Boekverslag : John Wyndham - The Chrysalids
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 2767 woorden.

Introduction

Why I chose this book




There are several reasons why I chose this book. The most important reason is that I really like Science Fiction books and this book suites very well in that category. I’ve also read this book a few years ago and I really liked it then. I forgot a lot about the story and decided to read it again. I’m glad I did because I liked the book even more this time. I think that is because I now know more and understand English better.



"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 plces 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..."



Review one

Review by Adam-Troy Castro



It is some time hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years after an atomic war shattered civilization and left large parts of the world uninhabitable. Among the rural people of what used to be Newfoundland, the danger of mutation has led to a strict and ruthless definition of what constitutes humanity. Any deviation from the norm is considered an abomination. If livestock, it is slaughtered. Humans are banished to the barbarous lands known as the Fringes.

David Strorm is a young boy being raised by a religious-zealot father who takes the commandments against mutation even more seriously than his society requires. Dad is such a meanie that when his sister-in-law appears, begging for the life of a baby whose mutation she considers slight, he banishes her from his sight with a loud ringing sermon about her wickedness. David, a secret telepath who shares thought-communication with several others his own age, knows his survival depends on his father never being allowed to find out what he is.

One day in early childhood, David meets a young girl named Sophie, and discovers she's hiding an extra toe. He likes her, so he promises to keep her secret. Her fate provides him a stern warning about what might be his own.

Then his younger sister Petra is born—and she has a mutation so powerful it endangers David and his telepath friends ...

A primal tale made rich in the telling

A child growing up in a repressive, unloving family discovers that he has powers that make him special, powers that the normal people who oppress him refuse to tolerate or understand. He finds a new home among people as special as himself, who take him away from his unhappy past into a place where he can be appreciated and loved.

It's a basic plot outline which has long proven irresistible to readers of fantasy and science fiction, as it speaks with such eloquence to the inner (and sometimes outer) geek in all of us. It drives Harry Potter, it drives the X-Men, and it has driven any number of other stories, by authors throughout the history of the field, about children who find out they are secretly royalty or extraterrestrials or the next stage in Mankind's evolution. There wasn't anything startling about it even in 1955, when Wyndham wrote this slim but evocative novel.

The poetry was of course in the details. Wyndham was never a writer of grand innovative ideas; his other novels include a thriller about an island infested with spiders, and another about an invasion by carnivorous trees, ideas so hackneyed on the face of them that plot synopses make his work sound as pedestrian as science fiction ever gets. Wyndham's skill lay in taking such ideas and treating them with a sobriety and a deliberate sense of pace that made them seem real on the printed page. In The Chrysalids, the friendship between the children David and Sophie, forged upon his discovery of the sixth toe that would doom her if publicly revealed, is both subtle and real. The religious fundamentalism that makes David's father such a prig may be shared by his neighbors, but even they believe him to be too much of a humorless fanatic for their tastes. And there's one marvelous, haunting scene that lodges in the memory: a mother's futile pleas for her baby, whose mutation is described only as "such a little thing," and which is never revealed to either David or the reader.

The Chrysalids grows downright unnerving in its final sections, when the rescuers from New Zealand not only massacre David's pursuers in a truly unnerving use of superior technology, but then spend a couple of pages explaining at length why this was just another justified example of evolution in action. But by that point the deus ex machina has blotted the book with ordinariness. What sticks is the portrait of a town rendered a prison by its rigid definition of humanity, and the plight of a little girl whose life depends on the concealment of an extra toe.

Re-Birth was one of the first science fiction novels I read as a youth, and several times tempted me to take a piggy census. Returning to it now, more than 30 years later, I find that I remember vast parts of it with perfect clarity. As a book to kindle the joy of reading science fiction, you can certainly do much worse. — Adam-Troy



Review two

Review by R.F. Briggs 3/20/98





Highly Recommended

"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..." and so on went the affirmation that all heard each Sunday in church. Any deviation from this was an abomination, a blasphemy before God who had fashioned man in his own image and must be dealt with immediately before such evil could propagate and spread. Young David knew the words by heart for they were reinforced daily by his evangelical father, yet how could his friend Sophie be considered evil?? Sure she had a sixth toe on each foot, but certainly she was no threat to anyone. But when her abnormality was discovered, David soon learned to what extent his society would go in these cases. To make matters worse he now began to find he had an invisible deviation himself, telepathic powers. Soon David and his new friends, fellow "picture talkers," would live in fear of their lives, persecuted and hunted by family and friends. Where could they go but to the Fringes, the place where abominations like themselves escaped to? Would they find peace and acceptance there?

