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The Midwich Cuckoos
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
34 posts | 39 read | 29 to read
In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant. The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside . . . The Midwich Cuckoos is the classic tale of aliens in our midst, exploring how we respond when confronted by those who are innately superior to us in every conceivable way.
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quietjenn
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Thank you, @LocalTxLibrarian for my #hhs #hauntedhollowswap package! So much cute-spooky goodness! I'm seriously contemplating a midday bath, just so I can use one my bath bombs and the books are great choices. Also, that tumbler is so huge that I didn't even come close to fitting in my original picture 😂.

Thank you @wanderinglynn for another great year of hallow-swapping.

wanderinglynn Awesome! 🎃🖤👻🧡 5mo
LeahBergen That‘s a great tumbler! 5mo
ShelleyBooksie Love the ghost reading a book with his coffee. 5mo
LocalTXLibrarian that tumbler was wayyyyyyy bigger than I thought it would be! (sorry!) glad the package arrived safely! ❤️ happy reading! 5mo
quietjenn @LocalTXLibrarian no apologies necessary! I will stay hydrated with it 😆. Thanks! 5mo
49 likes5 comments
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TheEllieMo
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

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LeticiaToraci
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Mehso-so

Interesting but with slow plot devepment. I wonder about this passage, I don't take it as a compliment... Should I?

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johncadams
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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A disturbing science-fiction tale of group think and involuntary fertilisation of women. Real life makes this seem more relevant than ever before.

#sciencefiction

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TheNeverendingTBR
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

I have so much respect for this author and his original ideas.

Everything I've read by him has been entertaining and he never fails to draw me in.

The Midwich Cuckoo's is an excellent story. It's beautifully written, has excellent characterisation and it's just a phenomenal original plot.

What more could you ask for?

BarbaraBB Such a great book! 1y
batsy Great review. I've been meaning to read him for far too long! 1y
TheNeverendingTBR @batsy This is a great place to start! 🙂 1y
batsy @TheNeverendingTBR Excellent! I have that on my list, too 😁 1y
LeeRHarry I‘ve enjoyed everything I‘ve read from this author - lots of originality in his work. 😊 Have you watched the Midwich Cuckoos TV show? 1y
78 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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kwmg40
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

In this story about a village whose female inhabitants all get impregnated at the same time is creepy and disturbing. Wyndham also explores ethical and philosophical issues that this scenario raises.

I also watched Village of the Damned, the 1960 adaptation of this book. There were some differences from the book, but overall, it captured the ideas and suspense quite well.

#Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @StayCurious

DieAReader 🎉🎉🎉 1y
TheSpineView Awesome 1y
See All 6 Comments
Librarybelle Oh…this looks interesting! 1y
Catsandbooks Terrific! 🐈‍⬛ 1y
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 1y
38 likes6 comments
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Minervasbutler
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

Very much of its time and place (Britain, late 1950s) and none of the characters bar one are developed to any degree, but the central conceit remains fascinating.
Wyndham pokes gentle fun at the varying reactions of the villagers to the sudden spate of pregnancies, before exploring issues of ethics and species-survival. Dated, perhaps, but an enjoyable read.

Ruthiella The podcast Backlisted just did a show on this book. I‘d read it but decades ago. 2y
Minervasbutler @Ruthiella yep, I haven't listened to it yet, but it was Backlisted sent me there. 2y
54 likes1 stack add2 comments
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vivastory
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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This newly designed set of 4 Wyndham novels published by Modern Library is stunning! The only one I own is Day of the Triffids. A good excuse to round out my collection.

Megabooks Stunning for sure! 2y
Michael_Gee Ummmm I am going to buy the Triffids vers I think… 2y
Flaneurette Love those covers! 2y
68 likes3 comments
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LostInSpace
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

Such a strange and disturbing story.

In the town of Midwich, a ‘dayout‘ happens where everyone falls unconscious, when they wake, all the women of childbearing age are pregnant.

The Children are strange, they all appear alike, they can communicate telepathically and they appear as one rather than separate entities.

