Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Del Rey (1978), Mass Market Paperback
Description
David's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. And blasphemies, as everyone knows, should be burned: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD; WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT. Little does he realise that his own son - and his son's cousin Rosalind and their friends - have their own secret aberration which would label them as mutants. And mutants, as everyone knows, should be burned. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery - and death - or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badlands . . .
Media reviews
Wyndham lumbers his characters with some verbose, pompous speeches about human nature, but his points are still interesting and as relevant today as when he wrote the book in 1955. It's also a ripping adventure.
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
The story is set centuries after global nuclear war destroyed most of civilization, set knowledge back to a largely pre-industrial level, and fragmented those who survived into small societies scattered around the world. Mutations are frequent among all forms of life.
The first two thirds of the
The last third of the book loses its focus. David and others like him are discovered and must run. At this point, the story loses its thoughtful tone and simply becomes a quick adventure with little depth or excitement. There is very little tension in the escape before the runners are scooped up by exiled Blasphemies. Their new captors have no depth of character and subplots we've expected from early in the book—such as the fate of the young friend of David's who was exiled, or the story of the mutant who looks suspiciously like David's father—zip by with little explanation, little color and, consequently, little interest.
I think the ending rescues the book. Friends have told me that they do not like it at all. They see it as, "and suddenly they were rescued by the Sealanders and lived happily ever after." I have an different interpretation of the ending. The speech given by the Sealand woman at the end shows me a society just as sure of its essential superiority as the one into which David was born. Its members have replaced certainty of their superiority on the basis of religious faith with certainty of superiority on the basis of Darwinian theories. I don't think Wyndham quit on us halfway through; I think his parting shot is a warning about the dangers of any sort of dogma that sets one group above another.
The first two thirds of the
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book evokes a chill in the reader as it portrays a small pocket of people in Labrador whose society has developed based upon religious fundamentalism that is murderously intolerant of any deviation from How God Meant Everything To Be. Mutations in lifestock and plants are utterly destroyed immediately, humans with mutations ("Blasphemies") are sought diligently and killed or driven away; women who bear mutated children are eventually sterilized as delivering Devil's Spawn. The protagonist, David, is born into this intolerance and, having a fairly significant non-visible mutation himself, we watch as he comes to question, and eventually reject, the society that produced him.The last third of the book loses its focus. David and others like him are discovered and must run. At this point, the story loses its thoughtful tone and simply becomes a quick adventure with little depth or excitement. There is very little tension in the escape before the runners are scooped up by exiled Blasphemies. Their new captors have no depth of character and subplots we've expected from early in the book—such as the fate of the young friend of David's who was exiled, or the story of the mutant who looks suspiciously like David's father—zip by with little explanation, little color and, consequently, little interest.
I think the ending rescues the book. Friends have told me that they do not like it at all. They see it as, "and suddenly they were rescued by the Sealanders and lived happily ever after." I have an different interpretation of the ending. The speech given by the Sealand woman at the end shows me a society just as sure of its essential superiority as the one into which David was born. Its members have replaced certainty of their superiority on the basis of religious faith with certainty of superiority on the basis of Darwinian theories. I don't think Wyndham quit on us halfway through; I think his parting shot is a warning about the dangers of any sort of dogma that sets one group above another.
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LibraryThing member elliepotten
This was my first John Wyndham novel and I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't even sure what it was about! I needn't have worried, because it entirely lived up to Wyndham's reputation as a classic science fiction writer.
The plot revolves around a group of children living in a dystopian society
I found this novel to be beautifully written and deeply thought-provoking. The obsession with the 'right' attributes that make someone human reminded me of the Nazi Aryan race, and was quite disturbing to read. There were elements of religion and philosophy, with characters musing on life and spirituality, and the real meaning of humanity. There were messages of tolerance, friendship and love. And behind all this there was a cracking good post-nuclear-apocalypse science-fiction story. With writing this good and plots this fascinating, this certainly won't be my last Wyndham - I think I might have to loan my houseplants out to someone and read 'The Day of the Triffids' next!
The plot revolves around a group of children living in a dystopian society
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obsessed with 'God's True Image'. Anyone and anything that is seen to be 'wrong' is immediately stamped out as an agent of the devil. If a field of crops is less than perfect, it is burned. If a cow is malformed in some way, it is killed. And any human found to be different is stripped, sterilized and sent out into the 'Fringes', an area filled with exiled deviants, to live or die as they will. By taking these measures, the people of Labrador hope to appease God and rebuild the incredible society that existed before the Tribulation that turned the Badlands to deadly black lakes of burnt land and wiped out the 'Old People'. These children, who can communicate with a kind of advanced form of telepathy, know it's only a matter of time before their secret deviation is discovered and they'll have to fight for their lives...I found this novel to be beautifully written and deeply thought-provoking. The obsession with the 'right' attributes that make someone human reminded me of the Nazi Aryan race, and was quite disturbing to read. There were elements of religion and philosophy, with characters musing on life and spirituality, and the real meaning of humanity. There were messages of tolerance, friendship and love. And behind all this there was a cracking good post-nuclear-apocalypse science-fiction story. With writing this good and plots this fascinating, this certainly won't be my last Wyndham - I think I might have to loan my houseplants out to someone and read 'The Day of the Triffids' next!
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LibraryThing member AHS-Wolfy
What's it like to be different from the norm? That's the question that David, a young boy growing up in a post-apocalyptic community along with a few others like him, must answer and they must keep their difference secret from the rest of their families, friends and neighbours or risk banishment to
Events come to a head when David's younger sister develops the same ability only much stronger than any of them. She even manages to communicate with others of their kind who live in a far away land which is not only free from persecution but their abilities are valued and seen as a progression on the evolutionary scale. Do they try to stay hidden within the community that they've grown up in or should they try somehow to reach this other place which will allow them to be who they really are?
