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The Midwich Cuckoos (Paperback)

by John Wyndham (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Price For All Three: £18.22

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New impression edition (28 Sep 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140014403
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140014402
  • Product Dimensions: 17.9 x 11 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 27,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

Cuckoos lay eggs in other bird's nests. The clutch that was fathered on the quiet little village of Midwich, one night in September, proved to possess a monstrous will of its own. It promised to make the human race look as dated as the dinosaur.


About the Author

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. He tried a number of careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'. As John Wyndham he wrote The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes (both widely translated), The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as Village of the Damned), The Seeds of Time, Trouble with Lichen, The Outward Urge (with Lucas Parkes) and Chocky. He died in March 1969.
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76% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What a truely great writer John Wyndham was., 27 Sep 2002
By Robert Paul "robertjamespaul" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Surely the hardest thing for a Science Fiction writer - or any writer for that matter - to acheive is to make the paranormal sound beleiveable. John Wyndham makes it look so easy that by the time you've finished one of his books you feel ready to pick up a pen and write one yourself.
The Midwich Cuckoos is impeccably written, easy to read, and extremely well thought out. Wyndham provides a broad pallete of characters unrivalled in most Science Fiction, each of whom expresses a different, thoroughly beleivable opinion/reaction to the bizzare coming of the "Midwich Cuckoos". What is important is that Wyndham never loses focus of the central characters, so that the book is, in the end, more about people than aliens/spaceships etc.
The point I'm trying to make here (not very coherently) is that whereas most Science Fiction centers around action and fanciful phenomenon, Wyndham's work never loses touch of humanity. He has a keen ear for the voice of post-war England, and a keen eye towards the behaviour of men and women who are 'up against it.' In this way the Midwich Cuckoos is a very English book and as acute a piece of social observation of 1950's village life as you are likely to find.
If none of this wittering makes any sense then allow me to sumarise: The Midwich Cuckoos is an superbly written, elegantly crafted work of Science Fiction that you really have to read.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An unsettling, eerie read, 13 Aug 2005
By Lilly Penhaligon (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This was a very eerie, disturbing read. I guess that most people are now familiar with the concept of the story. The novel deals with a whole lot of complicated issues - the division of people, attitudes and morals in a small town is easily reflective in modern society. This novel deals with so many different issues, it can make you mental trying to distinguish them all but here's a few: the mass fear taht can arise when humans are faced with something they don't understand and doesn't readily fit into their morals, attitudes and what they have been taught; the inability to see the opportunities of welcoming and trying to understand those things; it shows how division in attitude, morals, religion and custom can divide a town leading to mass hysteria and violence.
It also complicates all the above issues with this one:

What do you do if your child, a product of your own body, something you care for, look after, guide and love turns out to have ideas, concepts and methods that are almost the exact opposite of what you have tried to instil in them? What if they turn out to be manipulative, destructive, controlling and in the end downright evil? How far would you go to keep your faith in that child, continue to defend it and love it knowing that it was capable of committing hideously evil deeds? How do you deal with a child taht knows you are under its control and that you are terrified of it?

This book was brilliant and should be read - it's fairly short so there's no danger of it becoming too overboard or tedious adn I guarantee taht the children will freak you out!!!

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Insidious alien invasion of a small English village, 28 Aug 2002
A very well-written piece of sci-fi. John Wyndham has achieved a beautifully realised feeling of tension and an ominous foreboding as the book progresses, particularly after the mention of the fate of the Children of Gizhinsk towards the end. What I particularly find remarkable about this novel is that Wyndham has the ability to make the reader totally aware of the confused and mixed emotions of Midwich's inhabitants after the "birth" of the Children and I find the book all the more better for it.

A classic piece of sci-fi that deserves a place in the bookshelf of any sci-fi fan.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not absorbing
This is my first science fiction read and I was really excited as I loved the blurb and had always wanted to give SF a try. Read more
Published 1 month ago by A. Barnett

5.0 out of 5 stars Midwich cookoos
John Wyndham never fails to impress and leave the reader gripped...this novel is no different. The films are only "based" on the novel... Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. P. Turnbull

1.0 out of 5 stars The Midwich Cuckoos
Please see previous preview - I had cancelled this order so the earlier preview just written no longer applies.
Published 7 months ago by Patricia K. Wood

3.0 out of 5 stars Great concept, lovely writing, slightly abrupt ending.
This is my first Wyndham (apart from fond memories of Chocky on TV as a kid.) It's an incredibly economical bit of writing which laces together a faux-realist style with flashes... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Chintan Nanavati

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous page-turner
This is the second Wyndham I have read in as many weeks - and for a good reason: his books are fantastic! Read more
Published 8 months ago by Boof

5.0 out of 5 stars The Midwich Cuckoo
Wyndham does it again with 'The Midwich Cuckoo' where he provides a book that immediately captures the imagination and then keeps you hooked to the final resolution. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Spider Monkey

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping sinister read
I loved this book. I'm quite a fan of sci-fi and I found this well-written and gripping. Definitely one of Wyndham's better novels.
Published 12 months ago by Aunty Pog

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunately not as good as the book
I agree with all the book reviews, Midwich Cuckoss is a classic of its time, and it is to this time that the radio play returns. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mist of Time

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking classic
One of John Wyndham's strongest novels. An imaginative basic idea of an exceptionally understated and subtle alien invasion, which in the wrong hands would be a B-movie idea, is... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. Stuart Bruce

4.0 out of 5 stars Gets you thinking
I really enjoy Wyndham's take on sci-fi. He keeps it understated and by doing so makes things eerily real. Read more
Published 17 months ago by I. Gilbert

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