Growing up with a steady diet of British TV-programs, one particular TV-series I remember vividly was "Chocky" with its eerie intro. But apart from that, everything else has faded into obscurity. It was, however, a strong enough impetus to pick up this novel the series was based on.

Despite being written in the late British 60s, this is less groovy Britain and more proper English society, with the associated proper mannerisms of middle class upbringing, which appears nowadays to the foreign reader as quaint. Despite the story revolving around a singular boy and his intangible friend, the occasional use of whisky and tobacco in the story reminds us the narrative is that of the adult father's. This underlines the premise of the story, which focuses on the adult anxieties of not just parenting, but of the world we build for our children.

Some might have made a parallel to that other, more famous friendly alien visitor, and it's easy to see why. This is however a more introverted, arguably British, affair, since the titular alien acquaintance expresses itself only through the boy. The same themes about the dichotomy between childhood idealism and adult realism are nevertheless expressed here. Did this story influence Spielberg's movie? Who knows, but he's been sitting on this novel's film adaption rights since 2008.

Overall it was a pleasant read, short and to the point, as is usually the point in novels of this calibre. Even today the book's points about human progress rings true, as do much of the alien outsider's observations.