The Chrysalids (aka Re-birth) 75
| The Chrysalids (aka Re-birth) | |
| author | John Wyndham |
| pages | 200 |
| publisher | Caroll & Graf, 11/1993 |
| rating | 9/10 |
| reviewer | Duncan Lawie |
| ISBN | 0786700416 |
| summary | An excellent novel investigating the nature of humanity, set in a blighted Earth fearful of deviation from the righteous path. |
John Wyndham was probably the most widely read science fiction author in the British Commonwealth in the 1950s and 1960s. This was largely due to his being publicised outside the genre and for his attention to the interests and attitudes of a wide audience unfamiliar with science fiction tropes. The first half of his career - before the Second World War - was undistinguished. He wrote under a number of names, usually variations on John Beynon Harris, but settled on Wyndham when he returned to writing after the war. At this time he developed a type of science fiction often referred to as "cosy catastrophe", where disaster strikes and the world is plunged into chaos which the protagonists must survive so that they can begin to rebuild.
The Chrysalids is an example of Wyndham at the height of his powers. It is set centuries after Tribulation ended the world as we know it. The population of Labrador seeks to rebuild the society of the Old People with the aid of the Bible and writings from the time of Tribulation which codify the Image of Man. Any being which does not match the True Image is `hateful in the sight of God' and must be destroyed as an abomination or exiled from human society. This position extends to all known flora and fauna and is enforced by government inspectors. It quickly becomes apparent that this is an attempt to keep the genetic stock pure after a massive nuclear war. The book's narrator, though outwardly normal, has an ability along with a number of others to "think together". As the book opens, he has no real awareness that he is any different from anyone else. As he grows older he comes to the realisation that the memorised lines from the Sunday service have a real relationship to the world around him and his place in it. He has the good fortune of an uncle who offers him advice that fires the instinct for caution into active self preservation. Gradually, events put the group under suspicion and they face significant trials with scant possibility of survival.
The Chrysalids is skilfully written, displaying the increasing danger and frustration for a hidden community of telepaths in a society which prizes normalcy above all else. Their striving for "averageness" despite an ability which allows them insight far beyond their fellows and in the face of widespread communal fear of the different strikes a chord with generation after generation of reader. There is also clear advocacy for change in this novel. While accepting that any creature will fight to preserve itself and its type, there is an emphasis on the importance of change as the only means of improvement and a belief that evolution has no ultimate end point. This leads to the thesis that it is inherently right that humanity give way to those who come after us. This Darwinian perspective may seem reasonable in the long view but the book draws into renewed sharpness questions which have been debated for decades.
The final pages are almost overwhelmed by Wyndham's need to state his position clearly, but the novel does regain equilibrium. As a whole, the book achieves considerable complexity of idea and action whilst maintaining straightforward language. The story progresses primarily through character development, which allows a natural flow and shape in the plot. It is a book which rarely pulls its punches and this is a contributing factor to its continued success and validity almost 50 years after its original publication. The Chrysalids is a tight, well developed novel from a master of a peculiarly English style of science fiction.
Pick this book up at Fatbrain.
I love this one (Score:1)
It was a great book... (Score:2)
Deviations!! (Score:2)
After reading this book, anytime I or my brother see a strange looking animal or plant, we say to one another, "It's a deviation!!" (Or an "offence" or a "blasphemy," etc.)
I read this book in grade10 English. Grade10 English was my favourite of all the English courses I took in high school, largely because of this novel, and the other one we read, Animal Farm. It's possible though, that these may have, um, influenced me and created a few of my left-wing views, or at least my reaction to fundamentalism. David Strorm's dad is a raging fundamentalist, and...wait... That would be a spoiler.
I also wish I could communicate in "thought-shapes," too. For example, if I was taking a test in school, I and several other telepaths could send and receive thought-shapes throughout the test and..."help each other out."
Great book. I'd like to say more, but I'd probably spoil it for those that haven't read it... I will say this, though... It's a great book, except for this one line: "They've broken Katherine!" Umm...sure.
The John Wyndham Archive... (Score:1)
A disquieting masterpiece (Score:1)
Of course the book's theme is not new and much of the futuristic technology has not worn well with age but somehow Wyndham puts his finger on what makes people who are different so unwelcome in society. I guess the man grew up in a small town for his descriptions of small-town politics, relationships and characters are true to life. Perhaps it's this aspect that's so unsettling: behind all the sci-fi aspects of telepathy and technology is this quiet, rural environment that hides the community's basic fears: fear of strangers, fear of power, fear of the God who demands physical purity, and most of all, the fear that someone you know has power beyond your imagination.
