Classics Without All the Class discussion

Please keep conversation to these chapters. Beware there will be spoilers!

I'm really enjoying this one already but Am I the only one who is surprised to find there's an air of almost wry black humour in the first eight chapters. I imagine everyone's aware of the premise now but Wyndham goes to extraordinarily 'British' lengths to find ways not to ever get anywhere near the suggestion of sex. And the husbands take it all so well, except the mention of one or two 'troublesome' ones and the comedy chap found conked out in the married lady's garden!

Yes, I thought that conversation between the dr and the vicar was so funny. It's like they're dancing all around the elephant in the room, not sure how to look it in the eye.
I thought the idea of a whole town covered by some invisible, dome-shaped "force" was oddly familiar. AND the oval-shaped object at it's center. I think I know now where Stephen King got some of his ideas from! And it made me laugh to think of that poor canary falling off his perch again and again and again... lol!

Yes,the canary was a nice touch - and the 'hooking' people out of the edge of the zone. I think it quite cleverly highlights that if people can't get get their head around the inexplicable large nature of a situation they'll focus on the little practical things moment to moment.

Having read on a bit now what I found interesting in the first bit is no one discusses the option of not seeing the pregnancies to full term. I know this would have been a controversial and illegal topic at the time but it would have been available for certain medical grounds and surely this would fit the 'exceptional' box! Only Zellaby's wife voices the true horror of the situation the women find themselves in rather than a practical situation to be managed and kept private, away from the press and rest of the populace.

I had never even really heard of this book before the group decided to read it. I think the title is just so appropriate!

There is a certain amount of "British-ness" about how they avoided talking about sex. There is also quite a bit of the "keeping a stiff upper lip" thing going on.

The author talks about how nothing ever happened in Midwich. Nothing has ever happened and nothing probably will ever happen. So when something extraordinary does happen, the people seem to just accept it and go on with their lives. No one really freaks out. I think that is kind of funny.

And how does a whole town of pregnant women keep it a secret? Willfull ignorance?

Kara wrote: "I had never even really heard of this book before the group decided to read it. I think the title is just so appropriate!

There is a certain amount of "British-ness" about how they avoided talk..."
I'm with you there! Even without the modern hazards of iPhones and social media etc, how would no one from neighbouring towns start noticing the preggers women then the weirdly similar babies, let alone social services etc. an explanation is offered for this in later chapters which is actually pretty damn funny. Yet despite this the book is somehow still really quite creepy rather than silly!

I found this group the other day, saw that "The Midwich Cuckoos" was the discussion book of the month, read the first 8 chapters of this book yesterday, and then joined this group today. I look forward to discussing this book and other books.

I had never heard of this book, but the brief description of the book intrigued me enough to want to read the book and participate in this discussion. What happened in Midwich during the Dayout is mysterious. We have learned of some aftereffects, but it will be interesting to see all of the aftereffects of the Dayout. I thought it was clever that the author used a canary to determine when it was safe for people to enter Midwich after the mysterious Dayout started. For many years canaries were used in mines to check for toxic gases in caves to ensure the safety of miners. It may have been a stretch to use canaries to determine the safety of entering Midwich since the area of a city is a lot larger than the area of a cave, but at least it was easy to visualize. After reading eight chapters I am surprised the people of Midwich are not panicking more then they are. I find the story captivating and I want to read more to see what happens.

I love the sense of humor in this story so far. When I give an overview to friends of the plot I always get a chuckle. I guess the thought of an entire town of pregnant women is funny to many.