The Chrysalids

Well, this is  my one-hundredth post. No one is more surprised than me, I didn't imagine that I'd manage to keep this up past four or five. No comments about how photos of yarn or random things don't count.

Anyway. A few months ago we were discussing books in work. I'm pretty devoted to my books. I'm far too over-protective about the condition of the covers, I don't lend them to anyone and the idea that I might get rid of a book once I'd read it is utterly unthinkable. The person I was talking to is the complete opposite and the argument he put forward was: "You only read 1000 books in your life time, why would you go back to the same book twice?"

At the time, I couldn't clearly frame my reasons for reading some books over and over. It's easy enough to try to make an analogy like, "You watch films more than once" or "You go back to the places that you enjoy more than once". But it's more than that. Reading is an experience that depends as much upon the reader as the book. I return to books because, although they may be the same, I'm not.

I don't return to every book but there are three or four that I go back to every few years and one of these is The Chrysalids, a novel by John Wyndham that was dramatised on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago (sorry, it's already fallen off iplayer). It's the story of a young man with telepathic-like powers in a world that fears and punishes any difference from the norm.

I'm not sure exactly how old I was when I first read it but I was probably around eleven. It wasn't the first book for adults that I'd read but it was the first time that I read a book and realised that, while I enjoyed it, I was only seeing one facet of the story. To an eleven year old girl, it's an adventure story about a boy with special powers who works with his friends to escape the dangers of their village. But every time I've re-read the book, I've found something more in it. As a teenager it was a story about not fitting in. As an adult it's a story about the terrible things that people can do when they believe that they're right.

There was an adaptation of the Chrysalids in 1981, broadcast in the last year on 4 Extra but it felt like a dramatisation of my eleven-year-old understanding of the book. The recent two-hour version captured the atmosphere of fear, paranoia and secrecy that I came to recognise in the book as I grew older.

With a core set of characters that are children growing to young adults, it'd be easy to concentrate on these aspects but the play focused on the implications of their 'deviations' and the tyranny of the society that feared them. Obviously there's a lot of detail that is missing from any adaptation but it didn't feel missing. Despite knowing every inch of the plot I still thoroughly enjoyed the play.

Representing their thought-shapes into words over the radio is bound to be a bit of a simplification but it was well handled. Just confusing and noisy enough to remind us that it's not exactly words but clear enough to be clearly understood. The overall effect was to draw you into their world and drive home the uniquely close relationships between main characters as they shared their thoughts and feelings. Something that definitely passed me by when I first discovered the boo

I'd recommend listening to The Chrsysalids if it's broadcast again. And if not then I'd recommend the book, regardless of your age. It's a story that will grow with you.