Children of the Dust

I first read this book when I was 12 and absolutely adored it. But another 12 years passed before I was able to read it again. Living in the states, I found it very hard to track down a copy; then a friend of mine special ordered one from the UK for me. With so much time having passed, I had the thrill of being able to read it again as though for the first time---I didn't remember 2/3's of the story! Over a decade later and as an adult, I found it to be a brilliant, believable, and stirring idea of what might be left of the human race after a nuclear holocaust. Lawrence paints very fully imagined scenes with strong descriptions, some of which remained as images in my head like a childhood dream from my first 12-year-old reading. I'm show more glad to have a copy safely on my shelves to read once more another 12 years down the road. show less

I read this as a child in the 1980s and some parts stuck with me vividly, like the story of surviving the initial aftermath of nuclear war in a cramped room. I remembered loving it and would have given it 5 stars at the time, as I loved apocalyptic fiction.
I tracked down a copy and re-read it as an adult. It's a little old-fashioned in its tone and much more fantastical than I remember (telekinesis, etc.). It's weirder than I remember and less enjoyable. I can't believe I was allowed to read something this disturbing as a 12 year old!

I have a great soft spot for apocalyptic teenage fiction, so was expecting to love this, surprised that I'd never read it when I was a teenager and devouring Brother in the Land and Z for Zachariah. There was lots in it I liked - the contrast between the survivors outside and the people leaving the bunker and the conflicts this created was a really interesting thought I hadn't seen done before. But as an adult reader it all felt a bit clumsy and laid on with a trowel - Sarah's 'I will die, but I will make sure Catherine lives' was far too resigned and prim and fatalistic for most teenage heroines. Likewise Simon's final acceptance that Laura and the mutants are a beautiful, better future. There's also a big dollop of 'God has a great show more plan which he is working out despite our idiocies' which probably appeals to some people more than others. show less

When I read this book as a tween, it made a huge impression on me. In fact, I had nightmares for years afterwards. It took me a while to track this down as an adult, but I finally found a copy at my local op-shop. I was worried that it would seem corny or dull and flat after all these years, as childhood favourites often do, but my worry was wasted. While I wasn't left with nightmares this time around, I found the book as emotionally disturbing, engaging and thought-provoking as I did when I was a child. This is a definite must read for fans of the post-apocalyptic genre.

I read this book back in elementary school and was so completely freaked out by it that I stopped reading YA books at the library. I was afraid to even look at it on the shelf. Onto the grownup section.

The book chronicles 3 generations of a family during and after a nuclear holocaust. It...haunted me for years. Though a definite product of the cold war, the book is set in England with no over anti-american or anti-russian sentiment. It is merely a book about surviving disaster, what it does to family (as a window to what has happened in society) and what a family (and humanity) become as a result of that disaster.

I read this in middle school, and it traumatized the hell out of me. It begins before nuclear bombs go off, and then pitilessly takes a few characters (children and one of their parents) through their attempts to survive. To this day I put covers over my drinking water so that radioactive dust won't drift down and contaminate it, as I vividly remember it doing in this book.

An interesting story of a post-apocalyptic world, from the perspective of several children, over the course of several decades. Sobering, a bit sermonistic, but vividly imagined and captivating.