The Chrysalids

Good book and a good plot. It was not the kind of book that I usually read but it gave the mood good. I liked the characters. I liked how he did not say what happened to Micheal and Rachel and just left us in the dark. The book also says a lot about today's society.

Edging on 3.5. Pretty effective world-building and sympathetic characters in a wild, wild setting. Easy to like!

[spoiler] i literally can't put this book down. satir tapi gamblang. bikin inget beberapa buku lain but well, wyndham's quite the pioneer in the field so it should be the other way around. the ending is surprisingly realistic, much like us not caring about cow's and pig's intelligence because we eat them. there is just not enough closure on what david thought about his father's and sophie's death, as if they don't mean a thing, hm. i ship the think-together kids with each other so much, the descriptions of their intimacy and feelings toward each other are so freaking lovely TT

I mean...it was okay. I'll always love telepathy and apocalyptic religion as tropes, but it just bored me a little and I struggled to keep picking it up.

Fun; a bit preachy towards the end in a pretty weird SF way. Feels a bit of YA SF, but themes definitely not. CW: suicide, violence.

This book is so well written and the perfect Dystopian world. Wyndam, much like in his work Day of the Triffids, poses a hypothetical world that is equal parts terrifying and very real through the characters he has created. The connection to religion and the segregation of people was a very interesting theme explored through the concept of people, mutation and divinity in the image of God.

A finely crafted coming-of-age narrative voice propels this story of near-future dystopia in Labrador (Canada, yay!) That is much changed due to climate effects. In a small rural town a group of “deviations” are emerging amongst a highly reactionary conservative “moralistic” government that culls every kind of mutation that emerges in their borders. Typically, these things manifest as physical, and are easily spotted. But our protagonist has developed a kind of telepathy, as have others. While they enjoy “passing”, as such, they also know the comfort their invisibility affords can’t last forever. The coming-of-age dystopia has been done to death, but I found the prose to be captivating. It starts tense and continues is over. It’s interesting seeing the fear of fallout essentially reaching absolutely everywhere in the world, and tethering that fear to larger themes around conservative values rooted in puritanical fascist moralism and progressiveness with stakes in science and evolution and nature. It makes this story work at a much more satisfying level, because it can never really be antiquated. Conservatives always react this way, and we’re seeing it currently around such small progressive changes in culture like abortion, trans rights, and “identity politics” and critical race theory. Already we see the alt right and cons embody the people of the town and government steeping their radicalism in western religious beliefs. Beyond that, it’s just a really solid little story. It reads fast, ostensibly the narrator is older and telling the story so it isn’t hindered by having to craft too young a voice, and water down the diction. It’s completely character driven. It’s not bombastic for shock value as many telepathy stories tend to be. It’s just a really good classic science fiction construction delving into human experience with devices that are hallmarks of the genre.

Really excellent thought provoking piece of work exploring the themes of intolerance, the other, family, love and frienship. Highly recommended.

** spoiler alert ** This read was easier than I expected it to be, considering that it's supposedly a 'classic' (whatever that means). I tried to read it back when I was 15 and did not catch any balls whatsoever. While it is not the most palatable read, there are definitely gems within the text. Towards the end the book was really quite gripping, and I actually stayed up to finish it off. I am quite sure that if I go and search up the analysis part of this book, there would be quite a lot of things going on in terms of social commentary on society, factionism, human nature etc. While those things are pretty interesting and I did pick up on hints along the way, I think what Wyndham did a lot better was delve into the idea of telepathy, hive minds and 'thinking together' as a collective consciousness. He seemed to suggest that those from 'Zealand' could all think together and were therefore more evolved than the 'primitives' at Waknuk who stubbornly held on to the idea of 'One True Image' — and honestly it is quite interesting to note that Joseph Strorm and the rest of Waknuk religious leaders seem awfully sure of themselves that telepathy is a Deviation, given that there is nothing about it in the Bible. I think this book is a great introduction to anthropology, sociology and philosophy/social theory because it gives beginners a taste of subjectivism & social constructivism i.e. the idea that everything is subjective & that there is no one big universal objective Truth. For me, these ideas are a little cliche by now, but that is more likely owing to the fact that I already have years of exposure to these ideas than any fault of Wyndham per se. What I was much more interested in was how he conveyed telepathy, because I don't think I have come across any book per se that explores telepathy in such intriguing yet vague ways. He does not quite make it a central focus of the book; rather, he is much more subtle & is able to effectively portray this concept of telepathy from the protagonist's perspective as something so all-encompassing and obvious that it does not need to be explained, especially also since it can't quite be explained. How does a fish explain the concept of water? How do we explain the concept of time? The nature of our own thoughts? All in all a pretty interesting read.

John Wyndham is the ultimate palate cleanser - whenever I want a 'refresh' after reading too much literary fiction, his short and wacky sci-fi novels are exactly what I need. The Chrysalids is set in a futuristic town in a region named Labrador (yes, I know...). It is narrated from the perspective of the young son of the towns head figure (and also the most fevered believer of their, I dare say, religious cult). This cult believes in the image of God with a passion like no other and removes 'Deviations' from society - everything from a malformed vegetable to a child with six toes. Although the story is set in the future, the people of Labrador live a primitive way of life due to a catastrophic event called the 'Tribulation' that almost wiped out mankind (cough* climate change and capitalistic greed). There is much more to this engaging story but I don't like sharing spoilers so you'd better get reading! For fans of: old-school sci-fi novels, short books, Cat's Cradle and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in general, The Day of the Triffids, crazy religious cults. I'll end this review with a quote from the book that really stuck with me: “The essential quality of life is living' the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution; and we are part of it.”

Por alguna extraña razón (Boookdepository) terminé comprando 4 libros de John Wyndham (quería leer “El día de los trífidos”) Este libro es un excelente segundo puesto en esta tanda de libros, oscuro, distópico si se quiere, y retorcido como toda historia en la que hay religiones de por medio. Muy recomendable.

Finished during Booktube-a-thon but forgot to update.