Chocky

Product Information

New to Penguin Modern Classics, to tie in with the release of the Steven Spielberg film, and with a new introduction by Brian Aldiss Reality is relative. Devils, evil spirits, witches and so on become real enough to the people who believe in them. Just as God is to people who believe in Him. When people live their lives by their beliefs objective reality is almost irrelavant Alien telepathy. I mean, hello! Since light is the speed limit, the only reasonably efficient method of exploration has got to be SOMETHING ELSE. Especially if you want to send real spaceships to other intelligent races, you need to make sure you're welcome. :)

Chocky by John Wyndham | Goodreads

Wyndham singlehandedly invented a whole pile of sub-genres of SF. It’s as if . . . in the 1950s he was plugged in to the world’s subconscious fears and articulated them one by one in short, amazingly readable novels.” By using Matthew's adoptive father as the narrator Wyndham is able to employ him as the voice of reason contrasting him with the emotional response of his adoptive mother. The only thing they agree on is that, although Matthew doesn't seem at all frightened or unhappy, his behaviour is certainly not normal. At first they though that Matthew was just going through a phase of talking to himself. And, like many parents, they waited for him to get over it. But it started to get worse, not better.I listened to the audiobook narrated by Damien Lynch, who does a very good job, bringing every character to life and managing the children’s voices well – not something every narrator can pull off. His unhurried approach suits the tone of the book and allows the listener time to absorb the themes. As is common with authors writing in and of the period, the women are decorative and domestic, but largely sidelined in a friendly way. Younger sister Polly is plausibly annoying, but not given many redeeming qualities. However, in in the collection Consider Her Ways and Others (see my review HERE), a couple of the stories have a strong female/feminist slant. Don Quijote thinks the windmill is a giant, whereas Panza thinks the giant is a windmill. Quijotism may be defined as the perception of everyday things as rare entities. The reverse of that is Panzaism, which is the perception of rare entities as everyday things." Reading this in later life I can but say that it is Sci Fi for sure but hardly disaster/dystopian writing I recall. In fact I found the book rather hopeful in tone. To tell why would give the story away so for those interested in 50’/60’s sci fi I say read it. It is a good read.

Chocky - Penguin Books UK

The penultimate bit of the plot was incongruously far-fetched and almost comic. Not massively so, but it spoiled the overall experience for me, though I’m not sure what I’d have written instead. Fortunately, the actual end was touching, without becoming overly sentimental.intelligent life is the only thing that gives meaning to the universe. It is a holy thing, to be fostered and treasured.…" The Chrysalids comes heart-wrenchingly close to being John Wyndham’s most powerful and profound work.” Science fiction always tells you more about the present than the future. John Wyndham’s classroom favourite might be set in some desolate landscape still to come, but it is rooted in the concerns of the mid-1950s. Published in 1955, it’s a novel driven by the twin anxieties of the cold war and the atomic bomb…Fifty years on, when our enemy has changed and our fear of nuclear catastrophe has subsided, his analysis of our tribal instinct is as pertinent as ever.” The Chrysalids is a famous example of 1950s Cold War science fiction, but its portrait of a community driven to authoritarian madness by its overwhelming fear of difference—in this case, of genetic mutations in the aftermath of nuclear war—finds its echoes in every society.”

John Wyndham - Chocky - First Edition 1968 John Wyndham - Chocky - First Edition 1968

What would be ideal would be a comic or graphic novel version. I’ve hit dead ends so far and cannot get a hold of the kids TV show either. I’d appreciate it if anyone knows where I can find either. Reply I don't read a lot of science fiction, and this book is definitely in the genre. Maybe I should read more because I really enjoyed this story. Wyndham does a great job of creating a very realistic family and presenting how such a regular family might deal with an irregular situation that is impacting their beloved child. A remarkably tender story of a post-nuclear childhood…It has, of course, always seemed a classic to most of its three generations of readers…It has become part of a canon of good books.” Wyndham] was responsible for a series of eerily terrifying tales of destroyed civilisations; created several of the twentieth century’s most imaginative monsters; and wrote a handful of novels that are rightly regarded as modern classics.”This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. A pioneering science-fiction master confronts an enigma as strange as anything found in his classic works, The Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids: the mind of a child.