An excellent post-apocalyptic story which highlights man's willingness to revert to intolerance of differences and to act brutally and with cruelty to those that threaten the status quo.
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the Fringes, a wild area where day-to-day living is more than hard and survival almost an impossibility. This community believes that they must stay pure and any deviance from that purity is harshly dealt with. Crops and animals are burnt while mutant humans are banished with the females firstly being sterilised to avoid spreading contamination. Outwardly, David and those like him appear no different to everyone else. They don't have six toes or an extra arm or other obvious signs of deviation and so are accepted within the community. Unlike the rest they can communicate non-verbally and as they grow up learning off each other they begin to question the rightness of the community's belief. How long can they keep the secret and what will they do if discovered?Events come to a head when David's younger sister develops the same ability only much stronger than any of them. She even manages to communicate with others of their kind who live in a far away land which is not only free from persecution but their abilities are valued and seen as a progression on the evolutionary scale. Do they try to stay hidden within the community that they've grown up in or should they try somehow to reach this other place which will allow them to be who they really are?
An excellent post-apocalyptic story which highlights man's willingness to revert to intolerance of differences and to act brutally and with cruelty to those that threaten the status quo.
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LibraryThing member eleanor_eader
A small group of children in a post-apocalyptic township find that they have a telepathic ability which, if discovered, would mean they would be considered mutant abominations by their pious community and families. Deviances are dealt with harshly on their farms – irregular crops burned,
Despite the tension and rather bleak consideration that this is a world that has emerged from the last of our own, The Chrysalids is a fast, easy read, very enjoyable and I particularly appreciate the puritanical feel that Wyndham has given this post-apocalyptic land; their devotion to the ‘True Form’ of God, and the text which supports it, bring an imagery of witch-burning to the narration and enhances Wyndham’s ‘humans exist in cycle of intolerance and fear’ message.
It’s not difficult to see why Wyndham’s books are classics of the sci-fi genre; despite its deprivations this world and his characters are brilliantly portrayed, the story involving and timeless. Another favourite on my shelf and one to re-read later on.
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blasphemous animals killed at birth; shockingly, babies are left to die of exposure if they exhibit even tiny abnormalities; nor is this an uncommon event… an inspector is appointed to the area, and every birth must be validated before it can be acknowledged. When older children are found to be developing differences from the norm, they are sterilised and driven to the Fringes - an area that borders the edges of a centuries-old nuclear devastation.Despite the tension and rather bleak consideration that this is a world that has emerged from the last of our own, The Chrysalids is a fast, easy read, very enjoyable and I particularly appreciate the puritanical feel that Wyndham has given this post-apocalyptic land; their devotion to the ‘True Form’ of God, and the text which supports it, bring an imagery of witch-burning to the narration and enhances Wyndham’s ‘humans exist in cycle of intolerance and fear’ message.
It’s not difficult to see why Wyndham’s books are classics of the sci-fi genre; despite its deprivations this world and his characters are brilliantly portrayed, the story involving and timeless. Another favourite on my shelf and one to re-read later on.
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LibraryThing member atreic
I've always loved this book, it is very much comfort re-reading for me. My teenage self adored dystopia, post apocalyptic fiction, books where religion is an evil controlling force and especially books where the protagonists were 'better' than their families and got to escape to a better life. This
I'd never before seen how much it parallels and compliments the Midwich Cuckoos though. There we have sympathetic villagers fighting telepathic-alians-who-are-stronger-than-them; here we have sympathetic telepaths fighting primative-villagers...
Wyndham does suffer a bit from his time in terms of his female characters, but much less than many other books of his time. Rosalind is awesome - much more competent than David, the first person protagonist; the scene where she has been ready to escape for weeks and he is just asleep, still planning to pack the next day is one of my favourites. But much of the edge is taken off that as her independence, practicality and reliability is described as just a defense, and really she is a delicate flower 'dear, tender, longing for gentleness and love'. Pah ;-)
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is pretty much the pearl of the genre - so much of the current YA stuff is just a reflection of themes Wyndham was already doing better in the 50s. I'd never before seen how much it parallels and compliments the Midwich Cuckoos though. There we have sympathetic villagers fighting telepathic-alians-who-are-stronger-than-them; here we have sympathetic telepaths fighting primative-villagers...
Wyndham does suffer a bit from his time in terms of his female characters, but much less than many other books of his time. Rosalind is awesome - much more competent than David, the first person protagonist; the scene where she has been ready to escape for weeks and he is just asleep, still planning to pack the next day is one of my favourites. But much of the edge is taken off that as her independence, practicality and reliability is described as just a defense, and really she is a delicate flower 'dear, tender, longing for gentleness and love'. Pah ;-)
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
I first read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham many years ago as a student, and about all I retained from then was the feeling that I really liked the book. My re-read has confirmed that, yes, I do really like this book. On so many levels this story of life after the nuclear holocaust is well done,
Very subtly written, with religious overtones, I can see why this book was chosen for students to read. Instead of laying out his opinions, the author gently sets the scene and lets his reader reach his or her own opinion. Questions of what is normal, how much direct truth can we take from the bible, and why do we, as humans, cling to bigotry and cruelty are all part of this story.
A group of young people living in a strait-laced rural community are different. Their difference is not evident to the naked eye. They can communicate by thoughts. People, animals and crops that are not “normal” are considered deviants and while the animals and crops are destroyed, the people are sterilized and sent to live in a wild area called The Fringe. Eventually some of the thought-senders are discovered, tortured and made to reveal the identity of others. Our three main characters manage to flee to the Fringe, but do not find safety there either. One thought sender, is able to send her thoughts half-way around the world and manages to contact people that are like them.
