Reviews

The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham

rustygorrilla420's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ritaconde's review against another edition

4.0

"Since they are another species, are we not fully entitled - indeed, have we not perhaps a duty? - to fight them in order to protect our own species?"

Let me preface this by saying that I never thought I would enjoy what is technically an alien invasion book half as much as I enjoyed this.

The Midwich Cuckoos explores the topic of invasion in an incredibly subdued way that forced me to put the book down multiple times in order to contemplate our collective existence and how we rationalize cruelty in the name of "biological duty".

Through multiple conversations that take a sociological - almost academic - approach to the topic of us vs them, the narrative focuses almost entirely on how this town is trying to make sense of and adapt to an impossible situation. This is done in such a way that you almost feel like part of the conversation and, honestly, like most of the characters, I never knew exactly where I stood. And I still don't. The fact that the Children are not completely "not-human" complicates the matter even further and makes me think of home sapiens vs neanderthals and how, in retrospective, we don't see that as senseless brutality against another species but as a mere consequence of evolution. In this new scenario, though, we would be the neanderthals.

This is not an action-heavy book, in fact, there's very little action and that's what I loved about it. At one point, it even gets a bit meta and comments on how different it is when compared to our expectations of an alien invasion, giving the example of H.G. Wells's The War of The Worlds, which I found quite funny.

The main takeaways I got from reading this book are (1) how naïve we are to believe that our supremacy as humans is perpetual and (2) how there's no way to morally justify the means through which we could maintain said supremacy.

"Can any state, however tolerant, afford to harbour an increasingly powerful minority which it has no power to control?"

hellebore's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

schnanko's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

ladysanctuary's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

dolly_daydream's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

emmaodoherty's review

3.0

Really strange/interesting concept. Not a big fan of sci fi / dystopian books but enjoyed it more than I thought. Unexpected and unsatisfying end

furicle's review against another edition

4.0

A must read for Wyndham fans, a good read for anyone else that enjoys sci-fi with wry humour, interesting dialog and characters, and a set of issues that will make you consider your own morals and ideas in an interesting light.

I haven't seen the movie, but I suspect it really destroyed the book - the strengths of this book would never stand the film treatment. If you have, just pretend you haven't and read the book anyway.

It's interesting that it was written in a contemporary time to the time of publishing. I'm not sure the plot would stand up to that if it was published today, but it's not 'dated' in it's ideas. Think of it as 'historical sci-fi' and you'll be fine.

kiera3's review against another edition

This book was dragging 

libertyclaydon's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5