Where did they come from and what do they want?

Creepy, atmospheric, and well written. Another good one from Wyndham.

braddsibbersen Great book. Not a fan of that cover though. My pocket paperback edition has a much pulpier, 1980s horror thing going on which I much prefer 2y
Caz1 Yep I loved it too 2y
41 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Samary
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

I liked this more than I thought I would. Check out the covers from around the world, they are creepy!

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Powered_By_Plants
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

The common cuckoo is a brood parasite relying on others to raise their young.
After finishing this I was intrigued to know more about the cuckoo bird,after watching a clip it‘s quite shocking!The mother infiltrates a little song birds nest, lays an egg amongst the others. Unbeknown to the cute little songbird she starts to raise the cuckoo as her own.Usually the cuckoo hatches first & will kick the biological eggs out!

Must watch the film now!

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Lizstarks
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

I‘ll have a book hangover for a while after this!

7 likes1 stack add
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rwmg
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
Pickpick

The village of Midwich mysteriously falls asleep for a day and a night - every living thing. A couple of months later all the women of childbearing age in the village find they are pregnant even if they are still virgins. But what are they going to give birth to?

Not quite as scary as when I read it as a young teenager, but still very atmospheric.

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rwmg
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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The options in 1957

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rwmg
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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12 likes1 stack add
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RedbagReadbooks
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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RedbagReadbooks
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

3.5/5💋. It was good and interesting at times. A small sleepy village is put to sleep where upon waking all the child bearing women are found to be mysteriously pregnant. Like the cuckoo these children continue their parasitic activity on this small sleepy town. This 1957 novel inspired the 1960 film and the remake in 1995 🥰

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Oryx
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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I'm quite obsessed with this cover. It's kind of ugly beautiful.

readordierachel Ooh, it is! 5y
JennyM I feel conflicted just looking at it 5y
67 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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GatheringBooks
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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#QuotsyApril18: Totally #Random transforms a quote into greatness. 😂

MayJasper I like 😊 6y
quietlycuriouskate How I feel about Ulysses, in a nutshell! 6y
GatheringBooks @River_Voice hahaha! 😱😂 6y
GatheringBooks @MayJasper thank you!! 🤗 6y
71 likes4 comments
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BestDogDad
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

The Midwich Cuckoos follows much the same script as other Wyndham books I've read: weird things happening to ordinary people. In this one, an entire small English town falls unconscious for a day and wakes up to find all the women of child-bearing age to be pregnant. A total of sixty-one children are born and they are not your typical children. The good folks of Midwich have to decide how to handle their predicament.

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BestDogDad
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids are two of my favorite books so I thought it was time to check out some more John Wyndham.

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BarbaraBB
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Unphilosophize
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

This was the first book for the #endoftheworldbookclub this month and it was so good! I loved the narration style and the idea behind the story. There were a couple of plot things that I wasn't in love with but it was a lot of fun!
(Fun in a dystopic scary sort of alien way)

3 likes1 stack add
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Unphilosophize
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham

Our leading rebel for some time was Tilly... Oh, you must have seen Tilly Foresham - jodhpurs, roll-neck, hacking jacket, dragged hither and thither by the whim of fate in the form of three golden retrievers... She protested indignantly for some time that she would not mind much if she happened to like babies; but as she much preferred puppies, the whole thing was particularly hard on her.

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Unphilosophize
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Things are starting to get weird..

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Unphilosophize
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Look at what else came today! A great day for book mail!
#endoftheworldbookclub

3 likes1 stack add
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Oftencantdecide
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Sometimes you really notice how an author's gender impacts a book. I can't help but think that a female author would handle a situation like the one here differently.

Still, I'm enjoying this- even though I have a ton of questions and wish there was some more focus on the characters' emotions.

