Children Of Men -- P. D. James: A Book Review

James has produced a wonderful novel of dying dreams, of futility and heartbreak, of a world with humans coming to an end. And then she injects hope, that one human attribute that never fails us as a species.

As with most multi-media offerings, I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. One reason is for comparison. Some movies are true to the books they originate from; others are separate entities altogether.  Another reason is to better know the characters. No matter how good an actor is, you cannot read his mind. You are privy to the characters' inner thoughts in novels. Third: there is a continuity in novels that is sometimes missing in movie versions, sometimes due to time constraints and/or editing, sometimes because of poor screenplay adaptation. And besides, it is sometimes good to get the author's original intent, which may become obscure in the visualized movie version, which is influenced by screenwriters and directors (unless the screenwriter and director are also the author, which is rare).

Children of Men is a dark account of the fall of modern man. For some reason, all of mankind have become sterile, unable to procreate. The end of the human race is not only assured, it is in sight.

P.D. James has crafted a beautiful novel of apocalypse, so crushingly sad it literally tears at your heart. She brilliantly projects a future where people pointlessly exist, where a last generation is exalted, where women hysterically care for dolls and cats as if they were real children, where people plan mass suicides, where governments do whatever they can to protect what is left and test and study to attempt to save the race. It is a dismal existence and 25 years after the last person on Earth was born in Brazil, it is a funeral procession with everyone walking to their self-appointed graves.

The protagonist is a rather colorless and stoic Oxford historian named Theodore Faron. Once he sat as an advisor to the Council of England, of which his cousin, Xan Lyppiatt, is the all-powerful Warden. As the novel begins, he is simply an historian, writing a journal, teaching the few who still wish to be taught.

And then one of his students, a pretty female and a member of a small group of dissenters, approaches him to speak to the Warden on matters of civil rights. He does, agreeing with their demands, knowing that somehow he has involved himself in some subtle treachery.  He protects the group's anonymity, however, when his cousin and the Council refute his proposals. The matter seems done with until another member of the group appears at his door, begging for his help, for one of their number has been taken into custody. Against his better judgment, he goes.

And begins a headlong run for freedom with the small band of dissenters. For they have shown him there is a reason to demand better treatment by their government, a reason to fight for the rights of men. The female student is pregnant and the child must be protected at all costs.

An elegant read, Children Of Men is reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984 and Tracy Hickman's The Immortals in its stark portrayal of a dark and lonely future. But there is where any similarity ends. James has produced a wonderful novel of dying dreams, of futility and heartbreak, of a world with humans coming to an end. And then she injects hope, that one human attribute that never fails us as a species. A cautionary tale, Children of Men shows us a world of imminent doom that arguably could occur, a world where infertility has taken away the future, a world without the sound of children...