Brian W. Aldiss Appreciation Group discussion

anyone read this? I read it years ago but I dont think I enjoyed it back then, or understood it, can't remember, but I'm giving it a re-read, and so far, after chapter 1, its good post apocalyptic stuff!

For me, this book was as much as lament at mankind and society (as it was in the early sixties) as it is anything else.

It wasn't bad but I don't think it deserves to be included in the SF Masterworks series, to which it is soon to be included.

Soon to be? It already is!

I own it but haven't read it yet. Will read it next.

It's a few years since I read it now but I remember loving the sections in which the characters had grown old and were traveling down the river. That was classic stuff and very beautiful. The flashback stuff I was less fond of and I thought those bits and the general approach to mixing up the timeline weakened it a bit overall however the good bits are memorable and quite haunting.

Has anyone seen the film Children of Men or read the book by P. D. James on which it was based? I haven't however the similarities to the Aldiss story are remarkable. Aldiss mentions it (not very flatteringly) himself in his autobiography In The Twinkling of an Eye which is also a very good read.

One thing with this book- long chapters! I only get to read in bed really and cant finish a chapter in one go!

Well I'm halfway thru and quite enjoying it!

Just finished it, superb!