A very interesting book this, and in my opinion, the best of Wyndham's novels. The first sci-fi novel I ever read was Day of the Triffids, which is probably the most famous Wyndham, and the most popular. It sold very well in the 1950's and found its way into the national consciousness and even onto the school curriculum, which is where I encountered it over a decade later.
For some reason, people seemed able to relate to the idea of a bunch of intelligent, ambulatory giant plants taking over the world - surely he wasn't alluding to the Russians?
As much as I enjoyed Triffids, it was The Chrysalids I read next of my own accord, and this was the book which was to become one of the 'milestone' novels in my life - one of those you know that you'll read many times and always have a copy of on your bookshelf. It thoroughly caught my imagination and had me right in there with the protagonists when the action begins to heat up.
Now the plot. Although it's never explicitly referred to, it's clear that the events take place in a post nuclear holocaust world which has taken some time to recover. The legacy of the blast still remains in the form of 'no-go' areas of land, referred to as 'the badlands', and malformations in the progeny of everything from plants to humans. The other major factor is that the bible, in the form of the old testament, has survived Armageddon to strongly dominate the lives of a largely evangelical community which is their response to their own need to survive and control their world once again.
Unfortunately, anything which comes into life with any kind of physical defect is either burned (plants), slaughtered (animals) or banished to the badlands (humans) as abhorrences in the eyes of God. The unfortunate humans in this position tend to get a bit rebellious as they know that there is a tendency for people who set foot in the badlands to die sooner rather than later. Wyndham's clever ploy is to introduce a group of humans who are physically normal, but have been bestowed with the power of telepathy and who gradually form a group who have the same disruptive potential in the eyes of their society as a group of anti-capitalist demonstrators seems to have on ours.
By now you should have the idea that it's quite a complex book and one
I would recommend this book to people who love realistic stories. Personally for me it is hard to find books that interest me and this one felt like if I was watching someone else's life while I read it. It has so many interesting points. When you think something might happen
Of Nightingales That Weep Chapter 1 This chapter is about Takiko and her first family home. It tells a lot about her family. They talk about the war in this chapter also. Takiko’s mother decides that she will remarry after her father dies.
This is my personal reflection about this book. First and foremost, I would like to say that this book is very thick and long to read. There are about nineteen chapters and 278 pages altogether. As a slow reader, it is a quite hard for me to finish reading it within time. It took me weeks to finish reading it as a whole. Furthermore, it is written in English version. My English is just in average so sometimes I need to refer to dictionary for certain words. Sometimes I use google translate and ask my friends to explain the meaning of certain terms.
...derstand the history behind the story, and how it can interpreted in many different ways because of it's enigmatic plot, and characters.
I liked how at the end of each chapter,there was suspense which made it impossible for me to stop reading.
I loved this book, its different religious views and different perspectives, the little love story and the search for oneself. It was a book that I couldn’t let go of. A book that can make you cry and is very emotional.
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
This short story was published during the aftermath of the women’s rights movement and during WW2. John Steinbeck cared about the political and societal malpractices and portrayed his views in his writings. This short story belongs in a collection called The Long Valley.
I enjoy Theogony because it tells a story about how earth came to be in its present form.
The book is so well written it can be read in many different ways, as I have mentioned. In the first chapter we get hints as to all of them and the ambiguity of the story starts as early as chapter 1, giving the reader different paths to read the story, in different ways.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
In Under a Cruel Star, Heda Margolious Kovaly details the attractiveness and terror of Communism brought to Czechoslovakia following WWII. Kovaly’s accounts of how communism impacted Czechoslovakia are fascinating because they are accounts of a woman who was skeptical, but also seemed hopeful for communism’s success. Kovaly was not entirely pro-communism, nor was she entirely anti-communism during the Party’s takeover. By telling her accounts of being trapped in the Lodz Ghetto and the torture she faced in Auschwitz, Kovaly displays her terror experienced with a fascist regime and her need for change. Kovaly said that the people of Czechoslovakia welcomed communism because it provided them with the chance to make up for the passivity they had let occur during the German occupation. Communism’s appeal to
This book was a good read for me, but I also read book reviews to help me keep track on what I am reading. These book reviews just made a better understanding of what I was reading.
Morie by the same author. Now I have read a lot of books in my life and I can't think of
There is so much to love about this series, and this book in particular, Perfection is a super fast read, I did it in just one sitting. I laughed, I swooned, I got a little angry…but not too bad and not once did I cry. If you are looking for a lig...