I can't remember when I first read The Midwich Cuckoos, but it was certainly within 30 years of the end of World War II. Now, almost 40 years later, the postwartime feel is even more present in this short novel, despite the book itself being published in 1957. The way the army moves in immediately, the jeeps on the road, meetings between people who clearly think of themselves as the elders of the village, the consequent emphasis on protecting ordinary people, the "Grange" with its important secret work, all these contribute to a work redolent with the "stiff upper lip" feeling of post-war British fiction.Although this novel is class-ridden, and the women's roles are very much of their time, it is told with a wry humour which I had forgotten in the aftermath of all the adaptations. The first of these goes by the name of "Village of the Damned", from 1960, and was followed shortly by a sequel "Children of the Damned". John Carpenter then remade "Village of the Damned" .in 1995. All these are good chilling films, but they are bound to lose the feel of the original text.The British reserve is very much in evidence in the novel, and Wyndham conveys the clipped "BBC" accent beautifully, with his "Ihad" or "Ithink" in reported conversation. At the beginning too, when the "cuckoos" are perceived, there is much embarrassment and avoidence of discussing how this might have happened. One exchange between the doctor and the vicar is hilarious as neither seem to want to spell out what they actually mean. It becomes obvious that the situation of every single female being pregnant at the same time is scientifically inexplicable. Nothing has ever really happened in Midwich (apart from some amusing historical episodes referred to in a droll fashion right at the start) yet the villagers just accept it and go on with their lives. Again, this is typical of the period. It's dangerous to ask questions. The authorities know best. You keep quiet and carry on.And indeed, the "elders" of the village do get together, and form a "committee" to discuss what is the best way to proceed for the good of them all. The key figures here are; Gordon Zellaby, an educated and insightful character (if this had been set any earlier he would have been the "Lord of the Manor"); Doctor Willers, the village's GP; the vicar, and Bernard Westcott, the middle man between Midwich and the military, who is usually himself represented by the narrator, Richard Gayford (a published writer who represents "Everyman").We are thrust into the novel right in the middle of the "Dayout", when the village of Midwich seems to have been put to sleep.(view spoiler)[ Army manoeuvres reveal that a hemisphere 2 miles in diameter surrounds the village. Then aerial photography shows an unidentifiable silvery object on the ground in the centre of the created exclusion zone. (hide spoiler)]
Club Read: March, 2010Agree with Mara and others on the disconnect emerging from the horrific plot elements, the near languid reaction of the villagers to their fate, and the ruminative narrative style. At first, I wanted to reach into my Kindle and give these good burghers a whup up side the head. Don't they know what portends upon the blondish, uniform appearance? The distant glacial behavior? The golden eyes? 'FOR GOD'S SAKE, YOUR BODIES AND LIVES ARE BEING TAKEN OVER BY ALIENS. DO SOMETHING'. But then, by page 80 or so, I thought, no, 'Midwich' is not really science fiction -- it's a kind of dry, understated satire on English mannered behavior. When the space invaders come and knock-up all the women, invite the villagers over for a cup of tea and a comforting chat on calmness and civility. Nothing more English-like than the measured response to catastrophe: "What we need to produce," Angela summed up (at the town meeting) , "is something like the companionship of adversity, but without suggesting that it is an adversity -- which, indeed, as far as we know, it is not". How's that again? Imagine John Cleese as Zellaby in some of this dialog and you also get the idea. But I 'Carry On', find myself later reading about the Children as teenagers (even though chronologically they're much younger), and entertain a different idea: it's not satire, it's a parable on parenthood and on something far worse than creatures from a distant planet -- adolescence. We have the mind control, the hive behavior, the supreme, know-it-all self-confidence, the punishments, including murder, meted out on the kindly moms and dads. Is it the 'Children' or the Parents who are truly 'Damned'? Nothing more logical for the old man to connive blowing up the entire tribe (I was expecting death by poison candy, but I gather the explosion at the end rules this out). In the remaining pages, of course, there's more talk and the continued, disengaged plot mechanics, until at the end, I have my final thought: We can't read this, unfortunately, as a literary lark; rather, the genesis and feel of 'Midwich' arises from the subconscious anxieties of the early atomic age combined with the influence of Huxley and the 'novel of ideas' on Wyndham's creative impulse. How else to understand the pedantic take on this material for someone rooted in the conventions of the pulp genre? For his time, I expect the discussions on species survival were forward-thinking, but it doesn't compensate for the stick-figure characterizations and the first-person technical lapses (is it just me or can Richard logically and seamlessly report on all we're reading about?). It's been two months of expository science fiction: On to free love and D.H. Lawrence.
What do You think about The Midwich Cuckoos (2015)?
This was a great book. If you get a chance, watch the movies based on it, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. There's and old b & w version and a newer one by John Carpenter from the late 80's or early 90's.
—Felicia
Sci fi, horror, dystopian...? A bit of all of them.This is a straightforward and somewhat leisurely story that touches on very deep and difficult themes, mostly indirectly, but explicitly in the last quarter.Midwich is a sleepy English village in the late 1950s. One day, everyone in the village blacks out. They awake, apparently unharmed, only to discover that all the fertile women are pregnant - but the children they give birth to are not like other human children, and turn out to have extraordinary and disturbing powers.It starts off by establishing the uneventful normality of the village. With dawning awareness of what has happened, most people indulge in denial and eventually a degree of acceptance. The abnormal becomes normal, and things get stranger still.The big flaw of this book is its neglect of female characters, especially given that it is the women who are violated in such a profound way. More understandable is the overprotective attitudes of some of the men, exercising "benign censorship", especially for the less educated women. That may not be acceptable now, but surely typical of the period. It also oddly omits almost all mention of older and younger siblings of the Children (the capital C is used) and barely mentions the pain of the putative fathers.The strength of the book is the way it raises so many philosophical issues in a relatively light way and barely 200 pages: fear of tabloid exploitation; the nature of self and individuality (and how it is affected by mind control and shared consciousness); whether scientific dogma overrides religious dogma; societal and biological pressures on mothers to bond with their babies; original sin; triumph over adversity and the desire to see good in situations; whether ends justify means; what it means to be human; evolution versus creationism; the nature of evil and what can be done in the name of self-preservation; the politics of colonisation and revolution. The ultimate question is whether humanitarianism trumps biological duty and hence whether civilisation could ultimately be our downfall in a hostile environment. One of the problems Wyndham suffers nowadays is that to modern readers, his work can seem derivative, which is a dreadful injustice when in many cases it's because more modern writers have derived ideas from him.
—Cecily
2.5 stars - Spoilers-Liked some parts, hated others. The most enjoyable aspect was the premise — creepy alien children are always fun to read about. Everything else was kind of dull.-The pacing was all over the place.-It wasn't always clear what was going on — the writing was either too dry or made no sense.-The random changes from first person to third person was annoying.-There was too much philosophy for my liking.-I was rooting for the Children more than the villagers. I was disappointed that there were all killed, but I guess it made the ending more memorable.-Most of the characters were rubbish. Zellaby, Ferralyn, Alan and Angela were okay though.-The narrator, Richard, was boring. And his pointless wife, Janet, was also dull.-I doubt I'll read any more John Wyndham books.
—Ferdy
