires, aged twenty-five years, two months and twelve days. If the first reports are to be believed, Joseph Ricardo died as he had lived. The distinction, if one can call it that, of being the last human whose birth was officially recorded, unrelated as it was to any person virtue or talent, had always been difficult for him to handle. And now he is dead.
This book was an interesting read for me as a writer for a couple of reasons, one of which is the wobbly point of view part-way into the novel. First person journal entries in chapter 1-5. At the beginning of chapter 6, Theo grapples with his journal writing as a task in his overly-organized life that gave him no pleasure. So, in this chapter, Theo is still the primary “voice” of the story, but now telling the tale in 3rd person. In chapter 7, he’s back to a journal entry, therefore first person, and in chapter 8 and from here on out, the tale is a close 3rd POV, all from Theo’s perspective. I don’t think the average reader is disrupted by these slight shifts because Theo is still the storyteller. I noticed mainly because novice writers will sometimes shift like this accidentally and most editors would discourage these shifts. James pulls it off because of the “journaling” aspect of the beginning. I think she is using this to show Theo’s passivity. He observes and writes, but does not act. By chapter 8, he has fully made the decision to be a part of the story, not just an observer. He acts as a character in the unrolling narrative and will continue to do so until the end.
Another aspect of James’ writing that I enjoyed were her vibrant descriptions of faces and clothing. Long descriptions seem to be Theo’s favorite way (James’ favorite way) to judge/describe character. Of course, given the descriptions are coming from Theo, they also tell the reader about him. Regardless, I found myself enthralled by some of the descriptions, their length and detail…like this description of Jasper, a minor character and one of Theo’s older colleagues.
He was the caricature of the popular idea of an Oxford don: high forehead, receding hairline, thin, slightly hooked nose, tight-lipped. He walked with his chin jutting forward as if confronting a strong gale, shoulders hunched, his faded gown billowing. One expected to see him pictured, high-collared as a Vanity Fair creation, holding one of his own books with slender-tipped fingers.
Here is Miriam, a midwife and one the primary characters in the second half of the novel.
The woman was the only one to come forward and grasp Theo’s hand. She was black, probably Jamaican, and the oldest of the group, older than himself, Theo guessed, perhaps in her mid- or late fifties. Her high bush of short, tightly curled hair was dusted with white. The contrast between the black and white was so stark that the head looked powdered, giving her a look both hieratic and decorative. She was tall and gracefully built with a long, fine-featured face, the coffee-coloured face hardly lined, denying the whiteness of the hair. She was wearing trousers tucked into boots, a high-necked brown jersey and sheepskin jerkin, an elegant, almost exotic contrast to the rough serviceable country clothes of the three men. She greeted Theo with a firm handshake and a speculative, half-humorous colluding glance, as if they were already conspirators.
Science fiction is not always well-written in the literary sense, so it’s a pleasure to read a book like THE CHILDREN OF MEN, with literary flair on top of a good story.
Regarding the Anglican tidbits. I am a practicing Anglican as of 2018, so I was keying into the references. Theodore (whose name means God-lover) has a distant relationship with the faith of his people, but the reader encounters him coming more alive to this faith even as he moves toward more actions. In the world in which he is living, taking risks and acting, symbolize hope. Hope for a future is what the whole world has given up on. No science and knowledge has been able to solve the problem of humankind’s infertility. The idea of extinction and of God’s abandonment of his creation are stark in Theo’s understanding of the world. There is a beautiful moment, later in the story where a prayer is given from the Anglican book of common prayer over a dead friend.
Theo does the reading.
At first, his voice sounded strange to his own ears, but by the time he got to the psalm the words had taken over and he spoke quietly, with confidence, seeming to know them by heart. “Lord, thou hast been our refuge: from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night.”
Theo has awakened to the religion of his youth. It will play a large role in how he manages the final chapters of this gripping story.
