Rating: 
Summary: Inspired the Airplane
Review: I read this book over 25 years ago while in the Peace Corps in Ghana, W. Africa. I believe it was left at the school where I taught by some British teachers who had been there before us. It was a wonderful read then and we (the other volunteer there) had a lot of time to read w/o any TV to distract us. He read it before I did and mentioned that there was a surprise in it. I wasn't sure what he meant until nearly the end of the novel. All of a sudden there were the words to a song by Jefferson Airplane, "Crown of Creation." "life is change, how it differs from the rocks." And other lyrics which I'd heard because I was also a fan of the Airplane.This book must have inspired them to write some of their songs because their themes sometimes matched the ones in this book: nonconformity, the dangers of the "true believer," etc. I was enjoying the book immensely when I read these words that I'd heard in the Airplane's music, I related to it even more. Even though Wyndham wrote the novel some 20 years before that time, the themes and issues were topical and still are. All one has to do is to ponder the religious zealots who bombed the WTC and one can see the results of ignoring the themes in the book. I might add that we have our own dangerous zealots in this country. In essence, Wyndham would be saddened to see how far we have not come. I would also add that in reading the reviews for this book and for the Airplane's album "Crown of Creation" I never saw anyone who mentioned the connection. I just thought it might be a good idea to let people know.
Rating:
Summary: There are two ways to look at it
Review: As it just seems, reading the Chrysalids is part of the school curriculum. Honestly, if it wasn't for that fact I probably would have never picked up this book. When it comes to highschool reading, it's not about enjoying the book so much as "learning" or "realizing" stuff about our lives.
I personally enjoyed the book after reading a chapter, I became hooked and had to finish it as soon as possible. The only problem came when I had to "discuss" the story, the inner message of the book was that the book lost its appeal to me.
If you just want to enjoy some science fiction read it and if you find something that relates to our lives, that's great. If you want to learn about the author's opinion on our world, read it. If you want to read it and do both things, this book is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: The chrysallids (also published under the title, "Rebirth"
Review: I first read this book in 1980 as a used paperback entitled, Rebirth. The cover pictured two children riding in baskets on either side of a huge white horse. There was a notation on the cover that the book had been published in England as, The Chrysalids. I enjoyed it immensely and have re-read it quite a few times over the years. One of the most curious things about this book are the words of the "New Zealand" lady who communicated with the main character, David Storm, at the end of the book. She calls the people of David's society, "Fossils of our time," and goes on to say, "Life is change, how it differs from the rocks. I hear those words too often for my liking. New worlds to gain...my life is to survive and be alive for you." As a child of the 1960's and early 1970's, I immediately identified those words as coming from Jefferson Airplane's Crown of Creation. I went to the album and tried to find a reference to John Wyndham, because his book was written years before The Airplane's album. I was surprised that Paul Kantner, (and I believe David Crosby) hadn't attributed these words to Wyndham, or to anyone else writing earlier. As I was reading the book, it sounded to me as if these weren't really Wyndham's words either, that they had come from an earlier source. Even though I searched the book, I could find no reference attributing these words to anyone other than Wyndham. Does anyone know about where these quotes originated? Where they Wyndham's, or did they come from another earlier source? As I am writing this, Huxley comes to mind as a possibility.
Rating:
Summary: Great Atmosphere
Review: I read this book for the first time in highschool years ago and re-read it again since. What most impressed me was the author's ability to set up atmosphere in the novel. I still to this day, after years between readings remember images I formed while reading the novel. Grass between the toes, the nuclear wastes, the way the children formed telepathic images etc... One thing that I remember clearly is how the novel was like a breath of fresh air, clean and smooth. There are no frilly edges and there is no attempt by the author to make the book flashy. This makes the book pure and adds to the impact of the story. As an overview, there are a group of children who are living in Eastern Canada after some type of holocaust (this is never much of a point in the book... no one has memories of it). Their society is strongly anti-mutant with a very strict set of rules as to what is "normal" and what isn't. All of this children are normal looking but are telepathic and form a click of just a small number. The book is their story of growing up and existing in this paranoid and highly dogmatic society without being discovered and banished or killed. A definite classic in Science Fiction circles.