35 likes1 stack add
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BarbaraBB
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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'Midwich, as we used to say, is the place where nothing happens.' My favourite Alien book! #aliensexist #90sinjuly #1001books

Cinfhen Love this creepy photo 👽💞 7y
Robothugs I'm not scared of this photo or anything. 😬 7y
17 likes2 comments
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batsy
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Part 1 of #latestbookhaul. Stopped at my favourite discount bookstore a few days ago and these strangely beautiful covers were calling to me. I can't take my eyes off the cover for Triffids especially. I've always wanted to check out Wyndham and these were the two available. Only just learned that Village of the Damned is based on The Midwich Cuckoos. #JuneBookBugs @RealLifeReading

Leftcoastzen Really nice! 7y
diovival These covers 😍 7y
LeahBergen Love these covers. 7y
See All 16 Comments
readordierachel Gorgeous. 7y
JenP Hope you like them! I loved Triffids and liked the other one too 7y
RealLifeReading Oh I loved these books. I think we studied Triffids in secondary school. And then of course I had to go find his other books 7y
Dragon The Midwich Cuckoos and Chocky are my favourites. Triffids was too scary although I did like the British tv miniseries 📚🐉 7y
batsy @JenP I am looking forward to them and hope to get to them sooner rather than later :) 7y
batsy @RealLifeReading Oh that's so cool that you studied him in school! 7y
batsy @Dragon Thanks for letting me know there was a series, will look for it after I read the book! 7y
AvidReader25 I've been wanting to read Triffids for forever too! 7y
saresmoore These covers are excellent! How crazy is it that I'd never even heard of these books? Thank you for sharing! 7y
batsy @saresmoore They're lovely, aren't they. No problem, always pleased to be an enabler 🤗 7y
chapter_fifty2017 Day of the triffids , one of his best books i think , but he is a great writer, its really worth revisiting plus those covers are gorgeous xx 7y
batsy @chapter_fifty2017 That's good to know, I'm so happy I snagged these! Now to actually read the books... 7y
Nute I love the covers that Penguin did for all of his books. 7y
46 likes1 stack add16 comments
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TheNextBook
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Yep this is happening right now... almost midnight! When I was kid I freaking loved this movie! Completely forgot it was based on a book until now! And just like that I need to find this book!

#villageofthedamned
#notmykid

vivastory I have several Wyndham books in my TBR, including this one. 7y
BookHermit My eldest son's middle name is Wyndham 🤓 7y
TheNextBook @vivastory I feel like I need to read this story now! I'm going to have to find it. 7y
TheNextBook @BookHermit Nice! 😆 7y
59 likes1 stack add4 comments
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JenP
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

I really like Wyndham. This was no exception. And with that book 2 is done with lots of snack breaks. On to Underground Railroad.
#readathon

16 likes1 stack add
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DreesReads
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Pickpick

I suspect Douglas Adams may have gotten some of his ideas from Wyndham. But whereas Adams is funny, Wyndham is serious, in a creepy science fiction way. If you know what is unique about cuckoos (the birds) you know where this story is headed--but not where it actually goes. How's that for cryptic?

ScrappyMags Omg that creepy cover rivals the one I posted a week or so ago! 😬😬 8y
DreesReads @ScrappyMags it's the giant golden-eyed baby in the sky! 8y
Caz1 I love that cover 2y
22 likes3 comments
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DreesReads
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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Second sporting event of the day and it's not even 10am. My kid has a bad toe and us on the bench, is it wrong to be reading?

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DreesReads
The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham
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So I was thinking I really didn't have any ugly covers. And then I sat down with an espresso and my latest library book. Creepy baby! #uglycovers #uglycover #somethingforsept #septphotochallenge

LibrarianRyan I actually kind of like this cover. It's a little weird. It would be one we hung in the back room at my library. 8y
britt_brooke 😱 8y
Chessa Is this the evil twin of the sun baby from TeleTubbies?!? 8y
See All 7 Comments
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Creepy ghost baby 8y
RealLifeReading Love John Wyndham though! 8y
Loreen Floating, creepy baby head! 8y
BookishFeminist 😂😂 this is ridiculous!! 8y
35 likes7 comments