Pendulum

by John Christopher

out of print hardback with dust jacket

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Samuel Youd was born in Huyton, Lancashire in April 1922, during an unseasonable snowstorm.

As a boy, he was devoted to the newly emergent genre of science-fiction: ‘In the early thirties,’ he later wrote, ‘we knew just enough about the solar system for its possibilities to be a magnet to the imagination.’

Over the following decades, his imagination flowed from science-fiction into general novels, cricket novels, medical novels, gothic romances, detective thrillers, light comedies … In all he published fifty-six novels and a myriad of short stories, under his own name as well as eight different pen-names.

He is perhaps best known as John Christopher, author of the seminal work of speculative fiction, The Death of Grass (today available as a Penguin Classic), and a stream of novels in the genre he pioneered, young adult dystopian fiction, beginning with The Tripods Trilogy.

‘I read somewhere,’ Sam once said, ‘that I have been cited as the greatest serial killer in fictional history, having destroyed civilisation in so many different ways – through famine, freezing, earthquakes, feral youth combined with religious fanaticism, and progeria.’

In an interview towards the end of his life, conversation turned to a recent spate of novels set on Mars and a possible setting for a John Christopher story: strand a group of people in a remote Martian enclave and see what happens.

The Mars aspect, he felt, was irrelevant. ‘What happens between the people,’ he said, ‘that’s the thing I’m interested in.’

Reviews

[Brian Bundren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pendulum is another thought-provoking disaster novel by John Christopher about the collapse of the modern social establishment. Unlike his other adult catastrophe novels like The Death of Grass, The Long Winter, and A Wrinkle in the Skin, this breakdown is brought about solely by man-made factors. The focus of this book is less on mere survival instincts and more on the political power struggles that develop in society when we allow self-centered views to rule our judgment of others.

The plot builds slowly with a growing financial strain on England eventually leading to the revolt and takeover of the country by the unruly “yobs” (boy spelled backwards). While this feels a bit far-fetched at times, it serves as an adequate metaphor for the type of political radicalism that can fracture a society. The story centers around an average family that finds itself stuck in the middle of these power shifts. Christopher does an excellent job of narrating the story in a cold and detached way that lends itself nicely to the helpless position that the family finds themselves in as the pendulum of power continues to swing around them. The pacing of this book is like an exponential growth chart, where it starts off slowly but eventually skyrockets towards the climax. The bleak aura along with some disturbing scenes does not make this one for the faint of heart. If you can stomach these situations though, this book makes for an interesting read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember why I picked this one up over the other J.C.'s on my shelf, an Instagram quote from Sylepress most likely! The synopsis, a story of civilization breakdown initiated by political revolt, is not one that would usually appeal to me, I am much more interested in science fiction generally.

Overall this book was terribly uneven - John Christopher is a master at character development - it took me reading his books as an adult to understand that my adoration for the Tripods Trilogy was rooted in my adoration for his characters, and he shows that skill in this book. And yet..... he is not infallible and this book really swung from extremes (on a Pendulum you might say? sorry, couldn't help myself) between compelling character depth and laughably surface character pieces. Those swings toward the good were what kept me reading. I chuckled at this sentence late on in the story, "There was more of curiosity in that, but the curiosity one might feel about the destiny of characters in a book that on the whole, one was too tired to go on reading." My curiosity about these characters was just on the edge of that tedium - I'd consider quitting and then the author would wow me with something, and also I knew he had to be planning some zinger of an ending, I really did have to find out what it was.

The pacing of this book was so strange - we'd get these wonderful swaths of slowness, character depth and background (lovely vignettes inside the mind of Jane), and then there'd be this rush of crudeness, action, violence. These would be interspersed with news articles trying to explain in journalistic style what had happened, and I never really understood it all. Maybe a better understanding of British government and historical context would have helped, surely it would have, and again there'd be these brief bright spots of philosophical insight, but mostly there was just a dull confusion as to why the Yobs managed to gain power.

The ending was totally rushed too - It seems clear to me that the author was trying to make a big grand statement about the flaws of extreme and fanatical thinking - the inevitable shift of power to the Fellowship was itself fascist and violent despite growing out of the supposed goodness of Christ. The Robeys were clearly just as bad as the Yobs. Was that the message? I don't know, it all felt so incohesive, I could not track his assessment of the different warring philosophies. Young versus old? Chaos versus order?

My initial introduction of Martin (the central Robey of the narrative) was so good at first - he was likable in his devotion to serving others, and I was touched by suggestion that Atheism/Agnosticism was a part of the fellowship.

