Recommended to me by: Seeing it in a Little Free Library and recognizing the title
I read this as a teen when I was inhaling all the science fiction and fantasy I could lay my hands on. Several decades later, I vaguely remembered the ouija board scene and the ending, but didn’t remember they went with this book.
The book is beautifully written in spare, expressive prose that pulls the reader forward without the need for extreme violence. The whole book is understated, “civilized,” to go with the calming, “civilizing” influence of the aliens. From a more experienced adult viewpoint, I can see some of the subtle manipulation that underlies the plot
The book is also entirely focused on men. Even the aliens go by “he” and mirror the men in business suits they’re interacting with. There are two women in the book, wives of more active characters, and they do not pass the Bechdel test.
There is a wholly unnecessary invention of some reverse racism so that it can be punished more severely than anything else. Reminded me of Heinlien’s “Farnham’s Freehold,” which even as a bored teen I only read once.
“Childhood’s End” was published in 1953. The world’s ills that it was trying to address feel very relevant 70 years later. Without aliens to put a stop to people gathering power and resources to misuse them, it has only gotten worse. And the aliens are in a hierarchy themselves.
Recommended if you don’t mind a book trying to address the harms of patriarchy with a very patriarchal gaze.
