--- title: John Lanchester's 'The Wall' Is an Assuredly Human Dystopia description: John Lanchester's dystopian novel 'The Wall' posits a grim future for what might happen if the world continues as it is. canonical: https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/ author: Lucas Wittmann article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-07T10:33:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:57:51.408Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Dystopian Novel ‘The Wall’ Shows Us What Goes Down When a Wall Goes Up og:description: "If we keep doing what we're doing, we'll get there, eventually" og:url: https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ccffd4d45d6695/6989465ab21a9ca0ea5003b1/the-wall-time-off-reviews.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Wall Time Off Reviews og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dystopian Novel ‘The Wall’ Shows Us What Goes Down When a Wall Goes Up twitter:description: "If we keep doing what we're doing, we'll get there, eventually" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ccffd4d45d6695/6989465ab21a9ca0ea5003b1/the-wall-time-off-reviews.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dystopian Novel _The Wall_ Shows Us What Goes Down When a Wall Goes Up  by [Lucas Wittmann](/author/lucas-wittmann/)  ## Lucas Wittmann Mar 7, 2019 10:33 AM CUT  The Wall by John Lanchester The Wall by John LanchesterClara Mokri for TIME  by [Lucas Wittmann](/author/lucas-wittmann/)  ## Lucas Wittmann Mar 7, 2019 10:33 AM CUT John Lanchester’s last novel, _Capital_, published in 2012, was a Dickensian tour of London in the era of global capital–but before crises of xenophobia and worsening climate change came crashing down. The British journalist and novelist’s latest, _The Wall_, picks up somewhere in the not-too-distant future, when those crises have peaked: the seas have risen, the world has flooded, and human society has been torn apart. Only one place on earth (much like England, but not necessarily England) remains recognizable, with rolling green hills and pubs. The story is centered on an everyman named Joseph Kavanagh, who, like all citizens under a certain age, is conscripted to serve as an armed “Defender” on the Wall, a 10,000-km concrete barrier that keeps out the “Others” (cue the raised eyebrows of readers stateside). These “Others” are wandering peoples who live on the seas–imagine a scene from that Kevin Costner misfire, _Waterworld_. The older generation sits around watching TV shows about beaches, dreaming of earth as it was before they ruined it. Fuel is limited so only the “Elites,” a closed-off cadre who run the country, can fly to meet with other Elites. There is also a class of Breeders whose job is to, well, breed because everyone else is too depressed to get frisky. In the world Lanchester creates, most everything is distressing, yet there are reassuring moments of normality–a few people still flirt and fall in love, politicians still repeat the same speeches, and everyone has an iPhone-like device. As in all good dystopian fiction, Lanchester shows us a world that could become a reality; if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll get there, eventually. But the great trick of the novel is that he avoids hysterics. As the story builds and Kavanagh is forced to confront betrayal and worse, Lanchester maintains measured, elegant prose–creating an assuredly human dystopian novel. He is too smart a writer (see his excellent essays in the _London Review of Books_ and the _New Yorker_) to imagine that his book will be received as a mandate. But there is something hopeful about it: If we read and share stories about what might happen, perhaps we can change what will. Maybe, Lanchester suggests, it’s not too late. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/"},"headline":"Dystopian Novel The Wall Shows Us What Goes Down When a Wall Goes Up","datePublished":"2019-03-07T10:33:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:57:51.408Z","description":"John Lanchester's dystopian novel 'The Wall' posits a grim future for what might happen if the world continues as it is.","url":"https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ccffd4d45d6695/6989465ab21a9ca0ea5003b1/the-wall-time-off-reviews.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lucas Wittmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lucas-wittmann/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ccffd4d45d6695/6989465ab21a9ca0ea5003b1/the-wall-time-off-reviews.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Wall Time Off Reviews","caption":"The Wall by John Lanchester","creditText":"Clara Mokri for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5546787/john-lanchester-the-wall-book-review/","name":"Dystopian Novel The Wall Shows Us What Goes Down When a Wall Goes Up"}}]}] ```