AvonVilla@ramblingreaders.org reviewed Empty World by John Christopher
Definitely not a "cosy catastrophe"
3 stars
The dawning awareness of your own mortality is a common theme in young adult fiction, often paired with a sexual awakening. You get both here, but mostly, it's the death.
There's been a plague of books and shows about plagues lately. This one from 1977 distinguishes itself by depicting a plague of premature ageing. Suddenly the inevitable end comes hurtling towards the whole human race at super speed, and even toddlers suddenly become gnarled, wrinkled and senile, then die quietly in their sleep.
YA fiction became bolder and more explicit about sex and death around the time this book was written, and there's plenty of shocking confrontation here to have it banned by squeamish or rabidly zealous US school boards. The very bits they would no doubt object to are the best parts of this book.
John Christopher was a friend of John Wyndham. The work of the triffids creator …
The dawning awareness of your own mortality is a common theme in young adult fiction, often paired with a sexual awakening. You get both here, but mostly, it's the death.
There's been a plague of books and shows about plagues lately. This one from 1977 distinguishes itself by depicting a plague of premature ageing. Suddenly the inevitable end comes hurtling towards the whole human race at super speed, and even toddlers suddenly become gnarled, wrinkled and senile, then die quietly in their sleep.
YA fiction became bolder and more explicit about sex and death around the time this book was written, and there's plenty of shocking confrontation here to have it banned by squeamish or rabidly zealous US school boards. The very bits they would no doubt object to are the best parts of this book.
John Christopher was a friend of John Wyndham. The work of the triffids creator was famously (and unfairly in my opinion) smeared as "cosy catastrophes" by Brian Aldiss. 'Empty World', might qualify for Aldiss' epithet, if it weren't for the corpse-laden first half of this little novel. The second half changes gears and becomes a sort of bisexual love triangle and morality play. The ending is satisfying, but the first half of the book is the best. The grieving protagonist is numbed by his tragedy, giving the author an opportunity to serve us up some meaty existential detachment and alienation.
After a day's reflection I have removed a star because of dated sex and gender portrayals. Mainly, it is unacceptable for a male character to forcibly kiss a girl to resolve an argument, it is sexual assault. In the story it turns out it was what she wanted but didn't express it. Also the male character didn't know this, he just kissed her without consent. Female readers will recognise this garbage. In real life, a boy having an argument with a girl does not mean he should kiss her without her agreement, this only happens in the warped imagination of boys trained to believe these rapey fictions.
I've read a few of John Christopher's books and he is not too good with inclusiveness. I'll go easy on him here because he has at least included two interesting female characters, and it is an isolated incident. The author should have paid closer attention to his buddy John Wyndham, who created powerful female characters, inspired by his real-life partner.
In my recent re-reading of "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier, I found the story completely ruined by the ridiculous objectification of the female characters who are remote or peripheral. It's a shame because it was a groundbreaking book in so many other ways. Now I can't recommend it to young readers. I wouldn't go so far with John Christopher's books, but I think any boys reading them would benefit from some guidance about the dated attitudes presented in books like this.