Post disaster stories are perhaps one of the most worked subgenres in science fiction. From H.G. Wells' THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, to Walter Miller's classic A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ, to David Brin's recently filmed THE POSTMAN, we seem to be fascinated with man's abilities/inabilities to cope with what nature or himself brings to pass. Usually these tales are centred around humankind's attempts to find a sense of self and society amongst chaos and are heavily salted with religious overtones, to this extent RE-BIRTH is no different. The microcosm we are presented with is a highly evangelical society where even the deviants, much to our protagonist's chagrin, have their own spiritual dogma. In many ways this story is a condemnation of religious extremism, yet surprisingly even the most enlightened thinkers of the story are monotheistic. That's not to say that enlightened thinkers have to be atheists, but I marveled at the fact that in a virtually destroyed world no one seemed to even question the existence of a God. What really sets this book apart from the others I've read is that it's from the perspective of children, immature beings who know the words being preached to them, but who are incapable of applying their meanings to their innocent worlds.

This is a very interesting and well written story. And even though it's written in the typical austere English style, it deserves the label, "classic."



Summary



Summary by Outline

The society of Waknuk has survived a nuclear war. The people have, however, only a dim memory of that period and refer to it as Tribulation, a time during which mankind had to pay for its sins. Although the war happened a long time ago, radiation still contaminates the living world outside the small community. Whenever any evidence of contamination is found within Waknuk, the inhabitants immediately eliminate the offending plant, animal, or...... person.

The story centres around the narrator, David Strorm, his small group of friends who all possess E.S.P., or extrasensory perception, and David's sternly religious family.

As a child, David has learned the strict morality of his society: "Watch Thou for the Mutant," "The Norm is the Will of God," and "The Devil is the Father of Deviation." This all meant that any living things - plant, animal, or man - had to be destroyed soon as it was discovered to be deviant. David's father, Joseph Strorm, was considered by the inhabitants of Waknuk to be a leader in the vigorous pursuit of deviations from the norm .

Waknuk, though, was relatively fortunate, because it was situated in Labrador, far away from the major centres of nuclear war - the Badlands - further to the south. Since God had sent Tribulation down upon the Old People, mankind had been struggling to return to the level of civilization that the Old People had enjoyed. Because the past generations of Waknuk had been very careful, the community was now fairly free of deviations that were the result of Tribulation. Any that did appear were destroyed or, in the case of deviant humans, banished to the Fringes country that lay towards the south, south-east, and south-west of the district.

At the beginning of the story David meets Sophie Wender and discovers that she is a physical deviant with six toes on each foot. Both she and her family are forced to flee. They are captured and banished to the Fringes. David finds it difficult to reconcile the laws of his society with his own conscience. This problem is intensified when he sees his aunt driven to suicide because she has given birth to a deviant baby.

David is concerned for his own personal safety when he realizes that he and his group of E.S.P. friends are also deviants, because their ability to communicate with each other in thought forms or by mental telepathy is not compatible with Waknuk's idea of the "true image."

Although they manage to disguise their deviation, the birth of David's little sister, Petra, causes innumerable problems. Because she is still an infant, she is unable to control her powers. An incident occurs in which she, David and his sweetheart, Rosalind, are found out. They are declared deviates and outlaws, and are forced to flee to the Fringes, where they are pursued by the people of Waknuk, including David's own father. In the Fringes they are captured by the deviate inhabitants there.

All this time, Petra has kept, through her awesome telepathic powers, in touch with a distant civilization in New Zealand (Sealand). These people, who are all telepathic, rescue the fugitives right in the middle of a battle between the Waknuk and Fringes people. David, Petra, and Rosalind escape per helicopter to New Zealand



My opinion

Overview on the entire book




The first thing a have to say about this book is that I really like it. Even more then I liked the triffids and I’m looking forward to read more books from this marvellous writer. I hope that this book will someday be brought out on video.



