This book was my second John Wyndham novel, following “The Kraken Wakes” a few months back, which I thought was just okay. Not bad, but I wanted more. This was an interesting, philosophical read, but still a light read, which makes me hopeful that I will continue to enjoy even more Wyndham in the future. It’s basically a story about a boy, Matthew, who seems to have an imaginary friend, and the story told from his father’s perspective, who is trying to understand what’s going on.

There are a lot more layers to this story than one might expect, and there are a lot of noteworthy lines here, which I take to mean that we’re dealing with some great literature. Yes, it’s mostly about imaginary friends and science, which I will look at more closely, but it touches on a lot of topics, explores some intimate issues and asks a lot of big questions.

You could for instance say it’s about motherhood because here is a mother who see that everyone around is having a baby, and she then feels pressured into having a baby herself. At the same time, she wants a baby regardless and then she only wants her son to be normal and happy, and she herself just want to conform and be normal and happy. The father does not seem to understand this need or the social pressure to have a baby in the first place (because he’s a man, probably), and he finds it odd that “Babies, in a world that already has far too many, remain desirable” and that “it began to worry me a lot” (15). It’s interesting how even back in the 60’s people had these notions, just like me now, over 60 years later. In any case, it’s noted that the mother “is happier conforming, and the pressure to conform is terrific”, but a friend asks “does it matter how far her desire for a baby is inherent, and how much it is being stepped up the environment? Surely, the point is that she has it – and has it very strongly.” (16) Good point. So, she adopts Matthew.

It’s also about coming of age and figuring out how the world works and disillusionment. The father speaks to it perfectly when he sees his son is going through it: “I felt a poignant memory of those desolate patches of disillusion which are the shocks of growing up. The discovery that one lived in a world which could pay honour where honour was not due, was just such a one. The values were rocked, the dependable was suddenly flimsy, the solid became hollow, gold turned to brass, there was no integrity anywhere…” (124)

It's also about sibling rivalry, madness, relativity, technology, energy, power, space travel, communication, boundaries, determinism and the fear of what we don’t understand.

Or reality and belief:

“Reality is relative. Devils, evil spirits, witches and so on became real enough to the people who believed in them. Just as God is to people who believe in Him. When people live their lives by their beliefs objective reality is almost irrelevant.” (34)

Matthew’s parents discuss, intelligently and passionately, what it might mean, the pros and cons of having imaginary friends and how to deal with it. Could it be madness, schizophrenia, a phase, natural development of the brain? Does this mean we as parents will never understand Matthew, because we adopted him? Can we ever have a real connection with him?

And: “Are we, I wonder, doing the right thing in playing up to this nonsense? I know you shouldn’t crush a child’s imagination, and all that, but what nobody tells you is how far is enough. There comes a stage when it begins to get a bit like conspiracy. I mean, if everyone goes around pretending to believe in things that aren’t there, how on earth is a child going to learn to distinguish what really is, from what really isn’t?” (28)

Sure, Matthew asks some strange questions, like “why can’t we live on grass if horses can?” or “why are there two sexes” and “where is Earth?”, but his parents don’t understand where all these questions are coming from. In some ways, this novel is like an essay on imaginary friends, or a character study of a child with an imaginary friend and insight into how that affects the people around them and how their society responds to these kinds of things.

Matthew’s experiences are science fiction based, so this is science fiction. But most of the time, though, it didn’t read like a science fiction story or any kind of fantastic literature. It didn't have to be more than that, to be honest. I think the story would be less interesting overall without the external element, but not worse in terms of quality. It would just make it different.

Oh, and I loved that ending. Someone please write a sequel!

I will end this review with a final noteworthy line, which is my favorite in the book:

“For intelligent life is the only thing that gives meaning to the universe. It is a holy thing, to be fostered and treasured. Without it nothing begins, nothing ends, there can be nothing through all eternity but the mindless babblings of chaos…” (142)