The Chyrsalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit community of religious and genetic fundamentalists, always on the alert for any deviation from the norm of God's creation. Abnormal plants are publicly burned, with much singing of hymns. Abnormal humans (who are not really human) are also condemned to destruction--unless they succeed in fleeing to the Fringes, that Wild Country where, as the authorities say, nothing is reliable and the devil does his work. David grows up ringed by admonitions: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD; WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT. At first he does not question. Then, however, he realizes that the he too is out of the ordinary, in possession of a power that could doom him to death or introduce h im to a new, hitherto unimagined world of freedom. The Chrysalids is a perfectly conceived and constructed work form the classic era o science fiction, a Voltairean philosophical tale that has as much resonance in our own day, when religious and scientific dogmatism are both on the march, as when it was written during the cold war.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Starts strong but fizzles a bit at the end:
The Chrysalids persuasively demonstrates the dangers of fundamentalist religion. Wyndham doesn't condemn all religion, however. He convincingly demonstrates that only fundamentalism based on hatred of any nonconformity presents a serious threat to humanity. In his portrayal of the potential dangers in religion, and specifically the danger of humans who grasp for such fundamentalism out of fear, Wyndham has written an interesting novel that still maintains its relevancy more than 50 years after publication.... more info
Worried about being different, this book will give that a new twist:
"We are the New People--your kind of people. The people who can think-together. We're the people who are going to build a new kind of world--different from the Old People's world, and from the savages' The kind of people that God intended perhaps?' I inquired with a feeling of being on familiar ground again. I don't know about that. Who does? But we do know that we can make a better world than the Old People did. They were only ingenious half-humans, little better than savages; all living shut off... more info
Great product:
This is a great book that I studied in high school and recently was reminded of it and wanted to have a copy for myself! I was surprised how inexpensive it was to get and how quickly it arrived!
After the Tribulation:
John Wyndham's work is often under-appreciated because it is lumped into the science fiction category. Other books that present the "dis-topia" visions of the future such as "1984", "We", and "Brave New World" have avoided the label and are much better known. "The Chrysalids" is a much more complete novel than any of the mentioned classics. Exploring themes of tolerance, religion, and government, the book hints of influence from so many other great works. After the cataclysmic event known as the... more info