Subject

The most important subject in this book is about the shortcomings of ourselves and our society. In this book it says that the “old people” (which are us) have come the an end by a nuclear war. That gives a person something to think about. You have to think about it because a nuclear war isn't as far away as you might think. And what will be the consequences? The difference between one an the other is also very important in this book. Specifically, there is a “norm”. If you do not resemble it, you are a blasphemie. You will be abandoned or even killed. Things like this happen al the time in the “real world”. The second World War is an example of it. A more recent example is that moslims are dangerous because what happened on septemer 11 last year. The book shows us that there may be more resemblence of one another than one might think. Don’t judge untill you have seen it with your own eyes!



Events

There are a lot of events in the book. But the most important one is when the others discover that David and the other persons have mind-pictures. An other important event is when David discovers that his litle sister Petra can make them as well, and a lot stronger then the rest of the group can. It actually is because of that, that they are discovered. After Petra is attacked, the rest of the group is demanded to go to her. Someone sees that they all ride towards the bush where Petra is, and start to ask questions. After that two of them get arrested and under torture one of the two discovers David, Rosalind and Petra. Then the chase begins to arrest them all so they can’t take Waknuk. It is also then that Petra for the first time contacts the New Sealand women. It is a race against time to save themselves with the help of the New Sealand women.



Characters

There are two kinds of characters in the book. The group that can make thoughtpictures and “the others”. David belongs to the group but lives in a family that is very much against people and things that differ from the norm. His little sister Petra can also make thinkpictures. Here is a list of the most important characters in the book:



Characters from the group The others

Names definition Names definition

Petra The litle sister of David Josef Davids father

David The most important character Uncle Axel Davids uncel. Knows about the group

Rosalind David’s half-cousin. And sweethart Sophie A blashemy and a friend of David

Micheal The oldest and wisest. Also leader Inspector Looks after purity in Waknuk

Anne She mary’s a norm and dies Alen Ervin Marry’s Anne. Reporteds them

Rachel Anne’s sister Spider man Older brother of Josef. Abanded

Katherine She’s tortured after she’s arrested and gives away the group Sealand women Rescue’s the group from Waknuk. Contacts Petra.

Sally The neighbour of Katherine Harriet Davids aunt. Had three “bad”children

Mark Lives far from the rest. Jeroma He discovers about the group first



These are the most important characters for the story. There are of course many more but they only have a small part in the story.



Usage

The used language isn’t really difficult, but in some parts it is a bit old-fashioned. It's an easy story to read and that is one of the reasons why I really like this book. Also, if you can’t read englisch very well, you can still read and understand this story. And for this writer that is a compliment. Usually, a story becomes a child-story if you use very easy phrases, but this story doesn't. That was also part of the review from “the inspector”. That says this:

‘Perfect timing… astingent humour…

One of the few authors whose

compulsive readability is a

Compliment to the intelligence'



Structure

The build up on tension is really good. In the beginning of the book you just learn a litle more about Waknuk and the customs they have. Then it starts to build up when you learn that David is different then the rest. And that there are more like him. You also understand more what the consequenses would be if anyone would find out about it. Then the inevitable happens, and Waknuk finds out. A really exciting chase begins. Fortunately the New Sealand women save them at the end of the story. Then they also find out how many people that can make thinkpictures exist. They feel accepted and well-placed. It is a good end to the story, but you keep thinking about Micheal. Will he ever make it to New Sealand? I hope he will!





Sources

Here did I find most of my information



http://www.orrery-music.co.uk/chrysalids.htm

Some general information about the book



http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue248/classic.html

Review one



http://www.generationterrorists.com/quotes/chrysalids.shtml

A list of quotes from the book



http://www.yetanotherbookreview.com/chrysalids.htm

Review two



http://www.lowensteyn.com/litunits/chrysalids/outl.html

All sorts of information and a summary



I found all these links with www.google.com
Andere boeken van deze auteur:


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