"They had not belief in being special, no claim to divine revelation. They were merely those who had abandoned hope of the world's material future, who saw mankind passing through disgrace to infamy. They accepted the leadership of Christ, but in no exclusive or excluding spirit. Martin believed in Christ's divinity, in a sorrowful God interacting with the failing flesh of man, but there were others who did not."

I liked the scenes with Betty who was clearly interested in him, and J.C. expertly describes their interactions, their awkward attempts to connect and understand. And I appreciated Martin's growth in confidence, but I did not like the eventual display of blind, non-discerning, faith.

And there was something haunting about reading all of this during a Pandemic, our own financial crisis, and social unrest. The crumbling school systems, the attempts to adjust to a changing world, the oppressiveness of being stuck at home - so much of this book felt painfully and heartbreakingly familiar. And it was scary to see the complacence of the people and the pervasive acceptance of cruelty in protection of the slightest amount of safety and security (that message was obvious).

"Things will sort themselves out. My feeling is, the Government's letting them have a run while they - well, build up. I've heard it said they're forming a kind of army, at Salisbury." Mickey said, "Do you know of anyone who's gone to join it? Would you go?" He made a negative shrug to the first question, and said, "I couldn't, anyway. I've got my job. Someone's got to keep it all ticking over."

And then later, "No one around here is being terrorized at the moment, anyway, apart from you. It will clear itself up." Oof.

There was a lot of this book that felt like a crude unbelievable joke - in trying to be provocative I felt J.C. made some laughable missteps - the ending line in particular, involving Jane and Mikey, meant perhaps to inspire and draw emotion, quite literally made me laugh out loud. So there was the pendulum - Jane was such an interesting and complex character, and her own swings from Walter to Mickey and away again, were described in beautiful and psychologically interesting language, if at times unbelievable. And her story line finished with a neat little bow and a what amounted to a narrative punchline!

Oh well. I remain excited to discover the adult fiction of John Christopher. His young adult novels captivated me as a youth. I've said it before - they made a reader out of me, and when I re-read some of them as an adult, I felt they held up. I may be biased! But I find his adult writings are speaking to me in new ways, and there is still that familiar feel, the way he is so interested in the dynamics of history, power, and disaster. I am fascinated by his fascination with the world and the lens through which he has tried to view and interpret it.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A failing economy, rising permissiveness, youth violence and rampant disorder lead to the fall of government in the UK and rule by mobs of youth motorcycle gangs. An upper middleclass family suffers deprivations and the occupation of their home by one of these gangs as the pendulum of society swings away from disorder to the rise of a religious brotherhood that soon takes on the gangs and creates an equally unappealing future. The message of the story being that the vast majority of people are helplessly trapped between opposing liberal and conservative views and that given the influence of fear or charismatic leadership, the masses will become their own enslavers.

An engaging, if flawed read for me. Pacing was a bit slow. The rise to power of the "yobs" is believable with a bit of a stretch of the imagination, as is the counter revolution against them. Christopher hints at manipulators behind the scene such as Professor Walter Staunton. One also has to remember that the period covered by the book is over one winter, so basically the country falls into disordered chaos.

Social commentary, stretched almost to disbelief at times. One scene near the end depicts a civil servant in a dark suit holding the severed head of a yob on the top of his umbrella. It may sound like the novel borders on comedy, but it is generally grim and bitter toward what the world could become.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a tinge of Christopher's often excellent interpersonal dynamics in this one, but each scene is twice as long as it needs to be. A scene will begin with an idea, plot point, or character development which quickly establishes its purpose, then continues on into a dull waste for far too many pages.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
The diverse experiences of three family members before, during, and after a societal breakdown.

Review
I think I’ve read enough of John Christopher’s books now to say with some confidence that he was just better at YA books than he was at adult ones. Pendulum, much like A Wrinkle in the Skin and The Possessors, is technically well written, but frankly a bit dull. I read it interleaved with another book, and I honestly kept forgetting I was still in the middle of it – even though I read it within a few days. It’s … fine, but he’s addressing very familiar themes – pretty much the same ones he usually wrote about. Interestingly, he wrote Pendulum just before two of my favorite Christopher books – The Lotus Caves and The Prince in Waiting. So it’s not a question of growing skill; he was already an established author. It’s just that the emotions are so flat throughout, even when terrible things are happening.

To some extent, you could argue that Pendulum is effectively a prequel to The Prince in Waiting – setting up the circumstances that lead to that society – which made it a little more interesting to me. But without that, it’s a fairly predictable breakdown of society story with few surprises.

