Ms. Hen reviews The Children of Men

The Children of Men

PD James

Vintage Books 

1992

Ms. Hen read this novel because she is interested in dystopian fiction, and she had thought she had seen the movie years ago, but she had not. She dived into the story of a world with no children, and no future. This is a book that makes people think about the world and the way it is, where we are heading, and how things should be.

This novel is about an Oxford professor, Theo, who lives alone, and whose career has gone by the wayside because children have not been born in the world in 25 years. He is divorced, and his only child died when she was young. He is bored with his life, and feels it has no direction, when he is contacted by a member of a clandestine group that wants to subvert the government. They contact him because his cousin is the Warden of England, a type of dictator, and Theo used to be his advisor.

The world where this takes place is a quiet one, but underneath there is a sense of impending doom. Since no children have been born, people feel like there is no future. Mass suicides take place called the Quietus, and women adopt cats like they are children, and have them christened. Theo attends a Quietus ceremony, and is shocked at how the elderly people are treated, and passes out. Theo is a sensitive man, but at the same time he does not seem to have confidence in his choices or his actions in life. He seems broken.

This novel reminded Ms. Hen of 1984, because it's about a society that has no hope. However, in THE CHILDREN OF MEN, things seem acceptable on the surface, and nobody is truly suffering, it's the idea that there is no future that is at the back of everyone's mind, like a needle stuck in a person's back that bothers, poking and prodding and annoying the person, so they know it's always there.

After she finished the novel, Ms. Hen decided to watch the movie. It is nothing like the book. The story is completely different, and in the movie, it's women who have become infertile, in the book, it's the men who can't have children. Ms. Hen thinks this is Hollywood's version of the story, because they can't handle men being the infertile ones. Also, the movie is an action movie, which the book is not. The book is a subtle story with some movement, but not in the Hollywood style.

One interesting aspect of this novel is that it takes place in the year 2021, which is right now. Ms. Hen thinks that the problems of the world in this novel are worse than the ones we have currently. Also, Ms. Hen thinks it's remarkable that virtually no technology exists in this novel, no cell phones or Internet, or anything like that.

Ms. Hen admires this book because it is a quiet tale of what could happen in the future if no more children were born. In the novel, problems in the world exist before infertility occurs, and Ms. Hen agrees that the world is not perfect right now, but things could be worse. That's an idea we should hold on to. The problems of the world are not as bad as they could be.

Ms. Hen reviews The Invention of Wings

 

The Invention of Wings

Sue Monk Kidd

Penguin Books

2014

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she picked it up at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She had read THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by the same author years ago, and she remembers liking it. She wishes she felt the same way about this novel.

This novel is about two women, Sarah Grimke, and Hetty "Handful" Grimke who live in Charleston, South Carolina in the early nineteenth century. Handful is a slave, and is given to Sarah on her eleventh birthday, but Sarah does not want her, and tries to set her free, but she can't because her parents won't allow it. She teaches Handful how to read, which is illegal at the time, and their lives intertwine. Sarah makes a promise to Handful's mother, Charlotte, that she will help Handful become free one day. 

Ms. Hen wanted to like this novel, but she found it tiresome. She found that she could not read the book for a long time. The word that came to her mind to describe this is "schmaltzy," which Ms. Hen did not know the exact meaning of, but she looked it up. The meaning is "excessively sentimental, in music or art," which is from Yiddish. Ms. Hen does not know how these words get into her head sometimes, but that is how she would describe this novel. It's a little too nice for what it is. She thinks that the people in real life in this era would not act this way, even though this novel is based on actual characters, Ms. Hen thinks it's too schmaltzy to be realistic.

Ms. Hen finds it difficult to acquire books these days. She does not work close to the library anymore, so she must depend on buying books online, and the Little Free Libraries. She gets frustrated because she reads so much she thinks she can't afford to buy all the books she wants, but she can afford it actually, but buying books takes a lot of space in her house. She wants to read books that make her happy and are interesting, not schmaltzy books that make her bored.

Ms. Hen reviews Fevre Dream

 

Fevre Dream

George R. R. Martin

WO & Shade LLC

1982

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she is still interested in vampires, and she has never read a book by this author. She was curious about his vampire novel. She was a little apprehensive about reading this, since it is a genre novel, and most of the time Ms. Hen does not like reading this type of novel. But she was not disappointed.

This novel is about a steamship captain, Abner Marsh, who becomes partners with Joshua York, and he does not know is a vampire at first. Marsh is struggling in his business, but York proposes that he build a large and beautiful steamship, and Marsh joins him. The Fevre Dream is built, and Marsh loves the ship from the first time he sees it. He dreams that it will be the envy of all the steamships on the Mississippi.

Joshua built the ship to live on, so he could have a place to hide while hunting other, evil, vampires. Joshua eventually explains to Abner that he developed a drink to help quench what he calls "the red thirst," that comes once a month. Other vampires appear who kill people and drink their blood, led by Damon Julian, an old vampire. The ship becomes a battleground of good and evil.

Ms. Hen was impressed by the history behind this novel. It is genre fiction, and there is a lot of action, but it is well researched, and the descriptions of the steamships and how they work is well done. Abner is a realistic character, and even though he was ugly and unkempt, Ms. Hen liked him because she thought he was the salt of the earth. The vampires are creepy and dangerous.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of THE INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, because some of it is set in New Orleans, and it takes place around the same era. Ms. Hen found out this novel was published five years after that one, and she wondered how much it might have influenced FEVRE DREAM. Vampires are always in style, but they come and go in literature.

Some chickens appear in this novel, "The birds were making a terrible racket. Toby looked up when Marsh entered. The cook had been killing chickens. Three headless birds were piled up by his elbows, and a fourth was on a block in front of him, struggling fitfully." Ms. Hen thinks this scene parallels the whole novel. The vampires' victims are helpless beneath their wrath. And there is nothing they can do.

Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel. It is not a fast read, but rather a slow burn. The characters and places are fascinating, and it seems familiar, even though she had never read it before. A lot of gore appears in this, so it might not be for everyone, but Ms. Hen is a hen with a strong stomach. She enjoys reading about murder and death and disgusting things. Vampires are attractive to her, since they are mysterious and dangerous. Ms. Hen thirsts for danger, even though she mostly finds it simmering in a book.