Great read!

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

I usually read new or recent books but after a recommendation of chris2belluk on 43things I was tempted to read this Penguin-classic. I was really amazed… written in 1955, this book was way ahead of its time, and is as current today as it was 50 years ago. This is a story on the effects of prejudice, oppression and persecution of those who are different.

How do you survive in a repressive world if you are different, especially if your difference is telepathy, and the society around you totally lacks imagination? That is the problem that David and similarly gifted children of his generation must face in the post-apocalyptic, rural, restrictively religious society they inhabit, in which deviance is apt to be punished with death. Wyndham effectively conveys what it's like to carry a secret, the solace of finding others like you, and, in this case, the suspenseful described dangers of exposure. The telepathic interchanges are evocative and believable, and the claustrophobia of circumstances from which it's impossible to see a way out becomes tighter and tighter until the final rescue.

This novel is like a breath of fresh air, clean and smooth. There are no frilly edges and there is no attempt by the author to make the book flashy. This makes the book pure and adds to the impact of the story.