Well written though slightly dated, I was totally caught up in the story. I find it interesting that not all was neatly wrapped up at the end of the book. If The Chrysalids were to be written today, I’m sure it would be the first part of a YA trilogy. When John Wyndham wrote it back in the fifties, he wisely ended the story and allowed his audience to reach their own conclusions.
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imaginative and leaves us with many questions to ponder.Very subtly written, with religious overtones, I can see why this book was chosen for students to read. Instead of laying out his opinions, the author gently sets the scene and lets his reader reach his or her own opinion. Questions of what is normal, how much direct truth can we take from the bible, and why do we, as humans, cling to bigotry and cruelty are all part of this story.
A group of young people living in a strait-laced rural community are different. Their difference is not evident to the naked eye. They can communicate by thoughts. People, animals and crops that are not “normal” are considered deviants and while the animals and crops are destroyed, the people are sterilized and sent to live in a wild area called The Fringe. Eventually some of the thought-senders are discovered, tortured and made to reveal the identity of others. Our three main characters manage to flee to the Fringe, but do not find safety there either. One thought sender, is able to send her thoughts half-way around the world and manages to contact people that are like them.
Well written though slightly dated, I was totally caught up in the story. I find it interesting that not all was neatly wrapped up at the end of the book. If The Chrysalids were to be written today, I’m sure it would be the first part of a YA trilogy. When John Wyndham wrote it back in the fifties, he wisely ended the story and allowed his audience to reach their own conclusions.
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LibraryThing member bertilak
This is a reprint of a classic science fiction novel from 1955.
It has many tropes that were already familiar then: it is set in the distant future after a nuclear war. People of that time tell stories about the 'Old People' who lived in cities and could fly and talk to other people hundreds of
The setting is Labrador, which is a place name but not a political entity. The USA and Canada are no more. Sailors from Labrador know how to reach Newf but they are not sure whether they could sail forever to the east or whether they would drop off the edge of the world.
Mutations in plants, people, and other animals are a constant threat, as are raids from mutants who live in the Fringe. The communities that survive have resorted to fundamentalist religion and genetic purity laws as a result. There are some mutants who pass for human; they are a hunted and persecuted minority.
This may sound like [Slan] but it isn't, exactly. [[A. E. Van Vogt]]'s prose strikes me as always jittering like vacuum fluctuations at the Planck scale; Wyndham's prose is limpid, simple on the surface, and Apollonian. He writes of distressing events such as being whipped or feeling guilty about betraying someone in a cool, straightforward manner. He does not use shriek-words like [[H. P. Lovecraft]]: the reader can figure it out. Wyndham's economy of means reminds me of music by Benjamin Britten. They could have written fine operas together.
Wyndham is subtle enough not to make the community in this book a complete dystopia. The men who lead the town are about as sexist as men in 19th century North America, but not villains like those in [A Handmaid's Tale] (I wouldn't want to live there, but many citizens seem content to be there). There are sailors' yarns about places where the Deviations have 'burned black' skin, but there seems to be no overt racism. Discrimination is on the basis of anatomical differences, not skin color (though racial minorities may just have been purged in the distant past). Furthermore, not everyone buys into the religious fanaticism of the leaders: some are less fervent about enforcing the purity laws and some are secret dissidents.
The working-out of the plot involves what to do about mutants who are physically fully human but not mentally; the authors of the purity laws did not think about that possibility.
It occurs to me that with its simple vocabulary, young protagonists, and lack of offensive material, this book would be marketed as a Young Adult book today. The only problem would be finding a publisher willing to take the commercial risk of printing something non-transgressive.
One last thing about the prose style: toward the end of the book Lewis gives us a fine parody of Wellsian utopian rhetoric. The ending suggests, on the surface, that this utopia is genuine and desirable. Since Wyndham was in complete control of his material, I wonder if he was sneaking some irony in at the end.
I had previously read several books by Wyndham but not this one. Reading [The Chrysalids] is like a visit from an old friend.
It has many tropes that were already familiar then: it is set in the distant future after a nuclear war. People of that time tell stories about the 'Old People' who lived in cities and could fly and talk to other people hundreds of
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miles away, but these are considered implausible legends. There are ruins of cities and large areas which support no living things at all. Some of these areas glow in the dark (which is the only aspect of the book which seems like a cliché in retrospect).The setting is Labrador, which is a place name but not a political entity. The USA and Canada are no more. Sailors from Labrador know how to reach Newf but they are not sure whether they could sail forever to the east or whether they would drop off the edge of the world.
Mutations in plants, people, and other animals are a constant threat, as are raids from mutants who live in the Fringe. The communities that survive have resorted to fundamentalist religion and genetic purity laws as a result. There are some mutants who pass for human; they are a hunted and persecuted minority.
This may sound like [Slan] but it isn't, exactly. [[A. E. Van Vogt]]'s prose strikes me as always jittering like vacuum fluctuations at the Planck scale; Wyndham's prose is limpid, simple on the surface, and Apollonian. He writes of distressing events such as being whipped or feeling guilty about betraying someone in a cool, straightforward manner. He does not use shriek-words like [[H. P. Lovecraft]]: the reader can figure it out. Wyndham's economy of means reminds me of music by Benjamin Britten. They could have written fine operas together.
Wyndham is subtle enough not to make the community in this book a complete dystopia. The men who lead the town are about as sexist as men in 19th century North America, but not villains like those in [A Handmaid's Tale] (I wouldn't want to live there, but many citizens seem content to be there). There are sailors' yarns about places where the Deviations have 'burned black' skin, but there seems to be no overt racism. Discrimination is on the basis of anatomical differences, not skin color (though racial minorities may just have been purged in the distant past). Furthermore, not everyone buys into the religious fanaticism of the leaders: some are less fervent about enforcing the purity laws and some are secret dissidents.
