The Midwich Cuckoos: Now a major Sky series starring Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley

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Sinopsis: Durante veinticuatro horas, el apacible pueblecito de Midwich, perdido en la campiña inglesa, se ve inmerso en un hecho insólito: una invisible cúpula de fuerza lo aísla del resto del mundo, y todos sus habitantes pierden la noción de lo ocurrido en aquel lapso de tiempo. Pero esto será sólo el principio. Pasado el fenómeno, otro hecho no menos insólito viene a turbar de nuevo la paz: todas la mujeres del pueblo descubren repentinamente que están encinta… y nueve meses más tarde dan a luz unos extraños niños de ojos dorados. ¿Quiénes son, cómo han llegado a nacer, cuál es su origen, qué peligro pueden representar? Muy pronto empiezan a descubrirse sus extraños poderes, que culminarán, nueve años más tarde, en uno de los más terribles enfrentamientos, y darán origen a un problema moral de difícil, casi imposible solución. The first three quarters was fairly interesting but staid and ponderous and not at all frightening but the last quarter became quasi-philosophical, pseudo-political, sort of intellectual and quite frankly duller than a broken doorknob. The ending was also rather sudden and quite frankly insultingly expected.

Esta novela de Ciencia Ficción no se se destaca por su ritmo, personajes o situaciones. Sin embargo, en mi opinión se destaca por los planteos y dilemas éticos, morales y filosóficos. Y su intento de llevar una situación extraordinaria a un pueblo ordinario con habitantes comunes y que prevalezca cierta "lógica". Ademas de un respectivo planteo sobre la creación, la evolución, la supervivencia y la destrucción de la humanidad. At the centre of Wyndham's twisted tale is the quiet fictional town of Midwich. Over the course of 24 hours, every inhabitant of the town falls unconscious. The authorities are notified but no one can enter and no one can explain why it’s happened. A mysterious silver object sits at the centre of the village. However, after a day passes, the silver object disappears, and everyone wakes up seemingly unaffected.

The ultimate question is whether humanitarianism trumps biological duty, and hence whether civilisation could ultimately be our downfall in a hostile environment. The big flaw of this book is its neglect of female characters, especially given that it is the women who are violated in such a profound way. More understandable is the overprotective attitudes of some of the men, exercising "benign censorship", especially for the less educated women. That may not be acceptable now, but surely typical of the period. It also oddly omits almost all mention of older and younger siblings of the Children (the capital C is used) and barely mentions the pain of the putative fathers.

When the 31 boys and 30 girls are born, they appear normal, except for their unusual golden eyes, light blonde hair and pale, silvery skin. The children have none of the genetic characteristics of their mothers. As they grow up, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are, at least in some respects, not human. They possess telepathic abilities and can control others' actions. The Children (they are referred to with a capital C) have two distinct group minds, one for the boys and another for the girls. Their physical development is accelerated compared with that of humans; upon reaching the age of nine, they appear to be sixteen-year-olds. I really enjoyed this retro sci-fi book. It was very interesting. Of course, you have what is now seen as "old-fashioned" discourse on the differences between men and women, such as: A sci-fi writer should be ahead of their time. But there's a downside. One of the problems Wyndham suffers nowadays is that to modern readers, his work can seem derivative, which is a dreadful injustice when in many cases it's because more modern writers have derived ideas from him. Biology (4th edition) NA Campbell, p. 117 'Fixed Action Patterns' (Benjamin Cummings NY, 1996) ISBN 0-8053-1957-3 How do we react to threat, especially when said threat comes from something our every instinct tells us not to harm? Is the collective worth more than the individual well-being, should our moral barometer overrule our biological instincts? I loved that the other locations where the same phenomenon of host-mothers took place reacted so differently from Midwich in dealing with the situation, which illustrated an interesting and broad scope of possibilities.Ophelia, Maya (2023-05-18). "Winners of The Ivors 2023 announced". The Ivors Academy . Retrieved 2023-07-12. La crueldad es tan vieja como la vida. Ha habido algunos paliativos: el humor y la compasión son las más importantes invenciones humanas, pero aún no están definitivamente establecidas, pese a lo que prometen"