January 24, 2010
#4 - The Children Of Men by PD James I bought this secondhand on Amazon and it turned out to be a book discarded by the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Mass. I like the fact it’s an old library book and was even driven to check out the TCPL’s website (which was a tad disappointing). Their loss was my gain (for pennies). James is best known for her crime novels but The Children Of Men is a dystopian SF novel that, for some reason, reminded me of JG Ballard. I saw the film when it came out and enjoyed it (and not just because of Julianne Moore) and thought it would be fun to read the book too. Wow, the book and film are barely related except that both describe a world without the possibility of children. And I mean barely related. As in not in any way shape or form. My first thought was that the book was slightly dour (James has a notably “dry” style) and not particularly exciting (unlike the action adventure of the film) but it really took hold of me. It’s a thoughtful novel of ideas about hope and faith and power that also made me think of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, A strong but gentle book and more powerful and moving for it. It’s slightly taken the shine off my appreciation of the film version. You can get more information about the writing process behind the film version here.

#4 - The Children Of Men by PD James

I bought this secondhand on Amazon and it turned out to be a book discarded by the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Mass. I like the fact it’s an old library book and was even driven to check out the TCPL’s website (which was a tad disappointing). Their loss was my gain (for pennies).

James is best known for her crime novels but The Children Of Men is a dystopian SF novel that, for some reason, reminded me of JG Ballard. I saw the film when it came out and enjoyed it (and not just because of Julianne Moore) and thought it would be fun to read the book too.

Wow, the book and film are barely related except that both describe a world without the possibility of children. And I mean barely related. As in not in any way shape or form.

My first thought was that the book was slightly dour (James has a notably “dry” style) and not particularly exciting (unlike the action adventure of the film) but it really took hold of me. It’s a thoughtful novel of ideas about hope and faith and power that also made me think of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go,

A strong but gentle book and more powerful and moving for it. It’s slightly taken the shine off my appreciation of the film version.

You can get more information about the writing process behind the film version here.

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