The working-out of the plot involves what to do about mutants who are physically fully human but not mentally; the authors of the purity laws did not think about that possibility.
It occurs to me that with its simple vocabulary, young protagonists, and lack of offensive material, this book would be marketed as a Young Adult book today. The only problem would be finding a publisher willing to take the commercial risk of printing something non-transgressive.
One last thing about the prose style: toward the end of the book Lewis gives us a fine parody of Wellsian utopian rhetoric. The ending suggests, on the surface, that this utopia is genuine and desirable. Since Wyndham was in complete control of his material, I wonder if he was sneaking some irony in at the end.
I had previously read several books by Wyndham but not this one. Reading [The Chrysalids] is like a visit from an old friend.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
Of Wyndham’s four great novels, The Chrysalids is the one I remember the least, since I originally read an abridged version sometime in primary school. The novel takes place in a post-apocalyptic Labrador (a region of Canada), perhaps a few thousand years in the future, after what is clearly
The Chrysalids is a coming of age story about how the narrator, David – whose father is a priest ruling the local district with an iron fist – comes to realise that he is himself a mutant, with the ability to communicate telepathically with seven or eight other children in Labrador. The novel follows his slow realisation that if others were to ever discover their secret, they would be killed. Eventually they are discovered, and are forced to flee to the Fringes.
The novel largely deals with themes of intolerance, bigotry and xenophobia; the awful things people are capable of when frightened or brainwashed. But towards the end of the book, Wyndham’s more familiar theme of two intelligences pitted against each other comes into play. David and his fellow telepaths are more than just mutant deviations with an extra finger or hand, like the others exiled to the Fringes – they have an ability which makes them the next step in human evolution, and the people of Labrador are arguably justified in fearing them. (Incidentally, SFReviews.net is usually quite a good website, but I found it hilarious that an intelligent person capable of writing an articulate review like this could so badly miss the point of the book.)
The Chrysalids is often considered one of Wyndham’s best works, but of the Big Four, I think it’s probably my least favourite. Which isn’t to say that it’s not a great book – just that it falls short of The Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos. It’s certainly a simple book, compared to his others, and a bit repetitive in parts. One of the more interesting sections involves David speaking to his Uncle Axel (Wyndham’s staple wise man, like Coker, Dr. Bocker or Zellaby) about his adventures as a sailor, and what lies in lands beyond Labrador. But The Chrysalids is largely an allegorical novel, dealing with the plight of David and his friends in a dangerous world. Unfortunately this is also a basic world, which means a lot of farms and Fringes, and not as many hints about the past or the rest of the world as I would have liked – as you find, for example, in Cloud Atlas, where the chapter “Sloosha’s Crossin” was partly inspired by The Chrysalids.
In any case, a good novel and an important part of 20th century science fiction.
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implied to have been a nuclear war. The people of Labrador are deeply religious, a defence mechanism developed against the heavy rate of radioactive mutations they suffer. Humans who are found to deviate in any way from the “norm” are either killed or harried out to the Fringes, where they eke out a miserable living at the edge of the radioactive wastelands.The Chrysalids is a coming of age story about how the narrator, David – whose father is a priest ruling the local district with an iron fist – comes to realise that he is himself a mutant, with the ability to communicate telepathically with seven or eight other children in Labrador. The novel follows his slow realisation that if others were to ever discover their secret, they would be killed. Eventually they are discovered, and are forced to flee to the Fringes.
The novel largely deals with themes of intolerance, bigotry and xenophobia; the awful things people are capable of when frightened or brainwashed. But towards the end of the book, Wyndham’s more familiar theme of two intelligences pitted against each other comes into play. David and his fellow telepaths are more than just mutant deviations with an extra finger or hand, like the others exiled to the Fringes – they have an ability which makes them the next step in human evolution, and the people of Labrador are arguably justified in fearing them. (Incidentally, SFReviews.net is usually quite a good website, but I found it hilarious that an intelligent person capable of writing an articulate review like this could so badly miss the point of the book.)
The Chrysalids is often considered one of Wyndham’s best works, but of the Big Four, I think it’s probably my least favourite. Which isn’t to say that it’s not a great book – just that it falls short of The Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos. It’s certainly a simple book, compared to his others, and a bit repetitive in parts. One of the more interesting sections involves David speaking to his Uncle Axel (Wyndham’s staple wise man, like Coker, Dr. Bocker or Zellaby) about his adventures as a sailor, and what lies in lands beyond Labrador. But The Chrysalids is largely an allegorical novel, dealing with the plight of David and his friends in a dangerous world. Unfortunately this is also a basic world, which means a lot of farms and Fringes, and not as many hints about the past or the rest of the world as I would have liked – as you find, for example, in Cloud Atlas, where the chapter “Sloosha’s Crossin” was partly inspired by The Chrysalids.
In any case, a good novel and an important part of 20th century science fiction.
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LibraryThing member uh8myzen
I first read this novel in high school and it was the one of four novels I read in my English Lit classes that changed my life (Catch-22, The Handmaid's Tale and Catcher in the Rye were the others).It is a strong treatment of themes like discrimination, fanaticism and xenophobia wrapped in a great
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story of a strength and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. As a teenager who felt a strong sense of alienation amongst his peers, this book was one of the first I read that spoke to the outcast in me and let me know that I was not alone. Show Less
LibraryThing member wunderkind
This 1955 novel is set in an agrarian, religiously fundamentalist society in a post-apocalyptic future where physical "deviations" are sterilized and cast out to the fringes of civilization. The main character, David, and a few other local children are a different sort of deviation, able to
This was a lot better than I thought it would be--I had assumed that it would be kind of dated, but in terms of writing style and enjoyment it isn't really. The story was quite engaging, which is saying something since lately I've been having a lot of trouble finishing books, and the world that Wyndham envisions is interesting and plausible. There are a few ideas right at the end that kind of made me uneasy though; Wyndham has an ostensibly "good" character expound on some very harsh ideas that are kind of jarring, although possibly that was the point. Also, things get a little too utopian right at the end for my taste; possibly that's one way in which the story is actually dated, since I think readers today are a little too sophisticated to buy into the concept of idyllic societies. Still highly recommended though.
