PD James has been writing books for about 50 years now. But I first heard of her a few months back (I read a review about an Adam Dalgliesh story). The comments I read about the author were quite encouraging, so in my subsequent visit to Landmark, Forum, I asked for The Children Of Men. (They also recommended to me her latest – The Private Patient which I am yet to put my hands on.)

The Children of Men was a very interesting read – that is an understatement. It is definitely not a light read, you cannot cruise through the pages at one go. You need to read each sentence, hover over it, and appreciate the thought and research that has gone into the entire work. It is thought-provoking, it is scary (not as in “horror” scary but as in “a world without a future” scary). The truth is that such a future-without-a-future is not impossible. It could be likely, though (if it ever happens), it would take some time.

I understand that a movie has been made on this story, but I am wary of movies made from books as they steer us away from the movie we have directed in our mind during the reading, starring the characters our mind has created using the raw material available to us from our past and present.

My rating of the book: Very Good.