Customer Reviews

Pendulum

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I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewer below - this book about a revolt of the young is unforgettable. It is gritty and realistic, and the 1968 novel hardly seems dated at all. The book almost detachedly traces the adventures of a normal upper middle class family in an England suffering economic ruin and the subsequent loss of confidence among the ruling classes. The book's style is dry and utterly unsentimental which is what makes it so real; the very realistic characters face all kinds of terrible challenges, but they just have to keep on keeping on. And they do.

The book also manages to disguise Christopher's own point of view. The characters themselves pass judgement on revolt of the "yobs" (backward boys) but Christopher does not. Most of the characters in authority are unsympathetic and weak or amoral, especially a corrupt professor who kowtows to the young. Refreshingly, Christopher is no more sympathetic to the young rebels, who are portrayed realistically as ignorant and stupid louts, which is maybe why the book isn't more well known today; it goes against the zeitgeist of our time. The author's sour portrayal of human nature may also turn some readers off.

This book is the result of what a very talented author sees when he stares into the abyss and the abyss stares back. John Christopher had created several varieties of apocalypses before this book, but none so dark as this one. He went on to create some terrific children's science fiction. But to my knowledge he never wrote any more adult fiction after this, perhaps because there's nowhere to go from such a dark story. Highly recommended.

This book is brutal. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and yet I don't think I could read it again. Anyone who has enjoyed Christopher's other apocalyptic novels (Death of Grass, Ragged Edge, etc.) know how harsh he can be, and this book is the harshest of the lot. Nevertheless it is brilliant, further proof (if any was needed) that Christopher is the master of the disaster novel; it's too bad only his young adult works are still in print. Readers familiar with the rest of Christopher's canon might not be taken in by the trick ending: he's used it more than once, but this time is the best, the kind of trick that isn't cheap, that makes you question the assumptions you brought to the book.