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communicate with each other telepathically, which obviously puts them in a dangerous position. The first half of the novel is mostly a coming-of-age story that sets up the climate of fear and repression that David and his friends live in, with the second half following their eventual escape.This was a lot better than I thought it would be--I had assumed that it would be kind of dated, but in terms of writing style and enjoyment it isn't really. The story was quite engaging, which is saying something since lately I've been having a lot of trouble finishing books, and the world that Wyndham envisions is interesting and plausible. There are a few ideas right at the end that kind of made me uneasy though; Wyndham has an ostensibly "good" character expound on some very harsh ideas that are kind of jarring, although possibly that was the point. Also, things get a little too utopian right at the end for my taste; possibly that's one way in which the story is actually dated, since I think readers today are a little too sophisticated to buy into the concept of idyllic societies. Still highly recommended though.
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
Wyndham inaugurated the persecuted mutants coming-of-age trope with The Chrysalids decades before the X-Men. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future with an all-too-believable religion in which biological norms are the measure of virtue. (A passage of preachiness from a progressive mutant
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near the end of the book provided the inspiration and principal lyrics for Jefferson Airplane's song "Crown of Creation.") Except for the ending, the story has excellent pacing and credible characters. It's not a monumental work of literature, but it holds up after half a century. Show Less
LibraryThing member stellarexplorer
You should know that I have a thing for post-apocalyptic novels, and in reading this one written in 1955, I am filling in the blanks in a genre I enjoy. Is it dated? Yes, as almost any SF book from that era is now. Still, it is written in a vivid and lucid style. Its shortcomings by way of
As literature, it has its weaknesses: Somewhat predictable, characterizations only adequate, an ending that is hard to swallow -- a deus ex machina rather than the inevitable unfolding of the story. But for the reader of the dystopian or the post-apocalyptic, the book has a prominent place.
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predictability are redeemed somewhat by ambition and clarity. I see it as owing a significant debt to A E Van Vogt’s Slan (1940), a tale of post-human telepaths hunted by xenophobic humans. The theme is quite similar here, though Wyndham’s book has greater aspirations and in general manages a deeper reflection of the issues of parochialism, terror and small-mindedness. The Crysalids emerges from the ashes of Hiroshima and Hitler to rail against human destructive madness and intolerance.As literature, it has its weaknesses: Somewhat predictable, characterizations only adequate, an ending that is hard to swallow -- a deus ex machina rather than the inevitable unfolding of the story. But for the reader of the dystopian or the post-apocalyptic, the book has a prominent place.
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LibraryThing member EvaW
One of my favourite books of all time - read it as a child many years ago. The theme of acceptance is even more relevant especially given current political events.
LibraryThing member robintuttle
This is an extremely well written little novel about a dystopian future in which descendants of the survivors of the "Tribulation" strive to rebuild the civilization of the "Old People". In order to do this, all deviations from the norm, whether it be a crop, farm animal or person, are destroyed or
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exiled, in order to pursue purity. The book raises interesting questions about how easy it is to be dogmatic and and insist on your "rightness" in the face of very little evidence of such. I suppose this book may have been controversial when it was written (in the fifties) because of its theme of the positive inevitability of the evolution of species, including man. I, however, found it more intriguing because of its depiction of religious intolerance and bigotry, especially now in our history. Show Less
LibraryThing member irkthepurist
An odd one this - sort of wavers between three and four stars depending on when and where the mood takes me. At times it's an incredibly powerful book, especially during the early chapters. Suddenly with the focus on Petra and the "thought words" the book perilously meanders into sort of children's
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sci fi territory and sometimes the menace of those early chapters is watered down. Similarly, the conclusion is a bit of a botch job. Depending on your mood, the Sealand people are either the heroes come to rescue David and friends or are just another form of the same rigid world view that they've just escaped from. Personally I kind of hope it's the second, more pessimistic view that Wyndham is aiming for. But if that's the case then he's left the book much too vague for this to really come through. It needs a bit of tightening up in those final stages because it goes from incredible climax to slightly worrying info-dump/ plot exposition with some muddled world views coming out in the process. It's certainly not better than "Day of the Triffids" which appears to be the book's reputation... Show Less
LibraryThing member MissPip
This is a classic sci-fi tale that all serious readers should check out. In a post-apocalyptic world where anything even resembling a mutation--animal, vegetable or human--is quickly eradicated, this book tells the story of someone who suddenly realizes that HE is a mutant.
LibraryThing member Bridgey
Science fiction for me is always a fairly hit or miss affair. I have tried H G Wells and not really been that impressed, so when I saw this book I thought I would give it a try but the expectations were fairly low. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The Chrysalids is set in the future following what
I loved this book, and it really was so much more than your run of the mill scifi, the plot was realistic and the prose so well written you can see why this is earning the status classic. Real life issues are not glossed over and the story is as much a study of religion and eugenics as it is of a futuristic planet. It seems as fresh today as any other book released despite being written in 1955.
