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Chocky cover art

Chocky

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Damian Lynch
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Summary

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. Mathew's conversations with himself grew more and more intense—it was like listening to one end of a telephone conversation while someone argued, cajoled and reasoned with another person you couldn't hear. 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.

©1965 John Wynham (P)2022 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Chocky

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Imaginary friend?

When David Gore sees his 12-year-old son Matthew having an argument all by himself, he assumes the family is being visited by another “imaginary friend”. His daughter had had a very annoying invisible friend when she was younger, who insisted on having her own seat at table and demanded glasses of water in the middle of the night, and so on, so the thought is not a welcome one. Matthew is a little too old for an imaginary friend anyway, David thinks, and hopes the phase will soon pass. But Matthew begins to ask odd questions, like where exactly in the universe is Earth, and why are there two sexes, and why do some forms of life have less capacity to learn than others? And he seems to be developing odd skills – like suddenly being able to draw, even though his pictures are distinctly odd, or understanding binary maths. As David gently questions him, he discovers that Matthew’s friend is called Chocky, and it appears Chocky isn’t so imaginary after all…

For an alien invasion novel, this is remarkably quiet and thoughtful. Chocky may be an alien intelligence and her species may even be considering Earth’s potential as a future colony, but there is no overt threat to humanity. She has contacted Matthew to learn more about life on Earth and also to teach – to try to develop his young mind with skills that will one day enable him to make some of the scientific advances that her species already made long ago.

David is concerned for Matthew, but intrigued too. His wife, Mary, however, sets up an instant mental barrier, refusing to believe that Chocky is anything more than a figment of Matthew’s imagination. She insists on him being seen by a psychiatrist, and David goes along with this. He too would be happier to believe there was an easy explanation, but is already half-convinced that Chocky is both real and benign. As Chocky’s influence over Matthew grows, the wider world begins to get hints that there’s something odd going on – at first, just teachers asking why he seems to be developing so quickly in some areas and learning things they’re not teaching him, but gradually Matthew becomes something of an unwilling celebrity, hounded by newspapers looking for a story, and eventually coming to the attention of people with even less pure motives.

As is the case with most good science fiction, the premise is used as a means to look at our own society from a different angle. Chocky is intrigued by the idea of family – binary sex is not a concept she is familiar with. In fact, she is only a she because David decides it would be easier to assign her a gender than for Matthew to be confused all the time about which pronouns to use when discussing her. The human reaction to Chocky is another theme – is it easier to dismiss what we don’t understand as a symptom of a mental disorder than to consider that there may be more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in our current philosophy, to misquote the Bard? Then there’s the question of blood – Matthew is adopted, and for Mary’s family that makes him somehow less than their own self-produced children. As David puts it, “Some babies confer a little more equality than other babies.” Even Mary, though she loves Matthew as much as she loves her natural daughter, wonders if his strangeness is a sign of a kind of taint in his biological inheritance. And there’s also an ongoing theme of communication and how we learn. Often Matthew becomes deeply frustrated to the point of anger because he can’t understand the concepts Chocky is putting into his head, and at the same time she is frustrated by his limited vocabulary and knowledge of how things work, either mechanically or in terms of society, making it hard for him to give her the information she is seeking. Chocky’s species is perfectly willing to share their advanced knowledge, but unless there is a common level of understanding of science, it’s an impossible task. Try explaining nuclear power to a five-year-old. (Or, indeed, to me!)

There is a plot of sorts, but it’s a very minor part of the book, there merely to pull the story along to a conclusion. Mostly it’s a slow meander through the questions raised by Chocky’s visit, and a rather downbeat assessment of humanity’s readiness to accept new ideas that are outwith our experience. As always with Wyndham, it’s well written and thought-provoking, and will linger in the mind well beyond the few hours it takes to read.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Damien Lynch, who does a very good job, bringing every character to life and managing the children’s voices well – not something every narrator can pull off. His unhurried approach suits the tone of the book and allows the listener time to absorb the themes.

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An Enjoyable and Engaging Book

This is the second John Wyndham book I've listened to on Audible and I've really enjoyed discovering his work. His writing is excellent, and his characters are sympathetic, engaging and true-to-life. The story of Chocky was unknown to me and really kept me engaged wanting to know how things would turn out and what would happen to the leading characters. Very enjoyable and brilliantly read - Damian Lynch gave an outstanding reading, bringing every character to life.

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dated but a great listen

I felt quite nostalgic for the way society treated each other back when this was written. No fear from the children and none from the adults if a child was reprimanded. Back then, you got told off, and took it. when it was done, you ran off with your mates. No knives, no social media.

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enchanting

Incredible narration, great story. I remember watching the cff film at school as a youngster.

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Interesting and engaging

Will listen again but feel could have been extended on wards but that's just my greed I guess.

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Loved it!

Thoughtful and human - no scares, fights, space ships or bad guys in sight. I've not read any Scifi like it before, but absolutely loved it. Loved the story, the characters, the ending - it's all good, and still resonates 60 years later.

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Quite good

No faults worth noting with the performance and the story was good. Just a little short and fairly uneventful.
I rather enjoyed the way it was portrayed, to keep you guessing about the nature of Choky. To be honest I expected a horror story from the description.
I was engaged from start to finish.

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Horrible misogynistic words spoil the story

Misogyny and patronizing writing makes the story quite difficult to listen to. The premise is interesting especially the dialogue at the end about energy, but irritating beyond for the majority of the story.

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Insightful and thoughtfully handled

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. John Wyndham often delivers some masterful ideas wrapped up in stories that preempt world events and this story is no exception. The narrator is top notch. I found some of the monologues thoroughly enthralling... and of course it is done so convincingly. It's like Wyndham can tap into what I have often thought as being true but haven't said it out loud... how does he do that??? Asking pointedly whether humanity has realised what its objective is...Dark matter as a source of infinite energy to enable us reach our full potential... and the power of the mind... Well of course it all makes total sense if you listen to a great story teller

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It did not age well

I'm not sure if it would come across better if read and not listened to, but everything about it irritated me from the start. it has aged very badly on every front. Changes in child protection legislation and gender roles were probably the two areas that made it very outdated and difficult to listen to.

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