![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I finished P.D. James' The Children of Men. Like many, I came to this book after seeing the excellent film by Alfonso Cuarón based on P.D.'s book. Let me state unequivocally: if you are expecting to read the book version of the movie, you will be sorely disappointed.
The book shares very little with the film. In fact, I can share the similarities with you. The premise is the same - humans can't breed, there have been no births for over twenty-five years. The main character's name is Theo. He has an elderly friend named Jasper. There is a character named Julian. There is a pregnant girl. There is a scene where a log is blocking a road. That about covers it.
Now, one might think that this means the book was not good, however one would be wrong. The book is excellent, absolutely entertaining, shocking, and melancholy. The first quarter of the book reads like a beautiful eulogy for the human race. The characters are flawed, and so like real people. trapped in their unconscious programming and only change when the universe, or in this case, P.D. James, whacks them upside the head with the consequences of their actions. Actually, like the film, it's dark, yet ultimately hopeful. And somehow it makes you wonder if perhaps it had been best if we'd died off anyway.
I think it best, that if you're coming to this book after having seen the film, you must erase your mind of the movie, and think of this as a completely different entity with only a few coincidental similarities. Otherwise, the memory of the phenomenal film could taint one's experience and ruin a perfectly good novel.
The book shares very little with the film. In fact, I can share the similarities with you. The premise is the same - humans can't breed, there have been no births for over twenty-five years. The main character's name is Theo. He has an elderly friend named Jasper. There is a character named Julian. There is a pregnant girl. There is a scene where a log is blocking a road. That about covers it.
Now, one might think that this means the book was not good, however one would be wrong. The book is excellent, absolutely entertaining, shocking, and melancholy. The first quarter of the book reads like a beautiful eulogy for the human race. The characters are flawed, and so like real people. trapped in their unconscious programming and only change when the universe, or in this case, P.D. James, whacks them upside the head with the consequences of their actions. Actually, like the film, it's dark, yet ultimately hopeful. And somehow it makes you wonder if perhaps it had been best if we'd died off anyway.
I think it best, that if you're coming to this book after having seen the film, you must erase your mind of the movie, and think of this as a completely different entity with only a few coincidental similarities. Otherwise, the memory of the phenomenal film could taint one's experience and ruin a perfectly good novel.