The Chrysalids is set in the future following what
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can only be assumed as some sort of nuclear holocaust. Society has reverted back to one controlled by religion when both the Bible and a newly mantra dictates the lives of everyday people. Although life has managed to survive the radiation, it is not without difficulties and people are now living in an almost middle ages existence with minimal technological advances. The biggest issue faced in the effect of the radiation, which continually creates 'mutants' whereby plants and animals deviate from the norm, this can be from something as simple as an extra toe to gargantuan abnormalities. Anything found to differ is shunned by society and either destroyed or exiled. A group of children soon learn that being different is life threatening and must hide their 'abnormality' - a telepathic ability to communicate with each other over distances. How long can this secret be kept, and what are the consequences of its exposure.I loved this book, and it really was so much more than your run of the mill scifi, the plot was realistic and the prose so well written you can see why this is earning the status classic. Real life issues are not glossed over and the story is as much a study of religion and eugenics as it is of a futuristic planet. It seems as fresh today as any other book released despite being written in 1955.
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LibraryThing member RBeffa
Re-Birth is the title given to the American edition of John Wyndham's science fiction classic The Chrysalids. The story was a very enjoyable read. Simply put, it is set in a dystopian future several centuries after an atomic war has devastated the world. A small settlement on Labrador struggles to
Much of the book covers about half a dozen years or more of the children growing up and realizing their abilities and the need to keep it hidden. Petra, the younger sister of the main character David seems to have a latent extraordinary telepathic power. Once the children are discovered a ruthless hunt and war entails to capture them.
Wyndham is a good writer and the story is well told. For a story first published in 1955 it has held up remarkably well. Recommended for fans of dystopian fiction.
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survive in the "true image' of man by ruthlessly weeding out mutations. Deviants as they are called are banished to the fringes where mutations run wild, if they aren't outright killed. Beyond the wild country and the fringes there are plains of black glass before other wild areas occur. A group of children grow up in Labrador in and around a community called Waknuk discovering that they have a hidden mutation, the ability to communicate telepathically. Later they find that there are others like themselves in a far away place called Zealand.Much of the book covers about half a dozen years or more of the children growing up and realizing their abilities and the need to keep it hidden. Petra, the younger sister of the main character David seems to have a latent extraordinary telepathic power. Once the children are discovered a ruthless hunt and war entails to capture them.
Wyndham is a good writer and the story is well told. For a story first published in 1955 it has held up remarkably well. Recommended for fans of dystopian fiction.
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LibraryThing member CBJames
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham takes the reader to what once was the future and finds there a message all too relevant for today.
Written in 1955, The Chrysalids is the third post apocalyptic book by John Wyndham author of Day of the Triffids. While Triffids tells us how the world might end, at the
Except for several small communities on the island of Labrador where a new form of religious fundamentalism has taken hold, one based on the Bible and on the belief that if man is created in God's image then "accursed is the mutant in the sight of God and man." Newborn children, animals and crops are examined for any physical deviation from the accepted norm and condemned if any are found. No one is allowed to stray from the path without severe consequences, namely forced sterilization and life in the fringes.
The story's narrator, David is the son of the local religious patriarch, an unyielding believer in the new Christianity. When David's aunt arrives with a baby that has not passed inspection hoping to hide it with her sister, his father physically casts her out of his home and turns her in to the authorities who take the child away from its mother. David's aunt dies soon after, a probable suicide. So what can David expect when he befriends a young girl who has six toes on each foot? Or when he discovers that he can communicate with seven other children in their village through the use of mental images instead of spoken language? Are all mutations bad? Are they all bad enough to warrant sterilization and life on the fringes?
Even if you are not a fan of science fiction there is much to enjoy in The Chrysalids. John Wyndham tells an excellent story. He gradually introduces the more fanciful science fiction elements as he goes, leading us on with the father/son conflict and the story of a societal outcast trying to survive before asking us to believe in telepathy. The book has many memorable characters and raises more than a few issues that are still relevant some 60 years after its initial publication. How many modern readers can identify with a boy who has a secret he cannot tell his family know for fear they will reject him? One way to read The Chrysalids is as a classic narrative of life in the closet and coming out. Another way to read it is as a critique of religious extremism. David's family and his society have made Christianity so narrow minded that many humans are rejected as inhuman. (The Chrysalids could almost be a commentary on contemporary religious fundamentalism.) There is also the issue of just what makes an acceptable child. Today we can test in utero for many conditions that used to remain undetected until after a child was born, sometimes years after. Modern parents are faced with decisions their own parents and grandparents never had to consider at all. In The Chrysalids a mother cannot decide if her child is normal enough to keep-- the decision is made for her by religious authorities--but the question is pertinent to today's society. Remember how controversial it was for Sarah Palin to keep her Down's Syndrome child?
When I picked up John Wyndham's book The Chrysalids, I expected to find an entertaining story, but I found much more than a good read. The Chrysalids is a novel that will stay with me for some time. I'd rank it with the best of Octavia Butler's science fiction which uses a futuristic setting to show us what our present is like and to explore what it means to be human.
Written in 1955, The Chrysalids is the third post apocalyptic book by John Wyndham author of Day of the Triffids. While Triffids tells us how the world might end, at the
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hands of a biological menace probably unleashed accidentally by the Soviets, The Chrysalids takes place long after the fall of civilization, this time caused by nuclear war. Most of the world is left devastated by the war, uninhabitable except by mutated plants and animals, most of them just able to eek out a living along the fringes of the barren lands.Except for several small communities on the island of Labrador where a new form of religious fundamentalism has taken hold, one based on the Bible and on the belief that if man is created in God's image then "accursed is the mutant in the sight of God and man." Newborn children, animals and crops are examined for any physical deviation from the accepted norm and condemned if any are found. No one is allowed to stray from the path without severe consequences, namely forced sterilization and life in the fringes.
