The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
After reading this book in my high school English class, and absolutely loving it, I rediscovered it this year. It was incredibly interesting to read a book that I only dimly remembered but knew I had enjoyed. Reading it now, I picked up on some deeper themes that I had missed, and enjoyed the ending less. At first glance this is post-apocalyptic science fiction based around the theme of religious intolerance, but I think it ultimately is about the evils of believing ourselves superior to other people. Events in the book are shrugged off by the main characters and forgotten, because they happened to someone "lower" than them and I feel like the moral of the book could be interpreted as that being okay. The casual destruction at the end of the novel is presented as a necessary evil to reach a better, more advanced world. That theme doesn't sit well with me, but I appreciate when a book makes me feel uncomfortable. Although I didn't enjoy it as simply as I did before, this was a great read and I'm happy to have rediscovered this story. My English teacher had some good taste.
