Review: The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

An English village experiences a strange phenomenon in the form of a "Dayout", an entire day in which everyone in Midwich is unconscious. Several weeks later, all the women of childbearing age discover they are pregnant. After birth the Children grow uncommonly quickly and begin to exhibit strange and unsettling powers. The time of humans being the dominant species may be over, for the Children have plans for Earth, and it's not big enough for both them and us.

I read somewhere that Brian Aldiss, a contemporary of John Wyndham's who also wrote sci-fi, referred dismissively to Wyndham's books as "cosy catastrophes". That probably applies more to The Midwich Cuckoos than the other of his books I have read, namely The Chrysalids and The Day of the Triffids. The Chrysalids is a brilliant book, set far into the future after a nuclear holocaust has transformed most of the Earth into wasteland. Humans exist in tenuous pockets, and mutation is rampant. The Day of the Triffids is highly enjoyable too, even if one or two of the characters and sections did sour it for me.


If there's one certainty it's that Wyndham can invent a brilliant premise. Every woman mysteriously pregnant! How creepy is that? What's going to emerge in nine months' time? How on earth would you cope with such a thing, keep it secret? But secret it does remain, at the behest of the military, naturally. Written during the Cold War, there are lots of whispers that it's some bizarre Russian tactic.


But while the premise is brilliant, the execution is sadly lacking. I found myself wishing that someone like Stephen King had written it and an omniscient or multi-person narrator had been used. The story is told by a character who has very little involvement in the actual story. There are far too many lengthy--and dull, dull, dull--passages of dialogue in places (many places), something I'd noticed in his aforementioned books. But it wasn't such a problem until I read this book. The writing itself is witty enough, and I did enjoy the "cosy" village aspect to the novel. But the way it's put together...I could see how it could have been so much better, and that's rather a disappointing experience for a reader. Some of it was probably due to the book being dated--it was written in 1957--but The Chrysalids was executed almost perfectly, so, Mr Wyndham, I simply can't excuse you on those grounds.


I should really mention the themes Wyndham goes into, as they go someway into redeeming this book. It examines our place as the dominant, sentient beings on this planet, and what might happen if there came to be a more powerful species than us to contend with. One without pity or love; merely a wish to survive and dominate. The interesting thing is the Children act as we do to most other species on the planet. They must survive, no matter what. They will not be reasoned with, as--being the only species capable of such a thing--we won't be reasoned with either.

Dystopia Challenge Review #11: The Chrysalids

Over dinner one night I was explaining how much I love Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody to my father and boyfriend. After a minute or two both chimed in to ask if I had read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I hadn't even heard of it, so soon after I picked up a copy from the library. I'm very interested in literary pedigrees; as in, which book inspired another.

Published in 1955, The Chrysalids is set a few thousand years in the future on the remote island of Labrador, post-nuclear apocalypse. Because of nuclear fall-out genetic mutations are common, and in the fundamentalist Christian society that has developed since the Tribulation, invariance is close to Godliness and mutations are punished by death or exile.

While this isn't strictly YA, the protagonists are first children then teenagers and the style is highly accessible. David is the son of a religious patriarch, and despite his upbringing he befriends Sophie, a girl with six toes on each foot. If this blasphemy is discovered she will be exiled to the Badlands, a place on the fringes of society where mutants are cast after sterilisation. David and a number of his contemporaries are hiding their own mutations, which are telepathic abilities. Naturally, it becomes impossible for these teenagers to exist in such a society.

I enjoyed this novel more than Day of The Triffids (also written by Wyndham) as the characters were far more believable. As I remarked in my review, Wyndham's characters can wax didactic, something that is both irritating and unnatural. People just don't (all) speak that way. In The Chrysalids, the New Sealand (New Zealand*) woman indulges in one of these speeches, but it is in character, and one of the other characters actually remarks on her annoying rhetorical style.

But what a world that Wyndham has created! In an age that was terrified of the nuclear holocaust this book must have created quite a stir. Born in the eighties I was blissfully unaware of the Cold War, but my father and partner (who is ten years older than me) have told me their childhood fears of "the bomb". Carmody, born in 1958 and who released Obernewtyn in 1987, must have grown up with similar fears, and undoubtedly read The Chrysalids. I'll be reviewing Obernewtyn shortly and examining the parallels between the two novels further.

I enjoy Wyndham's supernatural tendencies and his imagination. His dystopic versions of the future can't necessarily come into being, but his warnings about tolerance and eugenics are extremely relevant for this world.

Side note: Don't you just love these Penguin Modern Classic covers? I can't decide which I love more, this one, or the ones that grace The Death of Grass and Day of the Triffids.

*My partner is a Kiwi and he enjoyed crowing to me that "the New Zealanders save the day!" It's probably mandatory reading over the ditch.

Waiting On Wednesday #2: The Death of Grass

Originally released in 1956, The Death of Grass is a post-apocalyptic novel by John Christopher. (Yes, John Christopher is an alias, for Sam Youd. I'm reckoning that if someone has two first names as their whole name, odds are it's an alias.)

At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain they are left alone, and society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother's farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits. (From fishpond.)

Why I want it: It's dystopian. Society descending into barbarism, what a hoot! And the deadly virus, hello swine 'flu. Plus it's been compared to John Wyndam's The Day of the Triffids, and while I haven't read that one I love The Chrysalids. (And for Obernewtyn fans, definitely read The Chrysalids. Carmody was definitely inspired by that novel.)

It's just been re-released in the UK in April so I expect here in Oz very soon! FYI, the American edition was called No Blade of Grass as publishers there thought the public would confuse it with a gardening book if it was released as The Death of Grass. Are Americans sick of being treated like MORONS all ready?? As per Harry Potter and the SORCERER'S Stone?