Chocky

Product Information

But in many ways Chocky is a more sober and subtle exploration of the same idea that drives The Midwich Cuckoos: alien infiltration of human children. He published two more books in quick succession— The Outward Urge (1959) and Trouble With Lichen (1960)—but by that time I was up to my ears in the Pre-Raphaelites and T. A story of innocence and alien contact, Chocky is a sinister tale of manipulation and experimentation from afar. Could “Chocky” perhaps not be a part of Matt after all, but instead a separate distinct being, from outer or inner space, perhaps with his or her own definite agenda?

Chocky, the kindly alien invader in John Margaret Atwood: Chocky, the kindly alien invader in John

As always with Wyndham, it’s well written and thought-provoking, and will linger in the mind well beyond the few hours it takes to read.

He takes the central ideas of Midwich Cuckoos, published 11 years earlier and filmed twice as Village of the Damned and more recently with its original title (see my review HERE), but makes it more realistic. Sometimes you just need a bit of soft-core sci-fi, and Wyndham’s 1950’s classic, newly back in print, fully delivers.

Chocky by John Wyndham - Penguin Books New Zealand Chocky by John Wyndham - Penguin Books New Zealand

The conversations that Matthew has with Chocky are increasingly sophisticated and conceptually beyond that of a typical teenage boy. It seems that she, Chocky, is so odd as to be a whole separate being from their sweet, ordinary son. For Chocky is not a well-known novel in John Wyndham’s canon: it stands at the other end of his career from his first ‘mature’ work, The Day of the Triffids, and from his earlier classics such as The Midwich Cuckoos. Actually, such sinister, horrific eye transformation was the filmmaker's creation - in John Wyndham's tale, from all outward appearances, the beautiful children are just children, normal in all respects, eyes included. Chocky is a 1984 children's six-part television drama based on the 1968 novel of the same name by John Wyndham.But when Matthew starts explaining binary maths and anti-gravity propulsion, concerns turn to worry.

Chocky: Wyndham, John, Atwood, Margaret: 9781590178522 Chocky: Wyndham, John, Atwood, Margaret: 9781590178522

As his parents try to unravel exactly what is going on with their son, it begins to become clear that Chocky is not the typical imaginings of a young boy. Whilst not wanting to normalise Matthew’s behaviour, or overreact, they consult psychiatrists who are also baffled. It was also dubbed in French and broadcast in Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s; in Spanish and broadcast in Spain in the late 1980s. John Wyndham’s classroom favourite might be set in some desolate landscape still to come, but it is rooted in the concerns of the mid-1950s. The science fiction elements are subtle and the book is as much about the relationship between parents and children until the final chapter however this is also a book with a real message, it's brevity means that not a word is wasted making it a quick and compelling read which I would certainly recommend.David Gore becomes concerned that his twelve-year-old son, Matthew, is too old to have an imaginary friend. And he seems to be developing odd skills – like suddenly being able to draw, even though his pictures are distinctly odd, or understanding binary maths.