The World in Winter - John Christopher - Review

The World in Winter by John Christopher

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This story is split into three distinct parts. The first in London, the second in South Africa and the third back in a very different London.

It follows the fortunes of Andrew Leedon, a television journalist who moves in the more privileged circles of London social life. It's all brandy, cocktails and dinner parties at first,despite the impinging cold weather which is beginning to take a hold on the Western world. Eventually, things get so bad that Andrew is faced with a choice - stay in London, which is falling victim to violent gangs and a newly burgeoning ice age, or, since he has some money, property and contacts, go to South Africa. He chooses the latter.

Once in Africa he and his then girlfriend Maddie (I won't bore you with the tedious in's and out's of the two main relationships in the story. I am not really sure why we needed to know about them, other than perhaps Maddie, who comes in at the very end to provide a near-twist to the story.) I found all four of the characters in this love square (appropriate term in more ways than one) rather bland and far too accepting of the state of, literal, affairs. No anger to speak of. No fire in the belly. Just fatalism and dreary over-acceptance. Yawn.

Be warned - this book is very much of it's time (beginning of the 1960's.) It is full of sexism and of even more racism. I am not what is commonly termed a 'snowflake' but I had a hard time sticking with it for those reasons, especially as the book goes on. I kept hoping that we would really get into the nitty-gritty of survival and leave all this to fall aside, as I am sure it would in a really desperate survival situation, but sadly, that never happens.

This is a less a story of a dystopian world, more a story of love, romance and rank, institutional racism. I can see that it is a comment on society and how the tables become turned, so to speak. How the 'white man' becomes subject to the black man's whims, becomes slaves and servants to them, are forced to live in hovels and earn a pittance for menial jobs. How white women are prostituted to earn a living wage. I get that it is the flip side of the coin which, sadly and shamefully, history shows us was true for black people for many, many years. I get that, the thing is, I am not sure what the author means to achieve by it. Especially since, in the end, the white man reigns supreme again, in London at least.

There was a point where it looked like (for the purposes of this book) the black man was the one with the power. Even in icy England, where an unlikely expedition on, of all things, Hovercrafts (they were a newish invention in the early '60's and so no doubt the author was utilising a hi-tech invention to make his book even more contemporary) set forth as a scouting party for a much bigger force to follow later. They intend to rule England too, them being the ones who still have a working democracy, money, crops, means of travel etc, all the trappings of modern civilisation. This expedition fails, largely because of Andrew, who changes sides to suit his own needs - which again, is probably realistic.

It felt almost as if the author, John Christopher, couldn't quite allow the black man to win, in the end. I don't know that of course. I may be doing him a disservice, but this is how it came across to me.

The premise to this book was really good, I thought. The weather being the portent of doom, the signaller of the end of the world as we know it. The idea of the museums and art galleries of London being open to the wind and snow, famous works of art covered in ice and left to rot, if it hadn't been sold before things got too bad. Of ravaging gangs roaming the streets, when the snowdrifts and blizzards were not too great to tackle, is a great one. There is mention of people on a channel island eating polar bear meat, of catching seal to survive. A character talks about cutting holes in the ice of the Thames, to catch fish which he could not identify but was tasty. This could all have been developed and embellished to great effect. Instead, it is more a backdrop to the story of love and racism.

When London accepts the worst and begins to withdraw into itself - the rich and powerful taking the best of the resources of course, which is at least probably realistic - the belt is tightened around the 'Pale of London.' Ordinary people beyond this (beyond the pale?) are left to fend for themselves, without the protection of armed forces. There is a brief incident in which Andrew, riding along with an army contingent with a view to getting some of the story on film, witness a young woman being raped by a group of men. They rescue her, taking her back to the gate beyond which the pale lies, only to be refused her entry to the camp. The image of her simply exiting the jeep and walking wordlessly away whilst the men argue her case, her clothes torn, only one boot on, was a compelling one. If only the story had carried on in this vein.

I bought this in the hopes that it would be a Penguin classic (it might be, in which case forgive me.) I was looking forward to a darkly shocking, irrevocably changed world in which people had to become resourceful enough to survive the elements, and brutal enough to survive other threats. There was very little of this. Even when there were gunfights on the Hovercrafts, Andrew misses most of them, coming late to the fight. It all feels very passive.

I suppose what I am trying to say is I wanted exciting and innovative, and I got dull and predictable. Again, I read this book from the perspective of living in 2020. I tried so hard to bear that in mind as I read. Every time I started a new Part of the story, I did so in the hopes we would finally get down to the dystopian. It just never did it, for me.

Disappointing, not dystopian.



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