Future Shock

Finished The Children Of Men by P.D. James yesterday.

A sobering and fascinating look at our nearly immediate future - even though this book was written about ten years ago.

James' prose speaks eloquently of a time when human beings can no longer reproduce, and the human race begins to slowly die out.

The protagonist, Theo, is a professor and scholar who feels as if his life work is all now rather pointless. It does beg the question - what is the point of history when there will be no one there to remember/study it? Would we keep honoring the past if we knew that the future didn't exist?

I would like to think that I would still want to read, look at art, listen to music, visit foreign countries, fill my mind with all that I could. Why wouldn't I? I don't think I would want to wallow in the hopelessness of the situation.

James also writes of a government which treats its elders with contempt, its youth with indifference and its immigrants with a complete lack of respect. She definitely draws parallels with contemporary society.

All wrapped up in a suspense-filled drama, with sympathy, apathy, and nobility.

Up next: Call It Sleep by Henry Roth - a book I have been wanting to read for AGES. Very much looking forward to this one.