Very worthwhile reading.
Grade Six (Score:1)
I do remember being on the edge of my seat several times, though, and really enjoying it. I don't think it's lost on those who are younger, but I think it warrants a re-read once you've almost forgotten it.
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Re:1st post? (Score:1)
Your post deviates from the True Image of the Slashdot Post as defined by CmdrTaco. CmdrTaco never intended for Slashdot Posts to look like this! He never intended for Slashdot posters to behave like this! You and your post will be banished to the Fringes (-1). ACCURSED IS THE MU...er, TROLL!!
-- Joseph Strorm
MODERATORS: Before you mark this as a troll, read the book!!
I haven't read it, but I have... (Score:1)
Best of the era (Score:2)
Re:It was a great book... (Score:1)
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script-fu: hash bang slash bin bash
Re:Great book, anyone read Fifth Business? (Score:1)
Yeah, I read that one too, in grade12 English. I guess these are favourites of the English departments, eh?
About Fifth Business: I think "Percy Boyd Staunton" is silly name ("Percy"? Er, sorry if your real name is "Percy"...!), but changing it to "Boy Staunton"?? Who in their right mind would change their name to "Boy"?!? At least "Dunstable" to "Dunstan" made sense. Now, about our friend Dunstan's fixation with saints...
I never paid much attention in grade12 English, so I don't remember much of the actual story (and what I do remember would be spoilers). But I do remember that you've got to be careful where you aim your snowball when you throw it! (That one must have had an ice core.)
One of my all-time favorite books (Score:2)
From just reading this review you might come away with the impression that this book is somewhat dry, and the story is secondary to the points that the book is intended to make. Fortunately, this is not the case. Every character in the book is well developed and you really identify with all of them -- you feel their fear, their sadness, their joy -- especially but not exclusively the narrator. Even the one character with whom you aren't supposed to identify (not mentioning any names to avoid spoilers, but it should become obvious reasonably early into the book) is well developed and completely believable.
There are moments that will shock and horrify you, and other moments that will fill you with feel-good fuzzies. There are even some points where you're on the edge of your seat hoping that a disaster can be averted. The story proceeds at a good speed making the book completely un-put-downable.
I agree with the reviewer that the book deals well with tough ethical issues. But don't forget to mention that it's a really good read for its own sake too!
Stuart.
Slightly OT: Thoughts on Wyndham (Score:2)
I have been a fan of Wyndham since I was twelve or so - my dad was a high school English teacher, and had The Chrysalids and Day of the Triffids in the house. (OT - I think a good way to turn people off of an author is to force them to read that author in school, and dissect the work into tiny pieces. Luckily, I liked The Chrysalids before having to read it in class, so I was unaffected!) I read all of his books (and stories) back then, but last summer I decided to re-read what I could.
It took a few visits to various bookstores to track down the books I wanted, but it was worth it. Although some things are a bit dated, Wyndham is surprisingly contemporary in many ways. I've always enjoyed his treatment of female characters, and he seemed to have a wide range of knowledge about different scientific areas. I certainly enjoyed and appreciated "Trouble with Lichen" more as an adult, and after having completed my own microbiology studies
Anyhow, it's nice to see some other folks who appreciate Wyndham, too.
YS
Different from Original? (Score:2)
AHH (Score:1)
- quoted from me from X-Com : UFO Defence
Anyway, the book is extremely good. If you haven't read it...read it!
Re:I love this one (Score:1)
canukes! (Score:1)
I remember when I read The Chrysalids in school, it struck a real note with me, and not just because they're Canadian.
List of ingredients:
1 society that is absolutely intolerant of difference.
1 young boy that looks the same as everyone else, but is different inside his head.
A handful of young similar people.
Mix thoroughly.
I've been meaning to re-read this for a few years now.. I'm going to have to pop out and grab myself a copy of this even sooner:)
-blarg.
Re:It was a great book... (Score:2)
A good book, with flaws (Score:3)
Please note that this post contains potential spoilers. Opening your web browser indicates agreement with the invisible licence printed between the lines of this warning, which state that you assume any and all reduction in enjoyment from the book, subsequent to reading this post.
