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Fiction Friday: Childhood’s End

Back in November when I read 2001: A Space Odyssey, my dad recommended another Arthur C. Clarke title.  Dad knows his stuff.

Childhood’s End is about a lot.  The more I’ve thought about it, the more layers I’ve found in the story, even though the actual plot is fairly simple.

In many ways, it’s like the new V show.  Aliens show up, flash their superior technology, and offer to help humanity out.  Whether the Overlords in Childhood’s End ever turn out to be evil, I won’t reveal.

One of the core questions in the book is actually sociological and psychological:  Take away suffering and striving, and what is humanity left with?  Most of us probably think it’d be great to be free of striving after our wants and needs.  And on an individual basis, it’s probably true that it’d be pretty terrific.

But what if all of humanity suddenly had nothing to strive for?  What would happen to science?  To art?  To society?  (Clarke also has religion taken out of the picture, which is a popular science-fiction author’s daydream, but I have to be honest that it is necessary to the plot of the novel.)

Another question involves the idea of a mind in the cosmos, but I can’t write much about it without giving away the core mystery in the book.  (Of course, as a Christian, there’s no question to me of their being a Mind in the cosmos.)

As I said, this isn’t a complicated story.  There aren’t plots and subplots, but the narrative shifts through different eras of humanity’s interaction with the Overlords.  And each time, the reader sees more of who and what the Overlords are, and I found myself sympathizing with them and even feeling sorry for them.  But again, I can’t reveal too much without completely spoiling the book.

I really admired how Clarke didn’t leave any plot points dangling.  One character, in particular, leaves the narrative for a good portion of the book, and I had no idea how he would be important again in the story.  But he was.  And there was an odd section showing how the humans of The Golden Age entertained themselves, involving, of all things, a Ouija Board.  I had no idea how the scene could possibly be significant to the story.  But it was.

I’d love to see a film adaptation of this book, but I think it would be a strange movie.  Because I’m not sure how the climax of the book would look.  In fact, when I think about it, 2001 has some strikingly similar concepts in it.  Hmm.  I’ll have to google it.

Not sure what’s next up.  I have a mop-up non-fiction from last year to finish, and I just started The Princess Bride.