The characters, unfortunately, are more sketched than filled in. The novel is basically a description of the experiences of three family members before and during society’s fall. But their motivations are thin – particularly in the case of the one woman, Jane – who’s drawn to men who seem to have very few redeeming features. Christopher takes a half-hearted stab at explaining why she sleeps with her boss (and even later suggests that she seduced him), but I didn’t find it at all convincing, which makes her sections particularly frustrating. The whole effort feels half-hearted, in fact – as if he had a vague idea and then didn’t do much to develop it. It’s fine if it’s the only Christopher adult book you read, but if you’ve read others, this one doesn’t add anything. And overall, I have to encourage staying with his excellent YA novels, and leaving the more adult and forgettable novels to completionists like me.

[Darryl Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me a lot of the movie "Mad Max," although it's very British in character, and it was written over a decade before that movie. Don't be expecting car chases. I'm really speaking about the background culture of the story. There has been a financial collapse, law and order has failed, and teenage gangs of bikers have taken over the streets. They always existed, but their criminality had been curtailed before the police became ineffective. We follow Rod and his well-to-do family as they adjust to this unfolding cultural revolution.

A second thread which runs throughout the novel concerns a religious Brotherhood. At the beginning, they are concerned only with going good deeds, such as visiting needy pensioners. But a charismatic leader emerges, and the group grows exponentially. This thread seems disconnected from the main story, but it's clear that the two will eventually converge in some manner.

A fine addition to John Christophers's various disaster novels - probably the darkest, even though it might have the smallest body-count. I got really invested in the characters, and became reluctant to read the novel at bedtime, because of how it made me feel (that's a compliment, by the way, since so many novels engender apathy). This story feels curiously relevant to today, since we are going through something of a recession. I do feel, though, that the unfolding events lack realism occasionally. Having lived through the Northern Ireland Troubles, I can't see the police being so easily scared off by a bunch of anarchic youths on motorcycles.

John Christopher always writes about the human condition. In this book he explores religious brainwashing, mob mentality, and perhaps liberal values as a mask for cowardice and inaction. I've always felt that liberals have a tendency to take tolerance to the point where they let the demons run amok. That is explored here; at least, that's how I interpreted it.

[Mike Stone, · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting dystopia, if a bit dated

I read this many decades ago as a young man, on the strength of it having had a bad review in Michael Moorcock's New Worlds, which I took to mean that it must be all right.

On the whole I stand by that judgement, though the theme rather shows its age. Written in the 1960s,it opens in a Britain of violent clashes between Police and rebellious students, but with a twist. Unable to defeat the authorities by themselves, the student rebels form an alliance with the "yobs", a set of young people from the rougher end of society, possibly modeled on skinheads or Hell's Angels. For reasons not made clear, many young men in the armed forces go over to them, and the Police are massacred, leaving the young people in control.

From this point on, we hear no more about the students, who have evidently been brushed aside by their new allies. The latter now proceed to set up a regime which few student radicals would have relished. They revive flogging and the stocks, and apparently the death penalty as well.

However, they do not reign long. One of the leading characters belongs to a religious sect who go around wearing robes, and are the object of mockery by the yobs. However, they have acquired weapons, and soon gather enough support to stage a coup of their own. They have, however, no intention of restoring democracy, and proceed to set up a new-style tyranny, retaining the stocks and other "penal reforms" which the yobs had introduced. Britain has escaped from the frying pan into the hellfire.

There are some lighter moments. I loved the portrayal of the tv pundit, always determined to be in the latest fashion, who initially praises the idealism of the student radicals, goes on to commend the yobs' regime as showing a genius for compromise, and ends the book as a propaganda man for the "Robey" regime. All in all, not a bad read, though only good rather than great. In particular the Robeys didn't seem numerous enough to seize control as they do. In reality, I suspect, it would be old fashioned Blackshirts who would prevail. Still, not a bad yarn with which to while away an evening.

[Jason Royle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting but bleak political drama/thriller focused on a youth uprising in the UK and the subsequent fallout.

Not JC's best, but still a well-written book!

[Andy Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was first published in 1968, and in my opinion it shows occasionally. The story is set in the more-or-less present day (at the time of writing) but I could imagine it being updated to a modern setting quite easily.

This book isn't as apocalyptic as many of Christopher's, but features the breakdown of society within the UK. Student demonstrations and an economic depression lead to the rise of biker gangs of young people who effectively take over the country. I'm not 100% convinced that this sort of thing could happen, and there is a bit too much politics in the novel for my liking, but it's an interesting read.

I've heard this book described as being quite grim, but I didn't really find it particularly distressing. This is partly due to some self-censorship where some acts and conversations are not given explicitly. The characters seem to be upset about some things that are not so alarming by modern standards, so the book shows its age a bit in that respect.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A grim tale of violence. What I remember most vividly is the protagonist having his leg broken with difficulty by the leader of the biker gang who had taken his family hostage.

[Katie Breden]

Need more time to digest. Under Trump is an interesting time to read it for sure.