Phew! Having got that out of the way, onto the critique:
First off, I'd like to see a helicopter fly essentially around the globe without refuelling. This is not the only scientific flaw in the book, but it's one of the most glaring. Plot devices are important in any story, but they don't need huge neon signs announcing them, either.
Secondly, many people seem to read the book as "anti-religious". It isn't. It's anti-intolerence, sure, and SOME of the intolerent characters are religious, but by no means all. Read the book again, and check the actions of the guys in the Fringes. Not exactly the sort of people you'd want to hang out with, if they're just as psychotic as the "pure".
Nor is this about "conforming". David's uncle's arm was the "wrong" length by a small margin, and from the sounds of it, that wasn't found out until adulthood. That's not about "conforming", that's power-play - using politics and paranoia to remove potential opponents.
THAT, to me, is the entire central core of the book - the use of power and fear, by ANY side, to exert control and destroy any potential threat. The nature of the threat is as irrelevent as the excuse used.
IMHO, that is what made the ending so sickening. To "rescue" the kids, the helicopter massacres hundreds of people, under the pretext that they "didn't really have lives", and were "only" Norms. In short, the murder of something different was justified -solely- because it was different. Sure, there was more compassion from the New Zealanders, but not so much that they spared any life that did not conform to their notion of the ideal.
This is a great book, in a great many ways, but it is also VERY disturbing. Justification for murder came so easily to each and every one of the characters in the book, based on nothing but difference.
IMHO, this book is worth reading, but it's no light read, and there's no truly happy ending. I'd put it alongside the Cthulhu Mythos in terms of it's depressing hopelessness.
John Wyndham's other works (Score:1)
The Midwich Cuckoos - An interesting type of alien invasion
Day of the Triffids - A different sort of apocalypse novel that's a cross between "night of the comet", "Earth Abides", and a "night of the living dead" with plants instead of zombies.
Out of the Deeps - (if memory serves) an alien invasion that also ventures into what might happen to society if the ice caps were to be melted. Unfortunately my library's copy was missing about 60 pages from the middle of the book, so I've never gotten around to reading the entire story.
I read this (Score:1)
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Re:AHH (Score:1)
And here it was I thought I was the only addict of the original X-Com
Nothing beats the moment you touch down for a terror mission you're ill-equipped for (yet can't afford the popularity drop for NOT responding), walk that first soldier out the door only to see 3 Chrysalids staring back at you within striking distance. The quote "Oh Sh!t..." comes to mind...
::grin:: I spent more time playing that game -- too bad they're trying to turn it into a shooter...
a Chrysalid? (Score:1)
Re:It was a great book... (Score:1)
He is interesting historically as he was writing socially speculative sci-fi a decade before the great British sci-fi writers such as JG Ballard began taking the genre apart, but a footnote, nix more...
Re:Great book, anyone read Fifth Business? (Score:1)
Uh, no it didn't. Sorry, but if you think that you definitely weren't paying much attention in grade 12 English.
Davies: "Great Canadian Author"! (Score:1)
Re:fellow canadians (Score:2)
That's because the only reason you read it in high school was because the author was Canadian, just like you.
Actually, John Wyndham was British [jamesdawe.com]. Just because the story is set in Canada doesn`t mean he was Canadian. You don`t have to live in Canada to remember that it exists.
Re:fellow canadians (Score:1)
Really? I was sure he was British.
Anyway, did anyone notice this: the story is set in Labrador, the mainland part of Newfoundland, in the far east of Canada. There's something in the story for Americans, too, but it's pretty bad... (Then again, in the story, Labrador is full of right-wing fundamentalists and mutated extremists, so that's pretty bad, too.)
This is a little off-topic, but the crazy Québec separatists are trying to claim some of Labrador's land simply by altering the border between Québec and Newfoundland on their maps. The premier of Newfoundland wants to change his province's official name to "Newfoundland and Labrador" but the separtist premier of Québec is warning him that it would anger Quebeckers. (Sigh...) Those separatists are all children, aren't they? (A premier is the head of a province, like in the U.S. a governor is the head of a state.)
