![]() ![]() That said, after the opening scenes, Midwich Cuckoos quite quickly opens up to cover a far larger canvas than just a husband and wife. Like Kraken (whose couple are named Mike and Phyllis), Midwich (couple named Richard and Janet) is littered with throwaway jests about this or that aspect of married life, along with sardonic jokes about his or her jobs, stereotyped social attitudes to marriage, pregnancy and so on, pregnancy being, of course, the central subject of the story. ‘Mike, darling, just shut up there’s a love,’ said my devoted wife. The entire attitude is epitomised in one of many similar exchanges from Kraken: He slips into a homely, drawing room style whenever he writes about his nice middle-class couples, in which the woman is invariably the stronger, more determined one and the slightly-henpecked, narrating husband wryly acknowledges her superior qualities. Having read the 15 short stories in Jizzle I can now see that Wyndham is, by inclination, a whimsical and humorous writer. The Midwich Cuckoos opens as if it’s going to be another husband-and-wife story, much like The Kraken Wakes. ![]() ![]() ( The Midwich Cuckoos, page 80) John Wyndham’s husband-and-wife teams ‘I say, sir, this is a bit of a facer, isn’t it?’ said Alan ![]()
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