Matthew, they thought, was just going through a phase of talking to himself. And, like many parents, they waited for him to get over it, but it started to get worse. Matthew's conversations with himself grew more and more intense, and then Matthew started doing things he couldn't do before, like counting in binary-code mathematics. So he told them about Chocky-the person who lived in his head.
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'Remains fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpeceted way' Guardian
--This text refers to the
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About the Author
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903. He tried a number of careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'. He died in March 1969.
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Most helpful customer reviews
By Tolliver
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
John Wyndham always has the most interesting ideas. It's true - what if we could project thought? How fast would we be able to go? Who would we find?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
24 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
All in the mind?
Dec 13 1999
By Greg Hughes
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
John Wyndham was a great writer. But you knew that already. "Chocky" was one of his last (and one of his best) books.
The narrator is David. He and his wife Mary are worried parents. Their adopted young son Matthew has developed a habit of talking to himself. Matthew asks strange questions, the kind that children wouldn't normally ask. He becomes good at things in which he previously had no great ability.
And then Matthew mentions Chocky. For David and Mary it looks as if Matthew's "imaginary friend" is growing more and more influential, driving Matthew further away from reality. Matthew is frustrated because Chocky really exists. Chocky is an invisible entity from another planet. She uses Matthew as an interpreter while she studies our planet.
This book was made into a children's programme, and inspired two more spin-offs. "Chocky" is a book about growing up, friendship, and the pain of saying goodbye. The end of the book is particularly touching. This is a book people should read at school.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wyndham is brilliant, every time he goes out.
Mar 25 2002
By Elsie Wilson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Another triumph by the greatest British science-fiction writer (sorry Aldis, you don't compete; & Clarke is a purely international phenomenon) This is later in his body of work, dating to 1968 (he died in '69), but carries the same authority, the same questions, the same hope for the future as his other works of the second flowering of his talent, that dating from the fifties and sixties, when he wrote as John Wyndham and not Benyon Harris or some other variation from his name. Chocky is, apparently, a being from another planet, star system, galaxy even, who is able to communicate by mind with a young boy ~ the protagonist's son. Naturally, the alien culture, science, technology, civilisation are all well in advance of ours; Chocky's task is to be a teacher, to guide us into a more mature use of the Earth and, especially, x-x-x-x-x ~ a power system based on the interstellar radiation ~ which will enable us to develop properly. Unfortunately, for her task, Chocky becomes emotionally involved where she ought to be detached, and her mission is, this time, a failure. Wyndham's interest is not so much the story, though that is fascinating, but the ideas behind the story, and, more particularly, the questions raised by the suppositions of the plot. What would happen if a child heard a voice from outside itself? Why can mind not be cast across space since, as Chocky points out, it is massless and maybe not subject to the terminal velocity of light? And, though this is a secondary question, can there be points of contact between alien species? Wyndham's answer appears to be that at least one such point might be art, a curious suggestion. © Elsie Wilson, 2002.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and elegant
Dec 16 1999
By Travis Cottreau
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
John Wyndham has one of the best writing styles of any science fiction writer. It is a simple style, very clear and concise with no wasted words. Despite being a simple, clear style, the author never fails to look directly at complex issues.
This book and all of John Wyndham's other books (see "Day of the Triffids", and especially "The Chrysalids") for more of this author. If you liked "Chocky", you will not be dissapointed with these other books.
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