You know, that actually wasn't off-topic. The separatists are a lot like Joseph Strorm and company. They don't consider you laine pure (pure wool; a real Quebecker) unless you have lived there for several generations and are purely French. They certainly like to alienate all English people in Québec, a bit like the treatment of the mutants in the story (without being banished, though English people have been moving out of Québec in droves).
It's a shame the Badlands in the story are where they are, instead of directly to the west of Labrador!!
Re:John Wyndham's other works (Score:1)
High School Mandatory (Score:1)
Re:I read this (Score:1)
(I keep meaning to give Dickens another try. Maybe he isn't as boring a writer as I remember from school.)
rather amazing experience with Chryzalids (Score:2)
Re:It was a great book... (Score:1)
Anyone recall 'Protect and Survive'? Ugh.
Of course, 'this generation' may be folks ten years younger than me, in which case I'd have to agree that it appears nuclear threat is a much less dominant meme. 'Triffidian' apocalypse seems like a better bet than ever, though.
Yuck (Score:1)
Did not like it.
Wasn't the best...but alright (Score:1)
-The character development was a little weak
-The subject matter was a little to provocative for my taste
-Overall a hard to read book
His first comment was valid. It could have used alot more developement into the characters. But I don't believe it was a hard book to read. In fact, I took this as a children's novel. It played along side "Nineteen Eighty Four", and "The Canticle for Liebowitz", in that the world was horribly destroyed as we knew it, and the characters had to learn to live within the desolation. But because it was written from the point of view of children, it became a novel that would be more appealing to that age group.
Of all the books I had to read in HS, this one was one of the more enjoyable novels.
And on a more personal note, although "Wuthering Heights" is not anywhere near the same classification of novel as "The Chrysalids" (so you really can't compare it), I can safetly say that compared to "The Chrysalids", "Wuthering Heights" really sucked a$$.
Re:A good book, with flaws (Score:1)
Well, of course. This is largely the point. The children fight against intolerance and prejudice, and are finally rescued by people just like them --- who turn out to be no different. Read it again and watch the children's reaction to the massacre.
Re: Moderator Points (Offtopic) (Score:1)
Moderators only have 5 points to throw around and they can't allocate more than one per comment. They only get allocated these 5 points for a period of three days and then have to wait a week or so before their name pops up out of the hat again. I'm not sure how metamoderation affects this, but I assume if someone hates your moderation you have to wait longer before you get moderator points again. Maybe a browse of the code at Slashcode [slashcode.org] will reveal all
However I agree that some get more [and less!] mod points than they deserve.
Different titles & other thoughts (Score:3)
e.g.
I enjoyed reading both these titles, along with Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos (AKA "Village of the Damned" in the movie world), and they still sit on one of my bookshelves.
I thought The Chrysalids was remarkably prescient, as I often regard "think-together" and the hive mind postulated in the book as analogous to how the Web has allowed widely separated teams of people to work on the same project. The opposition to this development in people seems to be opposed by many forces in society albeit not as violently as the community in the book tries to suppress difference.
Re:A good book, with flaws (Score:1)
Re:I haven't read it, but I have... (Score:2)
Re:It was a great book... (Score:3)
In the 50's, nuclear weapons were only possessed by a small number of nations who were generally well accustomed to diplomatic means, had no major entrenched hostility to each other, and had just fought a long shattering conventional war.
The weapons were controlled by the military, who put many procedures & safeguards in place to prevent the accidental or unauthorized use of the weapons.
The only way that nuclear weapons would be used would be for a conventional war to go hot, and since the second world war, none of the nuclear powers have directly fought each other.
Nowadays, almost any nation could get a nuclear weapon if they decided to expend the effort. This includes many countries with leaders who obtained control by miltary means, have disputes with their neighbours over control of territory or resources, and sometimes have religious or other disputes with their neighbours going back thousands of years, and modern disputes with the USA and the United nations.
A country which has already sent suicide bombers against US targets, or is fighting a bitter border war with it's neighbour is going to be more likely to use an atomic weapon than any of the nuclear powers was in the 50s.
Re:Yuck (Score:1)
Re:It was a great book... (Score:1)
a whining socialist ( or bleeding hart democrat)!
P.S. I'm wearing silk lined asbestose underware.
I wondered why it took place where it did (Score:1)
Hadn't heard the Commonwealth bit before. Sort of makes sense now though looking at the two locations that are left in the book's world: Labrador (which is part of Newfoundland, a Canadian province), and "New Sealand", both Commonwealth countries. Guess he knew who his audience was and played 'em up a bit.
