Reviews

The Children of Men by P.D. James

meganbeckk's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

elliemh's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition

3.0

Very different from the film; different events, different themes come into focus. It would be a mistake to say which is better since the film is a very loose adaptation of the novel and rightly so. Unfortunately the book, which was published in the early 90s, already feels dated and somewhat quaint.

riderred97's review against another edition

4.0

A phenomenal book with an anticlimactic ending. This book was like watching a snowflake become an avalanche, but right before the avalanche crushes the dainty Christmas town at the bottom of the mountain the sun comes out and all of the snow melts away before the town can be destroyed. I’m no stranger to an unexpected or even disappointing ending, but when your otherwise stellar book ending with an unexpectedly disappointing ending it makes it hard to recommend.

tnorthcu's review against another edition

3.0

Much better than (and very different from)the movie. An easy, fast read with an interesting and captivating plot.

trin's review against another edition

3.0

I loved the recent film version of this (which should have gotten WAY more Oscar nominations, dammit!), so of course I had to read the book, which I’d been told was very different. Is it ever! While the basic premise remains the same, many of the events—and pretty much the entire meaning of the novel—were altered for the film. While the movie is LOUD and VIOLENT, the book is quiet and desolate and lonely. The book explores themes of guilt and how men (er, mostly I mean humans here rather than males, although all the examples given in the text are male) abuse power; the film is about governmental abuse of power far more than individual abuse, and about post-apocalyptic violent desperation rather than quiet despair. It’s interesting, in light of the recent debate about the film adaptation of 300; one of the issues raised there is, Can an adaptation contain meanings not present in the original text? Watching Children of Men and then reading the [a: P.D. James|17452454|P.D. James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517705428p2/17452454.jpg] novel provides loads of evidence that the answer is yes. The novel was written in 1992 and expresses, along with universal concerns, others which are specific to its time. (After the superficial ‘greed is good’ ‘80s, have men and women stopped knowing how to love each other?) The film, made in 2006, is about things James couldn’t have dreamed of in 1992; it’s definitely an allegory for our time (as the truly frightening visual allusions to Abu Ghraib towards the end of the film make all-too-clear).

Is one better than the other? I felt the film more strongly, possibly because it is so timely. But the book is incredible in its own right, chilling in different but no less effective ways. I’ll be thinking about both for a long, long time.

biobooksbirdsnerd's review against another edition

Couldn't get into it

gracepickering's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

deeprosser's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition

4.0

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. It's very different from the film, but that allows me to appreciate each for what they are. I prefer the movie, but I did enjoy the way this was written.

Spoiler

It's almost unfair to compare the two, particularly when it comes to the ending. In the film, we see Theo die at the end right before the mother and child are rescued by a boat manned by a mysterious humanitarian group most people believed to be a myth. In the book, Theo kills the Warden of England and the Council gathers around the mother. There's a suspicion that Theo will not want to relinquish the power he gained when he killed Xan which is very well written. There's also the usual monkeying around with characters and identities, which is so common with films.

Overall, it's a book I would recommend. Definitely not one I took lightly though.