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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best John Wyndham, but still very enjoyable, 22 Oct 2004
John Wyndham is one of my very favourite authors, and I would say that his "The Chrysalids" is my second favourite book of all that I've read (my favourite is Nevil Shute's "A Town Like Alice", I can read it over and over; and if you haven't read these two books now, go out and do so immediately!). I've also read his "Day of the Triffids" (also excellent), "The Kraken Wakes" (rather too like the "Triffids" in its premise, but also very good) and "The Midwich Cuckoos" (which inspired the film "The Village of the Damned" and was a strong story and a good read).
Chocky somehow seems less substantial than these others. Although I may be totally wrong about this, it almost gives the impression that it may have started life as a short story and later been a little expanded to make it into a short novel, or perhaps it may have been one of his very early attempts at a science-fiction novel, re-worked in later life.
Given that all novels are a product of their time and must be taken within the social and cultural context in which they are written, some attitudes which would now be considered unacceptable need to be overlooked. However, all of Wyndham's other books that I have read have contained major female characters with relatively strong personalities and minds of their own. The books seem to have a real flavour of the forties or early fifties (which was exactly right in the other books that I have mentioned, because that's exactly when they were written), and therefore some things have to be looked at in this light, and understood. However, in Chocky, there is far more overt sexism and women generally seem fairly two-dimensional - for all it was first published in the late sixties. Matthew, who is the young boy who hears the voice "Chocky" talking to him, is adopted, and his mother, Mary, (I've just had to go back and check the name, which tells you just how much notice I took of the character) seems to go from lamenting her lack of a child, to blaming him for the fact that she can't see either herself or his father in him when anything goes wrong, to being treated like a doormat by the members of her large family. She is portrayed as conforming to many negative female stereotypes, which I find highly irritating. Although I have picked on the characterisation of the mother in particular in this case, I think that all of the characters are rather sketchily drawn, and that one can find less to identify with than in other Wyndham books. As is usual in his books, the story is told in the first person, from the perspective of Matthew's father, David, in this case. However, he also is a character without great depth, and overall, the characterisation in the book leaves us feeling that something is lacking. Perhaps what also put me off was that the characters, as well as their lives were so suburbanly "normal", where his other books usually have one or two slightly quirky characters, or a very unusual situation for very "ordinary" types to live through. Having thought about what I have just typed, anyone reading this must be wondering why on Earth I have given it a four-star rating. I actually had no intention to be so disparaging. One of the things that I have most enjoyed and admired about Wyndham's other books is the way I which he tells a story that has a lot in it, both in terms of narrative and characterisation, in such a small space. In this book, which is even shorter than most, it appears that something had to be cut back on and it was the characters' depth of personality. Overall, though, the book is a well told story and I enjoyed it thoroughly, I just would not recommend it quite as highly as Wyndham's other books, and I would certainly recommend anyone who is thinking of reading Wyndham's books to start on "Chrysalids", "Triffids" or "Cuckoos" first. Wyndham is an author who took the genre of science fiction and made it into something very skilfully understated (and dare I say very British). Even those who would not touch most sci-fi should try these. Don't be put off by the label, they are far more sophisticated and deftly written than the run-of-the-mill, and a million miles away in content and narrative from conventional sci-fi. Do try this book if you've already read some Wyndham, but try one of his others first if you have not.
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