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"And the beast shall be made legion. Its numbers shall be increased a thousand thousand fold."
Re:The John Wyndham Archive... - where????? (Score:1)
Re:A good book, with flaws (Score:1)
This Darwinistic approach was common throughout Wyndham's writing. The Midwich Cuckoos shows the other side of it, with the "others" annihilated in a bomb blast, and Web, perhaps his least optimistic title, sees the heroic explorers all but wiped out - and ends with the scourge that killed them spreading forth.
Wyndham was a bit of a one trick pony in his major works, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You know what to expect going in; the surprises will be in the plot, not in the world-view or approach to writing.
Re:A good book, with flaws (Score:2)
Warning: Spoilers
If I remember correctly, the book mentions the helicopter people as coming from 'Zealand' which is somewhere in Denmark...
No, it really was New Zealand.
The way the kids first find out about the "Sealanders" is from Petra, who is incredibly powerful at broadcasting "thought-shapes" and incredibly sensitive to receiving them. At one point in the book, Petra tells Rosalind about the "other," "far-away" voices. When Rosalind asks Petra where they are coming from, Petra points to the south-west. On a globe, going from eastern Canada to New Zealand is definitely heading south-west. Later in the book, the "Sealand" woman marvels at how Petra can throw a thought "halfway round the world."
As for the long helicopter journey, the book does take place in the future, probably around the year 2200 or 2300, so perhaps better fuel efficiency or a better type of fuel was available. According to the "Sealand" woman, New Zealand was largely untouched by "Tribulation," and did not receive the incredible technological and societal setbacks Labrador did.
2200 to 2300 is a plausible range of years because the book was written in the 1950s, when the threat of a nuclear war was real, and Mr. Wyndham probably assumed it would happen in the late 20th century or early 21st. Assume the war took place around 2000. David Strorm, the narrator, mentions that he doesn't know "how many generations" had passed since Tribulation (the war). His mention of the history (or lack thereof) of Nicholson's Repentances also backs this up.
Re:canukes! (Score:2)
Frankly, I'm going to have to look back at the book to verify just where it is that it makes a sufficiently clear reference to Labrador to indicate that that is where it was placed...
Mind you, in it being written in 1955, Labrador had only been a part of Canada for six years, which means that it was too early for there to be any long term understanding of the notion of the region being part of Canada.
I'm not sure if an understanding of the actual culture of Newfoundland is, or is not, relevant to the story. Rather interesting if it is, as that's a rather obscure place, not terribly well-known, in many ways.
I think I'd read the story in rather different light if that be the case...
Re:Plagarism (Score:1)
The actual link's here... (Score:1)
There's lots of interesting SF information available at the Science Fiction Foundation Collection [liv.ac.uk] site, which is hosting the Wyndham archive.
Re:Crsyalids a good book??? (Score:1)
OTOH, you quote L. Ron and Clarke as being examples of "good" S-F writers - 1000's would disagree with you there on at least one of those 2 :-). L. Ron's work is mostly rambling incoherency of thought surrounding a boring pinpoint of an idea. Clarke's early work is a bit too dry and involved with scientific cleverness, and his later work seems to try to hark back to his glory days - either way, most of it bores me.
Although I seem to remember a Clarke short story involving planetary colonists being poisoned by beryllium - can anybody point me to this?
Rebirth!! (Score:1)
Re:canukes! (Score:1)
Re:Yuck (Score:1)
Re:Different titles & other thoughts (Score:1)
Secondly, this 'dumbing down' of titles can go both ways. A strong contender for my favourite book of all time, "This Star Shall Abide" by Sylvia Engdahl was renamed in UK/Commonwealth edition to "The Heritage of the Star."
(Plug: like Crysalids, this is a young adult SF novel with a young man taking a moral stand against an oppresive religious society. It has just been republished (along with its sequels) by Meisha Merlin [meishamerlin.com] as Children of the Star. If you like The Crysalids, you will love this one.)
Re:AHH (OT) (Score:1)
The hours I have wasted on that game, TFTD (which I am still playing now), Apocalypse, and Interceptor is uncountable. And with Alliance out Real Soon Now, I can't really wait...
Re:Yuck (Score:1)
Paul