A book I actually like!! (Children of the Dust - Louise Lawrence)

Member Name: rob_writer

Product:	Children of the Dust - Louise Lawrence
Date:	19/07/01 (281 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you think, Well written

Disadvantages: Makes you think, Not happy subject matter

I know I'm bored when I start to read a book. Or not bored, perhaps I just have too much free time and nothing to fill it. But that could be the definition of bored. Anyway, before I ramble on, back to the book.

To try to relieve my boredom I started to tidy out my cupboards, full of the last 13 years of school work. I started this about 3 weeks ago, but the first cupboard contained the complete trilogy of four of 'The Hitch Hiker Guide..' and related books. They took over from cupboard cleaning for a few days, and then as normally happens at the start of a loooong holiday I found plenty of things to do. Play tennis, watch tennis, eat, play computer games, split up with girlfriend, cop off with her best mate, get mad cos she copped off with my best mate, drink alcohol, watch TV and Dooyoo. Then today the boredom returned. A week of constant rain had made me run through all the things I had to do, and you can't play tennis in the rain. Sick of trying to find a job, I decided to head instead back to my room, and get back to work on the cupboards. There's obviously a trend here because I found two more books, and guess what; I'm gonna read them! I have one cupboard to go, and I'm sure that contains a book called 'The Physics of Star Trek' (hint to Dooyoo - add that category now!).

It turned out this book belonged to school anyway. I've had it for 5 years, I guess it could almost be called stealing. Still, I'm gonna take it back before school closes for the summer, so I have until Friday at 3.40pm to get through it all. According to the cover it's a book for teenagers, and although I am 18 I do feel a little peeved that I'm still reading books I read when I was 13. But hey, I like it, which is something I can't say about a lot of books, and as usual when I like a book, I sit down, read it, and don't stop until I have finished.

So now in the Dooyoo fashion, I'll tell you all what I
thought (the long intro was to hide the fact that despite having written tonnes of ops, this is my first proper book one!).

First things first, the plot.......

Set in the modern day and age, although lacking a definite date, 'Children of the Dust' tells the story of a nuclear holocaust, and ones families involvement in it. The book is split up in to 3 sections, telling first the story of the initial dropping of the nuclear bombs, and the days that immediately followed. The second section takes place over the years that follow the war, and the final part is concerned with the new order that comes from the chaos.

The Harnden family were like any other, the father Bill married to his wife Veronica, with three children, Sarah (from Bill's first marriage), Catherine and William and a dog, Buster. But when the bombs were dropped Bill was at work, leaving Veronica and the three children to try to survive the holocaust. When Veronica cracks under the strain of trying to survive, Sarah, the eldest child, takes control. Only one of them survives, but goes on to be the building block of a new, better society. Bill Harnden was presumed dead, but a stroke of luck meant he got in to a nuclear bunker. He grew accustomed to life in the base, but sooner or later the remaining family members and their offspring were fated to meet once more.

I will say no more (don't want to give away the whole plot!), but I will say that the rest of the book is good. It's not good because the story is particularly thrilling or exciting, it's good because it makes you question loads of things. What are we doing on the planet, what are we doing to the planet, religion, government and many other 'meaning of life' things.

I never know how far to dig in to things. You could give me a piece of text with deep meaning and I may only see the obvious point and not the hidden message, and then you could give me something with no mean
ing and I would think it had meaning. I don't know what Louise Lawrence meant when she wrote this book. It was, after all, meant for teenagers, so perhaps the 'communism beats democracy' message I picked up on wasn't meant to be there. Or maybe it was, but when I was 13 I certainly didn't pick up on any of this.

Whatever else it may to do, or be, it's not one of those books you read as a pick-me-up. Don't read it when you're depressed. It's not on a scale with Schindler?s List, and it could even be said to have a happy ending (if not for the current human race), but more than anything it leaves you thinking about the issues it raises.

It's well written throughout, and never gets bogged down on one thing for too long. It's fast paced, moving at times quickly through periods of years, but it doesn't lack description either. One line may tell the tale of a decade, but the next could describe wonderfully the savaged, torn world that was left after the war (if wonderful is quite the right word to describe it).

It's a fairly short book at the end of day, with its 168 pages not taking more than a few sessions to read. There are no chapters, apart from the three sections I mentioned before. Each is just about the right size for a decent reading session, and breaks the book up in to three nice palatable chunks.

Don't be put off by the fact that I said this was written as a book for teenagers. I am still a teenager, but at 18 I think (hope) I'm past needing to read books for kids. I didn't fully comprehend this book the first time I read it at school, and although we analysed it at school I really think we too much down the technical, English Language side of things as opposed to discussing the issues it raises. It really is fine for everyone to read, and while it's not going to tax you like a Jane Austen novel, I think most people will find it an enjoyable, if brief read
.

I liked it, and I don't normally like books - so that's probably about the best recommendation I can give it!!

And now that I've read it all, I'm back to being bored. I've pi**ed off every girl I know, the local pubs are becoming more than a tad repetitive and I've started reading books. What has the world come to? Still, only 10 more weeks to Uni (he says with a sigh!).

Summary: