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Arbie's Unoriginally Titled Book Blog
It's a blog! Mainly of book reviews.
Currently reading
Station Zero
Progress:
220/282 pages
The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
Progress:
749/997 pages
The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry
The Uncertain Land and Other Poems
Progress:
8/160 pages
The Heptameron (Penguin Classics)
Progress:
152/544 pages
The Poems and Plays of John Masefield
Progress:
78/534 pages
Poems Selected
Progress:
4/50 pages
Selected Poems
Progress:
18/160 pages
The Penguin Book of Scottish Verse
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 2
Progress:
133/789 pages
In this novel Wyndham goes against type; yes, the background is entirely realistic, yes, an unexpected science-fictional element affects the life of the narrator, but no, the entire world is not under threat and no, alien invaders are not attempting conquest. In fact the aliens are benign and the narrator's family suffers at the hands of humans - journalists and others.This is neither the best nor the worst of Wyndham's novels; it's more readable than most but has little incident and I found Matthew's mother a trial; she's stupid and unpleasant. This serves to keep Matthew more isolated but makes for unpleasant reading. It would be unfair to accuse Wyndham of misogyny, however; the protagonist of Trouble with Lichen is rather the opposite of this character. The absence of flawed Darwinist analysis is a relief, indeed this book seems to belie the views Wyndham presented in The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos. This novel and The Chrysalids suggest that humans present more of a threat to humanity than anything else does - now that's realistic.
I've (re-)read all the famous Wyndham novels now, but Penguin have reprinted some lesser known ones and I will happily pick them up if I should happen across them.