The story's narrator, David is the son of the local religious patriarch, an unyielding believer in the new Christianity. When David's aunt arrives with a baby that has not passed inspection hoping to hide it with her sister, his father physically casts her out of his home and turns her in to the authorities who take the child away from its mother. David's aunt dies soon after, a probable suicide. So what can David expect when he befriends a young girl who has six toes on each foot? Or when he discovers that he can communicate with seven other children in their village through the use of mental images instead of spoken language? Are all mutations bad? Are they all bad enough to warrant sterilization and life on the fringes?
Even if you are not a fan of science fiction there is much to enjoy in The Chrysalids. John Wyndham tells an excellent story. He gradually introduces the more fanciful science fiction elements as he goes, leading us on with the father/son conflict and the story of a societal outcast trying to survive before asking us to believe in telepathy. The book has many memorable characters and raises more than a few issues that are still relevant some 60 years after its initial publication. How many modern readers can identify with a boy who has a secret he cannot tell his family know for fear they will reject him? One way to read The Chrysalids is as a classic narrative of life in the closet and coming out. Another way to read it is as a critique of religious extremism. David's family and his society have made Christianity so narrow minded that many humans are rejected as inhuman. (The Chrysalids could almost be a commentary on contemporary religious fundamentalism.) There is also the issue of just what makes an acceptable child. Today we can test in utero for many conditions that used to remain undetected until after a child was born, sometimes years after. Modern parents are faced with decisions their own parents and grandparents never had to consider at all. In The Chrysalids a mother cannot decide if her child is normal enough to keep-- the decision is made for her by religious authorities--but the question is pertinent to today's society. Remember how controversial it was for Sarah Palin to keep her Down's Syndrome child?
When I picked up John Wyndham's book The Chrysalids, I expected to find an entertaining story, but I found much more than a good read. The Chrysalids is a novel that will stay with me for some time. I'd rank it with the best of Octavia Butler's science fiction which uses a futuristic setting to show us what our present is like and to explore what it means to be human.
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LibraryThing member brianclegg
According to a sticker on the spine this was my second favourite book when I was 13, and I can understand why. Wyndham's story of post-apocalyptic attempts to keep mutants from humanity through religious fervour hasn't dated at all and still enthralls.
LibraryThing member saroz
Full disclosure: I read this book back in September, right before an unexpected and emergency hospitalization. Had my life followed its normal pattern, I would have reviewed it comprehensively at the time, but instead I'm coming to back to it more than two months later to clean up loose ends. What
Where the book falls down, a little, is in its ending, which comes thick, fast, and far too abruptly. Up to that point, however, it's a very affecting and engaging read.
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I do recollect is that I enjoyed the novel very much; there was greater character depth than the Wyndham I've read previously (Chocky, The Kraken Wakes), and both a realism and an urgency to the writing that really pushed me on. You could make a film of this book quite easily, even today, and it would have something significant to say about the lengths we go to demonize those "not like us." Wyndham's use of Christian zealotry, too, seems remarkably prescient (and unusually pointed) for something written in 1955.Where the book falls down, a little, is in its ending, which comes thick, fast, and far too abruptly. Up to that point, however, it's a very affecting and engaging read.
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LibraryThing member sturlington
***PLEASE… THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD. I COULDN”T WRITE THIS REVIEW WITHOUT THEM. TAKE COVER.***
Set thousands of years after a devastating nuclear war in Labrador, Canada, The Chrysalids asks what it means to be human, and whether is not only possible, but also desirable to transcend humanity.
The narrator, David, is a young boy growing up in this community with a secret. Even though he has no physical mutations, he does possess a difference: he can communicate telepathically with several other children. He only gradually comes to realize what his deviance may cost him, as well as to question the stricture for purity.
For the first two-thirds, The Chrysalids is exciting and suspenseful, as we learn about David’s world and grow increasingly concerned for his fate, and for his telepathic lover, Rosalind, and sister, Petra. Toward the end of the novel, though, The Chrysalids takes a philosophical turn that dampens the net effect. An outside character, another telepath from a place that David misidentifies as Sealand, becomes a mouthpiece for the author’s ideas about humanity and post-humanity. The novel ends with a deus ex machina of sorts depositing David and his loved ones in an unabashed utopia. I think this outcome hurt an otherwise entertaining moral story. While not as memorable as Wyndham’s other post-apocalyptic novel, The Day of the Triffids, The Chrysalids is still an interesting entry in this sub-genre, one that is worth reading.
Set thousands of years after a devastating nuclear war in Labrador, Canada, The Chrysalids asks what it means to be human, and whether is not only possible, but also desirable to transcend humanity.
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The story takes place in a small, pre-industrial, farming community. The greatest concern of the community members is identifying and weeding out differences — in their crops, their livestock and particularly their children. No mutation is tolerated in the effort to keep humanity “pure,” and any deviations, as they are called, are sterilized and banished to the Fringes, the land that borders the irradiated wasteland and is home to starving, desperate outcasts.The narrator, David, is a young boy growing up in this community with a secret. Even though he has no physical mutations, he does possess a difference: he can communicate telepathically with several other children. He only gradually comes to realize what his deviance may cost him, as well as to question the stricture for purity.
For the first two-thirds, The Chrysalids is exciting and suspenseful, as we learn about David’s world and grow increasingly concerned for his fate, and for his telepathic lover, Rosalind, and sister, Petra. Toward the end of the novel, though, The Chrysalids takes a philosophical turn that dampens the net effect. An outside character, another telepath from a place that David misidentifies as Sealand, becomes a mouthpiece for the author’s ideas about humanity and post-humanity. The novel ends with a deus ex machina of sorts depositing David and his loved ones in an unabashed utopia. I think this outcome hurt an otherwise entertaining moral story. While not as memorable as Wyndham’s other post-apocalyptic novel, The Day of the Triffids, The Chrysalids is still an interesting entry in this sub-genre, one that is worth reading.
