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Chocky (Paperback)

by John Wyndham (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Chocky + The Chrysalids + The Midwich Cuckoos
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Product details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; Re-issue edition (2 Jul 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141042184
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141042183
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 103,987 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'Remains fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpeceted way' Guardian


Product Description

Matthew’s parents are worried. At eleven, he’s much too old to have an imaginary friend, yet they find him talking to and arguing with a presence that even he admits is not physically there. This presence – Chocky – causes Matthew to ask difficult questions and say startling things: he speaks of complex mathematics and mocks human progress. Then, when Matthew does something incredible, it seems there is more than the imaginary about Chocky. Which is when others become interested and ask questions of their own: who is Chocky? And what could it want with an eleven-year-old boy? A story of innocence and alien contact, Chocky is a sinister tale of manipulation and experimentation from afar.
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Chocky
66% buy the item featured on this page:
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9% buy
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The Day of the Triffids (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bright light from a distant star, 3 Jul 2009
By Alex DeLarge (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
Chocky, along with Riddley Walker is one of the best science-fiction novels of the twentieth century.

It's not really 'sci-fi' though (hence the inverted commas) - the only bit that relies on the unbelieveable/ fantastic is the nexus between Matthew's consciousness and Chocky's. Matthew is an ordinary kid who has somehow become a cosmic communicator. His ma and da don't get it and think he's invented the communications, which is a reasonable belief until the kid shows ability to count in binary and produce art that could only have been painted via an extraterrestrial eye.

Many have tried to do stuff in a sci-fi context that genuinely has an 'otherness' vibe of distant worlds or far-future time: Chocky, Riddley Walker, Roadside Picnic (S.F. Masterworks) and Contact Special are among the very few that succeed.





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3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to do with Brian McClair, 24 Sep 2009
By Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
David and Mary Gore live in the south of England and have been married for fifteen years. The couple have two children - Matthew, who is adopted, is eleven while Polly is nine. When Polly was five, she had an imaginary friend called Piff - both David and Mary were very relieved that Piff was forgotten about and left behind in Surrey, following a family holiday. However, when they notice the one-sided conversations Matthew has been having, they start worrying another imaginary friend is about to move in. This time, admittedly, things are a little different. Matthew, after all, is a little old for imaginary friends - and, rather then bossing his friend around, it appears that he is trying to answer some pretty tricky questions

Eventually, Matthew spills a few more details about Chocky, his 'imaginary' friend. He isn't entirely sure if Chocky is a male or female - though Matthew and David subsequently settle on female. Some of the questions she's being asking are a little strange - why are there seven days in a week, why two sexes, instead of one and where is Earth ? (Third planet out from the sun isn't quite enough). Then Matthew's maths teacher calls round, with questions about who's been `helping' him with his schoolwork. The problem is, as well as his standard work in base 10, Matthew's also working with a version of binary - because that's how Chocky counts. The conflict between the systems is causing Matthew a little confusion, and this is showing up in Matthew's schoolwork. There are also some strange questions in his science class, and a slightly different approach to his artwork. As time goes on, the parents are less and less sure of how to proceed - to the point where they consider consulting a psychiatrist. As it turns out, there's a little more to Chocky than Matthew's imagination, and Chocky's scientific and mathematical knowledge goes far beyond binary. The problem is that Matthew's life could become very difficult if the wrong people ever found out....

"Chocky" is a short book, and is more a children's story than 'grown up' sci-fi. David, who narrates the story, is a very old-fashioned character - but I suppose the story is set in very different times. The writing is very stiff and formal - David does actually say things like "I say, Matthew" - and what should have been a dramatic ending barely raised an eyebrow. The early part of the book reminded me of the joke where a mother knows everything about her children - blood group, allergies, favourite food, friends' names and birthdays, main hobbies - while the father is vaguely aware there are some little people in the house. As a result, I was a little puzzled as to why David was narrating - I really couldn't see why Matthew would choose to confide in him. However, things became even more incredible after a while - these days, I can't see anyone getting away with something like : "I was vaguely aware that Mary was a little distrait, but she had the tact to keep the cause to herself until I had eaten my supper." An easy enough read overall - but certainly not Wyndham's best.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle si-fi, 22 Aug 2009
I enjoyed this book, although it is now dated. It's a gentle sci-fi story with some interesting reflections. It seems at first as though Matthew has an invisible friend, just like his little sister's Piff, who appeared when Polly was about five. Matthew at eleven seemed a little bit old for such a friend, and when his father overhears him having what seems like a one-sided conversation he becomes worried. It all becomes more puzzling when Matthew starts asking unusual questions about physics and maths and starts to do things he couldn't do before. When Matthew becomes ill he can't keep his secret any longer and running a high temperature he asks his mother to tell Chocky to go away and stop asking him questions. Just who Chocky is and where is he/she from, and indeed what gender Chocky is, is all most mysterious.

But Chocky is not malevolent. It appears sometimes as though John Wyndham, writing in 1968, is using this book as a means of stating his criticsm of the state of technology and the use that was being made of scientific advances, such as atomic power. Chocky is convinced that resources are being squandered. At the end of the book it does come over as a lecture for finding and developing new sources of energy, of gaining access to an infinite power supply.

I liked this strange little book, although it is now a bit dated, and I had little difficulty in accepting its reality ( after all, I have read many myths, legends and fairy tales).

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