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Trouble With Lichen John Wyndham 9780140019865 Books

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Trouble With Lichen John Wyndham 9780140019865 Books

A thriller this is not. It is a slow paced, thoughtful look at the 'fountain of youth' and how it is handled by the two people who discover it. Playing out over a period of several decades.
A scientist and his young female student both discover the anti- aging effects of a certain strain of lichen at the same time and then part company for many years. He basically sits on the discovery, administering it only to his family. She however starts an exclusive beauty business.
As we all know lies in the beauty world are readily accepted, No-one expects the literal truth..
There is a thread of romance making a bat squeak appearance in the background. But this short novel is mostly to do with the greed and manouvering that occurs both at governmental and private levels once the truth about this strain of lichen is realised.
This is my favourite John Wyndham novel.


Tags : Trouble With Lichen [John Wyndham] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Francis Saxover and Diana Brackley, two scientists investigating a rare lichen, discover it has a remarkable property: it retards the aging process. Francis,John Wyndham,Trouble With Lichen,Penguin UK,0140019863,Fiction Science Fiction General,Science fiction

Trouble With Lichen John Wyndham 9780140019865 Books Reviews

A superficial reading of this novel suggests that Wyndham wrote it as feminist propaganda. The female protagonist, the biochemist Diana Brackley, introduces her life-extension drug surreptitiously into Britain’s elite female population in the guise of a beauty clinic, because she thought that most women faced the prospect of inadequate lives at best if they only had enough lifespan to become wives and mothers instead of men’s “companions.” Giving women this drug in this underhanded way would enable a revolution in women’s expectations and lead to what Brackley imagined as the next stage in human evolution, based on life expectancies of 200-300 years.

In other words, she had a utopian goal in mind for transforming the female condition based on the peculiarities of her personality. If she could handle becoming a biochemist and running a business as a single woman, why couldn’t other women live just as self-directedly? Apparently it never occurs to the character, and perhaps it didn’t occur to Wyndham, that most women simply lack the potential to become anything other than wives and mothers, no matter how long they live.

But then, the novel takes place over about 20 years. Brackley didn’t have enough of a baseline with her experiment to discover if her plan made any sense, given women’s nature.

While this novel approaches some interesting ideas about the consequences of early-stage radical life extension, I just found it inadequate given its feminist emphasis and the lack of deeper thinking on Wyndham’s part.
As several other reviewers have noted, this is not Wyndham's masterpiece. (I'd say that was "Day of the Triffids.") However it certainly displays Wyndham's mastery of language, in this case used to very light effect in repartee that I would almost liken (or lichen -) ) to Carry Grant and Katharine Hepburn's. Which is odd, given the world-shaking development the book is about. But it's all taken in stride (or at worst with a stiff upper lip) by the various characters, who are mostly attractive and well drawn. This is not a book to read if one wants a riveting plot or drama or depth of feeling. It would, however, make for an excellent little primer on the perils of longevity, for instance, as supplementary reading in a bioethics course. It's short (and blithe) enough to serve that purpose (although it's hard to imagine American students enjoying the "sophisticated" -- i.e., British? -- or drawing-room type of conversations that predominate in the book. Maybe older ones who enjoy Downton Abbey?).
I am a huge fan of John Wyndham, but sadly this is not his best work - in fact I think it is the worst of his works.
Taking a waltz through the golden years of Sci Fi, Wyndham fans will delight in his ability to create intriguing characters, imagine science-related events we can stretch to accept, and keep us wanting to read on. Not as chilling as Midwich Cukoos, Lichen is still a dandy page-turner.
Good food for thought, but I do not like the writing style! Too many English conversations that go on and on! The surprise ending is good, and the concept of what if!, but no, I can't recommend.
A thriller this is not. It is a slow paced, thoughtful look at the 'fountain of youth' and how it is handled by the two people who discover it. Playing out over a period of several decades.
A scientist and his young female student both discover the anti- aging effects of a certain strain of lichen at the same time and then part company for many years. He basically sits on the discovery, administering it only to his family. She however starts an exclusive beauty business.
As we all know lies in the beauty world are readily accepted, No-one expects the literal truth..
There is a thread of romance making a bat squeak appearance in the background. But this short novel is mostly to do with the greed and manouvering that occurs both at governmental and private levels once the truth about this strain of lichen is realised.
This is my favourite John Wyndham novel.