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The Chrysalids by John Wyndham


MisterBus

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Dear John,

It’s not you, it’s me. I just need some time apart. There’s no one else.

Yes, you came home unexpectedly one afternoon and caught me with Patrick Hamilton but it honestly meant nothing. It was just a fling.

After so many wonderful times there was bound to be the average, the everyday – the humdrum. And that was The Chrysalids (1955).

Let’s not ruin everything by arguing. After a while we can meet again and discuss the future of our relationship.

We met when I was a teenager and it was love at first sight. The Day of the Triffids will always have a special place in my heart. And then the passionate time we had with The Kraken Wakes, The Midwich Cuckoos and – perhaps the best of them all – Trouble with Lichen. Oh, how we laughed at how you should pronounce ‘lichen’!

It couldn’t last of course. I think we both knew there would come a time of – how best to put it – ‘disappointment’. I did try to like The Chrysalids. Perhaps I tried too hard. Or perhaps I’d built up such high expectations that disappointment was sure to follow.

The characters were insipid, the plot was almost non-existant – and then drawn out within an inch of its life – and the attempts at emotion were almost childish. The post-apocalyptic landscape was badly painted and too often an easy way to prop up the stumbling plot.

But let’s not finish on harsh words. You’ve written so many outstanding books that you’ll be remembered long after The Chrysalids has been pushed to the back of the bookshelf.

Keep in touch.

Love, Alan x.

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