Matthew's parents are worried. At eleven, he's much too old to have an imaginary friend, yet they find him talking to and arguing with a presence that even he admits is not physically there. This presence - Chocky - causes Matthew to ask difficult questions and say startling things: he speaks of complex mathematics and mocks human progress. Then, when Matthew does something incredible, it seems there is more than the imaginary about Chocky. Which is when others become interested and ask questions of their own: who is Chocky? And what could it want with an eleven-year-old boy?
Wyndham's last substantial work before his death is a great way to go out. The story tells of a boy's imaginary friend who turns out to be a telepathic alien child reaching out from across the vastness of space. Wyndham imbues it with fantastic insights into the nature of language and communication and the delicate nature of family relationships.
Essential SF, and like much of this author's work, should appeal to non-genre readers too.
In this novel Wyndham goes against type; yes, the background is entirely realistic, yes, an unexpected science-fictional element affects the life of the narrator, but no, the entire world is not under threat and no, alien invaders are not attempting conquest. In fact the aliens are benign and the narrator's family suffers at the hands of humans - journalists and others.
This is neither the best nor the worst of Wyndham's novels; it's more readable than most but has little incident and I found Matthew's mother a trial; she's stupid and unpleasant. This serves to keep Matthew more isolated but makes for unpleasant reading. It would be unfair to accuse Wyndham of misogyny, however; the protagonist of Trouble with Lichen is rather the opposite of this character. The absence of flawed Darwinist analysis is a relief, indeed this book seems to belie the views Wyndham presented in The Kraken Wakes …
In this novel Wyndham goes against type; yes, the background is entirely realistic, yes, an unexpected science-fictional element affects the life of the narrator, but no, the entire world is not under threat and no, alien invaders are not attempting conquest. In fact the aliens are benign and the narrator's family suffers at the hands of humans - journalists and others.
This is neither the best nor the worst of Wyndham's novels; it's more readable than most but has little incident and I found Matthew's mother a trial; she's stupid and unpleasant. This serves to keep Matthew more isolated but makes for unpleasant reading. It would be unfair to accuse Wyndham of misogyny, however; the protagonist of Trouble with Lichen is rather the opposite of this character. The absence of flawed Darwinist analysis is a relief, indeed this book seems to belie the views Wyndham presented in The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos. This novel and The Chrysalids suggest that humans present more of a threat to humanity than anything else does - now that's realistic.
I've (re-)read all the famous Wyndham novels now, but Penguin have reprinted some lesser known ones and I will happily pick them up if I should happen across them.
