3.5
The Midwich Cuckoos
ByPublisher Description
A genre-defining tale of first contact by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant—and neglected—science fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced.”
“In my opinion, [John] Wyndham’s chef d’oeuvre . . . a graphic metaphor for the fear of unwanted pregnancies . . . I myself had a dream about a highly intelligent nonhuman baby after reading this book.”—Margaret Atwood, Slate
NOW STREAMING ON AMC AS THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED
What if the women of a sleepy English village all became simultaneously pregnant, and the children, once born, possessed supernatural—and possibly alien—powers?
A mysterious silver object appears in quiet, picture-perfect Midwich. A day later, the object is gone—and all the women in the village, they will come to learn, are now pregnant.
The resultant children of Midwich are shockingly, frighteningly other. Faced with these unfathomable and potentially unstoppable children, the question arises: What will humanity do when faced with the threat of the unknown?
“In my opinion, [John] Wyndham’s chef d’oeuvre . . . a graphic metaphor for the fear of unwanted pregnancies . . . I myself had a dream about a highly intelligent nonhuman baby after reading this book.”—Margaret Atwood, Slate
NOW STREAMING ON AMC AS THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED
What if the women of a sleepy English village all became simultaneously pregnant, and the children, once born, possessed supernatural—and possibly alien—powers?
A mysterious silver object appears in quiet, picture-perfect Midwich. A day later, the object is gone—and all the women in the village, they will come to learn, are now pregnant.
The resultant children of Midwich are shockingly, frighteningly other. Faced with these unfathomable and potentially unstoppable children, the question arises: What will humanity do when faced with the threat of the unknown?
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Midwich Cuckoos Reviews
3.5
“Genre defining indeed. You finish it and at first you think probably a four star read but this book is the best kind as the more that I have thought about it the more I think that it is utterly without doubt brilliant and incredibly relevant to today. We’re all cuckoos really.
‘As to this - well, we have lived so long in a garden that we have but forgotten the commonplaces of survival. It was said: si fueris Romae, Romani vivito more, and quite sensibly, too. But it is a more fundamental expression of the same sentiment to say: if you want to keep alive in the jungle, you must live as the jungle does…’”
““Nobody, nobody but a child, or a child-minded person, expects life to be fair.” I found the premise of the novel to be very interesting, and Wyndham’s writing style was very enjoyable.”About John Wyndham
John Wyndham (1903-1969) is considered a pioneer of science fiction and horror, though he preferred to think of himself as a “logical fantasist.” He began writing science fiction and detective stories in the 1920s, but shifted to science fiction post-WWII, focusing on themes of disaster, invasion, and first contact. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957). A pacifist and socialist, Wyndham—unlike a lot of mid-century genre fiction authors—was alive to the impact of sexism, classism, and prejudice and his novels reflect his liberal politics.
Other books by John Wyndham
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