Rating: 
Summary: OK Book Boring For Teens
Review: We Read this book in our grade 9 class at SSS. Most people found it boring and I did to. Even though it does talk about mutating and stuff like that it did not have enough action to keep a youth interested. It's also a book heavily weighed on "GOD" so if you are not a beliver, not a very great book to read. It makes a lot of mentions towards Jesus and God and i Didn't think it was very appropriate to read in a public school. Anyway im sure if you were an adult you would enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: When prejudice and paranoia kills
Review: "And God created man in His own image. And God decreed that man should have one body, one head, two arms and two legs: that each arm should be jointed in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail...."
"'Then God created woman, also, and in the same image, but with these differences, according to her nature: her voice should be of a higher pitch than a man's: she should grow no beard: she should have two breasts..."
Imagine a world where only those made in the Image of God are permitted to live.
The people of the agrarian community of Waknut to which young David belongs could be the new human race that survived a nuclear holocaust. The implication is there, but Wyndham does not make any explicit reference to the origins of the race, only that there was an Old People, and they are the New.
In this community, anything deformed or abnormal is deemed a Deviation, or Abomination, and is destroyed so that it would not contaminate its stock. Entire cornfields are burned down when mutant corn is discovered, and deformed calves and other livestock are killed before they reach maturity. It is a society that has little tolerance for difference, and even young David's left-handedness is frowned upon.
Human abominations, however, are not killed but are banished to The Fringes. David's playmate, 8-year-old Sophie, was discovered to have six toes and her family was driven away from the pseudo-religious society of David's parents. David finds out later that Sophie's family has moved to the Fringes, where the other mutants are. The mutant people live in poverty and often carry out raids on the farms of the regular folk. During one such raid in which the mutants are defeated and captured by the regular folk, David sees a man closely resembling his father, only with disproportionately long limbs. David realizes that genetic mutations too run in his family, as evinced by his banished mutant uncle.
A series of events reveal that David and a number of other seemingly physically normal children are not quite so normal after all. David and several other children possess telepathic powers, which are revealed after an incident involving David's youngest sister, Petra. Petra's advanced telepathic powers cause the children to be persecuted by their society, and they seek refuge in The Fringes. A battle is fought between the mutants and the regular folk and help comes from outsiders.
'The Chrysalids' is a riveting read and Wyndham's rich and scintillating prose will inspire empathy with the protagonists. It is a novel exciting in its originality and brilliant and believable storyline. Although a work of fiction, much of what 'The Chrysalids' has to teach us has great bearing in our society. This is a cautionary tale on the effects of rigid fundamentalism, prejudice, oppression and persecution of those who are different. 'The Chrysalids' is a novel that continues to fascinate me today as much as it did when I first read it 11 years ago.
Rating:
Summary: It was good
Review: We had to read this book for our NS class, and a lot of people found it boring. It's provocative, it makes you think. There's so many "why's?" and "what's?" in the beginning, and at first, it was quite dull. But as you go on, there's something about the idea of thought shapes and Aunt Emily's death that's very mesmerizing, that keeps you hooked. Overall, I think it was an amazing book
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Wyndham's best
Review: I really do enjoy this book, I find myself thinking about all the questions raised about 'deviation' and 'the norm', I could see why a grade 9 student would hate it, the book itself is a little dull, but to an educated person, I think that they could really enjoy it. Kind of a social commentary book, but very thought-provoking nonetheless. If this is your first Wyndham book, I would try 'the midwhhich cuckoos' first, to get the feel for Wyndham's writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: Well, I've read this book for my novel study. I'm in gr.9 and maybe that's why this book was as boring as it was for me, but I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who feels this way about this book. But surprisingly, some of my classmates enjoyed it and told me that once I got though the beginning it would be a piece of cake, sadly it wasn't. I kept forcing my way through the totally unbelievable plot waiting for the 'exciting' part to come but it never arrived. In fact, the ending was almost impossibly worse than the beginning! In the beginning the blasphemies and Fringes people were being killed for being different. At the end, the Zealand lady rescues David, Rosalind, and Petra while killing all the attackers (Fringes people) and it is completely justified because it is in the name of building a new society. This really ruined the whole book for me. I do not recommend this book to anyone, except those who are completely blinded by Sci-fi and cannot see how utterly pointless the overall story of the book is.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it..
Review: This book was required reading in my high school one year, and I thought it was kinda cool then. I don't like Sci-Fi but in this book, Sci-Fi is not what it's about.. it's merely the vehicle that is used to tell the story. And this story is very thought-provoking, a message about tolerance and redemption and standing up for yourself. I've recently started collecting books, and this is one that is definitely gonna be added to my collection.
|
