The Midwich Cuckoos: Now a major Sky series starring Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley

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When the 31 boys and 30 girls are born, they appear normal, except for their unusual golden eyes, light blonde hair and pale, silvery skin. The children have none of the genetic characteristics of their mothers. As they grow up, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are, at least in some respects, not human. They possess telepathic abilities and can control others' actions. The Children (they are referred to with a capital C) have two distinct group minds, one for the boys and another for the girls. Their physical development is accelerated compared with that of humans; upon reaching the age of nine, they appear to be sixteen-year-olds.

The children get born and then we are in the Village of the Damned (in case anyone missed the connection). Good story and a few cool twists that kept interest up. Unfortunately it fell apart a bit for me at the (inevitable) end, when Wyndham uses the entire storyline as a basis for a existential/ethical discussion that felt very contrived.

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My one criticism of the book is that in the latter half of the book, the clues as to what the Children were all about and why they behaved like they did was related to us in conversation between Richard Gayford, whose occupation is unclear in the novel, and a leading elder citizen of the village, a boring old fart named Gordon Zellaby. A good deal of some chapters are taken up by Mr. Zellaby expounding on this, that, and the other thing about the Children. The redeeming aspect of the novel is when the Children actually do something, as the events are astounding. I would give this book 3.5 stars rather than 3 because of the plot line and at least to me, its startling originality, and its closeness to reality (i.e., it was not far-fetched). Months pass and nothing happens. Then slowly the villagers realise that every woman of childbearing age in the town has become pregnant. As a result, 61 children are born – all on the same day – and each child has the same golden eyes and white-blonde hair. At the centre of Wyndham's twisted tale is the quiet fictional town of Midwich. Over the course of 24 hours, every inhabitant of the town falls unconscious. The authorities are notified but no one can enter and no one can explain why it’s happened. A mysterious silver object sits at the centre of the village. However, after a day passes, the silver object disappears, and everyone wakes up seemingly unaffected.

The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blond, all are golden-eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others. This brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realization dawns on the world outside...La crueldad es tan vieja como la vida. Ha habido algunos paliativos: el humor y la compasión son las más importantes invenciones humanas, pero aún no están definitivamente establecidas, pese a lo que prometen"

What I like about this one is it really has a sense of unease throughout. The people of this village have to try and band together and support each other through such a big unknown it's hardly even something they can comprehend. They are all reliant on one another for support because the outside world doesn't know what's really happened, and they are worried about what these children may bring.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

John Wyndham's books are often described, labeled or tagged as cozy catastrophe, I am not sure what that means as the two books* I have read so far of his are rather unsettling. My guess is the Englishness of his prose style and the politeness of his characters. As something of an anglophile I very much appreciate this style of writing, it is very comforting and old school, especially with a nice cuppa tea in my hand. The only serious problem with this book is that the plot is so well known. It was filmed a couple of times as Village of the Damned, adapted for radio plays and is required reading in many schools. If you really really have no idea what this book is about here is my ridiculously simplified synopsis: Wyndham began work on a sequel novel, Midwich Main, which he abandoned after only a few chapters. [11] Adaptation [ edit ] Films [ edit ] The women in an English village are implanted with alien babies while the entire village is put to sleep for a few days. The babies grow into hive mind children with mental powers. This is my 2018 Halloween read and I chose it off an internet list of this century's best horror novels. This is also the book that the films Village of the Damned is based on. One was 1960 and the other was 1995. I have yet to see either. The first three quarters was fairly interesting but staid and ponderous and not at all frightening but the last quarter became quasi-philosophical, pseudo-political, sort of intellectual and quite frankly duller than a broken doorknob. The ending was also rather sudden and quite frankly insultingly expected.

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I decided to read the book after watching the excellent current day adaption for TV. I’m not sure if this is a good idea as it’s hard to give a fair review of the book when comparing the two. The book was written in 1957 so is rather dated now. There was a lot of unnecessary waffle, a lot of which I read without really taking it in, and I really just wanted to get to the chilling bits about the Children. In contrast, the ending was really quite rushed. This book is one of the classics of Science Fiction. It is a well written book that is at times a slow moving story told in tremendous detail in more of a British style of writing than in the American style of get to the point now. The book was written at a high intellectual level in tremendous detail that makes the story well-written but at times almost lethargic and boring. I still liked the story but many people will not care for the style in which it was written. The Children can also control the minds of the people around them, meaning they soon become too much to handle for the parents of the village. They’re handed over to be cared for by Professor Gordon Zellaby in an institution run by the Ministry of Defence. Under the guise of learning and development, The Children are observed under his watch but this is when things start to turn spooky. No ha estado mal, si es cierto que hay mas parte de teoría filosófica sobre como comportarse frente a una nueva especie superior que podría dar al traste con la especie humana y demás ideas, de lo que pensaba.