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LibraryThing member LARA335
Distopian view of the far future in a post-nuclear world. A frightened, god-fearing community destroy anything varying from the norm. A group of young people realise they have mental powers that set them apart.
Thought-provoking about ignorant prejudice, and what society demands as normal,
Thought-provoking about ignorant prejudice, and what society demands as normal,
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questioning our fear of change, embedded in a fascinating adventure story. Show Less
LibraryThing member jotoyo
I first read this book when I was a teenager and it made a big impression on me. I have read it a couple of times since but not for about 15 years. I am glad I read it this time. John Wyndham is not well-known today among the newest science fiction readers but he should be. This novel is his best
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work in my opinion as it combines a post-holocaust world, religion-driven bigotry, telepathy, and a coming of age story, skillfully told. The story has a somewhat happy ending, although "hopeful" would be a better word for it. This new printing by New York Review Books has a striking abstract cover and a good feel to the cover stock. This only makes the pleasure of reading such an excellent novel better. Show Less
LibraryThing member baswood
The message that some people take from this 1955 science fiction classic is 'don't be frightened of change, always look forward and never look backwards. Change is not always for the best especially when a human made apocalypse seems to have wrecked half the planet. In Wyndham's novel the benefits
In Wyndham's novel the apocalypse on earth happened three hundred years ago and the novel opens with a society that has looked backwards instead of forwards. They have blamed the destruction on humanity moving too far away from God's image. Of course they know exactly what God's image is from the bible (God made man in his own image) and so in a post atomic world anything that is deemed as mutant is destroyed. The novel is set is the village of Waknuk (or it could be Nuk(e)wak) where one of the younger generation (David) starts to understand that he can read other peoples minds through thought pictures. He discovers there are eight others within a ten mile radius, who have similar gifts, but knowing that his father is one of the most strict enforcers of the law against mutants he lives in fear that his mutant abilities will be discovered. He grows up as quietly as he can, but when his younger sister also develops the gift and is unable to control her much more powerful transmissions it is only a matter of time before the group of telepaths are discovered. David has dreams of a society that are something like the ones that destroyed their civilisation, but the inhabitants of Waknuk have become so insular that David can find out nothing about the people that lived on the earth over 300 years ago. The Waknukians are a farming community who live by the teachings of the bible, they are back in the age of horsepower with only one large ancient steam engine to do the heavy work. They are fighting a battle against mutant crops and mutant livestock as well as mutant people some of whom live in the Fringes where mutations have run wild.
Olaf Stapledon's novel Odd John published in1935 explored similar themes to Wyndham's novel and in my opinion delved more deeply into issues facing a mutant group who come to see themselves as an improvement on those around them. Wyndham however keeps his story moving along tightening up on the tensions for a group of people fighting for their freedom to exist and it is told from David's perspective and so there is little space given for reflection on wider issues. The story works well and Wyndham avoids most of the racism and sexism of much science fiction written at this time. In my opinion this is nowhere near as ambitious as Day of the Triffids but one could argue it is more tightly written 4 stars.
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are a new breed of humans with telepathic skills and so better, faster communications might on the surface seem be a boon to society, however faster communication comes with it's own problems and when super telepathic users start to sense the emotions behind the transmitted thoughts then I can see problems. Wyndham doesn't get to examine those issues in this book whose main theme is a small mutant group fighting for their survival. In Wyndham's novel the apocalypse on earth happened three hundred years ago and the novel opens with a society that has looked backwards instead of forwards. They have blamed the destruction on humanity moving too far away from God's image. Of course they know exactly what God's image is from the bible (God made man in his own image) and so in a post atomic world anything that is deemed as mutant is destroyed. The novel is set is the village of Waknuk (or it could be Nuk(e)wak) where one of the younger generation (David) starts to understand that he can read other peoples minds through thought pictures. He discovers there are eight others within a ten mile radius, who have similar gifts, but knowing that his father is one of the most strict enforcers of the law against mutants he lives in fear that his mutant abilities will be discovered. He grows up as quietly as he can, but when his younger sister also develops the gift and is unable to control her much more powerful transmissions it is only a matter of time before the group of telepaths are discovered. David has dreams of a society that are something like the ones that destroyed their civilisation, but the inhabitants of Waknuk have become so insular that David can find out nothing about the people that lived on the earth over 300 years ago. The Waknukians are a farming community who live by the teachings of the bible, they are back in the age of horsepower with only one large ancient steam engine to do the heavy work. They are fighting a battle against mutant crops and mutant livestock as well as mutant people some of whom live in the Fringes where mutations have run wild.
Olaf Stapledon's novel Odd John published in1935 explored similar themes to Wyndham's novel and in my opinion delved more deeply into issues facing a mutant group who come to see themselves as an improvement on those around them. Wyndham however keeps his story moving along tightening up on the tensions for a group of people fighting for their freedom to exist and it is told from David's perspective and so there is little space given for reflection on wider issues. The story works well and Wyndham avoids most of the racism and sexism of much science fiction written at this time. In my opinion this is nowhere near as ambitious as Day of the Triffids but one could argue it is more tightly written 4 stars.
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Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1955-04
Physical description
185 p.; 17.5 cm
ISBN
0345274504 / 9780345274502
Local notes
Omslag: Michael Herring
Omslaget viser to personer i hver sin kurv på siden af en hest, så enten er hesten stor eller de er små.
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
ReBirth
Omslaget viser to personer i hver sin kurv på siden af en hest, så enten er hesten stor eller de er små.
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
ReBirth
Other editions
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (Paperback)
Similar in this library
Web by John Wyndham
Pages
185
DDC/MDS
| 823.912 |