Chocky

📘 About This Book

Featuring an afterword by Margaret Atwood This quirky alien-meets-boy story “remains fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpected way”—for fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (The Guardian). A pioneering science-fiction master confronts an enigma as strange as anything found in his classic works, The Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids: the mind of a child. It’s not terribly unusual for a boy to have an imaginary friend, but Matthew’s parents have to agree that his—nicknamed Chocky—is anything but ordinary. Why, Chocky demands to know, are there twenty-four hours in a day? Why are there two sexes? Why can’t Matthew solve his math homework using a logical system like binary code? When the questions Chocky asks become too advanced and, frankly, too odd for teachers to answer, Matthew’s parents start to wonder if Chocky might be something far stranger than a figment of their son’s imagination. Chocky, the last novel Wyndham published during his life, is a playful investigation of what being human is all about, delving into such matters as child-rearing, marriage, learning, artistic inspiration—and ending with a surprising and impassioned plea for better human stewardship of the earth.

📖 Summary

John Wyndham explores the boundaries of childhood consciousness, parental anxiety, and alien contact in his thought-provoking science fiction novel Chocky. Spanning 177 pages in its 2015 edition and featuring an insightful afterword by Margaret Atwood, the book introduces readers to a seemingly ordinary family whose lives are upended by an extraordinary presence. At first, Matthew's parents view his unseen companion, whom the boy calls Chocky, as nothing more than a harmless imaginary friend. Such phenomena are common enough in young children, and Matthew's parents initially dismiss the talks and shared moments as typical youthful make-believe. However, they soon realize that Chocky is anything but ordinary. The invisible entity begins demonstrating an intellectual capacity and a perspective that far exceeds the developmental stage of a typical child. Chocky bombards Matthew with confounding, probing questions about the fundamental aspects of human existence and earthly rules. The entity demands to know why the day is divided into twenty-four hours, why human society is separated into two distinct sexes, and why Matthew cannot solve his basic school mathematics using a more logical system like binary code. As these interactions continue, the inquiries become increasingly advanced, complex, and frankly too odd for school teachers and parents to easily dismiss. Wyndham builds a narrative tension that rivals his classic apocalyptic works like The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids, yet he pivots the focus inward. Instead of charting a massive global catastrophe, Wyndham investigates the quiet, unsettling enigma hidden within the developing mind of a child. The story acts as a pioneering exploration of alien-meets-boy tropes, feeling remarkably fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpected way. Fans of contemporary psychological narratives like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will find familiar ground in the way Matthew's parents struggle to understand their son's unique cognitive landscape while dealing with the outside world's skepticism and fear. Through Chocky, Wyndham challenges readers to look at the mundane constructs of human society through an entirely foreign lens, questioning the arbitrary nature of the systems we take for granted every single day. The novel ultimately serves as a brilliant examination of intelligence, communication, and the profound mysteries that can reside just beneath the surface of everyday family life.

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John WyndhamView all books →

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