Book Review

The Children of Men
PD James
Genre-Science Fiction
In this book Theo is bored with life and starts to journal his life. The human race is becoming extinct as males can no longer produce sperm to reproduce. Theo talks about his life from childhood to when he divorces his wife for running over his child. One day well going to church he is introduced to Julian. The next weekend he meets the rest of the group and is told to go witness a Quietus and then to speak with Xan. After speaking with Xan and seeing his ex-wife he chooses to go and travel around Europe for the summer. Once he returns he gets swept up in to a long and dangerous adventure that follows.
The main character in ‘The Children of Men’ is Theo. Theo is only described in this book as being fifty years old and having graying hair. He is depressed at the fact that the human race is dying but doesn’t want to commit suicide to end his life. Theo is a semi realistic character as he does what most people would do under the pressure for the first half of the book but then becomes unrealistic as he holds a stick-up and kills people. I would not like to be friends with Theo as he is very depressed and always follows a routine. Theo is portrayed as a stereotype for the first half of the book but becomes a stock character in the second half when his actions change dramatically. Theo’s importance in the story is that he is the main character and he joins a rebellion against Xan and the Council of England. A second main character is Xan. Xan is the Warden of England. Xan is not described in the book. He is known to have a lot of charm. It is said in the book that “He had charm, of course; he still has” (13). Xan is received differently by all of the characters as some want to kill him whereas others believe that what he is doing is best for the people of England. Xan is power-hungry and by not calling an election is retaining this power. Xan is a realistic character as he is someone who has power but doesn’t want anyone else to have it. I would not like to be friends with Xan as he is power-hungry and someone wanting his position would use his friends to get at him. Xan is a stereotype character as he is a power-hungry leader. Xan is important as he is Theo’s cousin and the Warden of England. The final main character in the book is Julian. Julian is the wife of the leader of the group rebelling against the Warden of England. Julian has short, rich brown hair with flecks of gold. She is very light-skinned with a pre-Raphaelite face. She is a realistic character as she is leading a small rebellion to fight for her rights. I would not like to be her friend as she is getting into a lot of danger rebelling against the Council of England. Julian is a stereotypical character as she is the woman who leads the rebellion against the evil leader. Julian is important in the book as if she wasn’t there then Theo would have never seen the Quietus, talked to Xan or done any of the other events that led to the end of the novel. In the start of the novel Xan and Theo are friends but as the novel continues their friendship deteriorates and Theo becomes a good friend of Julian’s.
There are many issues that are addressed in this book. One issue discussed in the Children of Men is the ending of the human race. This is a large issue as this is what the book is about and the main theme. It is shown by the fact that for 26 years humans have been infertile. A second theme is the change of thinking in a human when the end is near. This is shown through the book as many Omega’s have gone mad and became painted faces who rip people apart when they come across the painted faces. A final theme in The Children of Men is the fear of dying alone. This is shown through the book with the Quietus. This is as most people are scared to die alone so they have mass suicides in which people have weights attached to their legs and they jump into the ocean. They do this as they think that this way they will die with someone else.
I enjoyed the book as it became fast paced once Theo meets Julian’s group and it had a lot of intense moments after this point. I didn’t like the book for the reasons that the book was very slow for the first hundred pages. Also the ending came on too quickly and I didn’t find that the characters developed enough. The only thing that affected me in this book was how people change when they know that the end of the human race is near. I feel that I would act the same as Theo in this novel as he is very neutral and does anything he can to keep him and the others alive. I have learnt that people change their views completely when they know that they are going to die soon. I would rate this book a 3.1 out of 5 as there was a plot and it was well written but the start was really slow, they end came on very fast and left a cliff-hanger with no sequel and the characters barely developed.