Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

20 All Time Classic Sci Fi Novels - The Day of the Triffids (Penguin Modern Classics)

Reviews
 

Reading the blurb for the book, explaining the sudden blinding of the human race and the subsequent escape of the Triffids, you wouldn't be looked down on to expect the book to be the usual 'b-movie sci-fi book' where consequences and plot takes over anything else.

You wouldn't be further from the truth. 'Triffids' takes on so many political ideas, characterisations, and dooms day visions of the human race that its startling that Wyndham doesn't come across as preachy but instead as a great novelist.

The story speeds along at a steady pace, interjecting different plots here there and everywhere, allowing Wyndham to take our protagonist in a number of different directions and to look deeply at human character, with villains and friends all along the way.

All I can say is buy this book, because it is an instant classic, and I look forward to reading more Wyndham novels in the future.
F. Wight

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I bought this book after having watched the latest tv version of the same title, which I thought was actually quite good - people need to remember that this was made with a new audience in mind, on the basis of the having watched the latest tv version I bought the dvd of the 1980s version which was, despite the obvious drawbacks in special effects, very good. It is also the most faithful version in respects of staying true to the book. Saying that, the book still contains many aspects not covered in the 1980s tv adaptian - presumably lack of time and money.

What is excellent about the book, is the way in which you realise how little the Triffids actually appear, the stroy concentrates mainly on the break down of civilisation and the structures within it - the way the Earth rbegins to reclaims the cities for instance. Enough has been said before on countless reviews but I think the book is fantastic, a really good read, and both tv versions are good too. Maybe the BBC should have turned 'The Day of the Triffids' into a recurring series rather than 'Survivors', both are about trying to build a new world against in herent dangers yet the task would be far more wieldly with the Triffids lurking around every corner!
J. Hyde

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There's little to say about this all time classic novel that has not been said before and this is a re-read. Still has the same claustrophobic atmosphere of terror as ever.
John Hopper

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I read this book for the first time many years ago and always had fond memories of it. After watching it on TV this Christmas I wanted to re-read it. Always a risky business as the books of our youth seldom have the same impact. I was reallt surprised at how this book has not dated. Ok no mobile phones or computers - but TVs, fridges, satellite warfare and a world that could easily be around today. This is a book of what it means to be human, wehat really matters and has questions about how we would survive if our socierty failed when so many of us have few if anyt practical skills. Well worth a read. Not dated in any way. Chilling and thought provoking
M. H. Matlay

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in that hopefully the abomination that was the Christmas BBC adaptation will lead people to what is undoubtedly a modern sci-fi classic in the book. Awarding it only 5 stars isn't being fair to it and it is easily in the top 10 of my favourite books.

A meteor shower (or was it?) leading to worldwide blindness to those who viewed it, the collapse of society, a plague and to top it off the rise of a new form of carnivorous plant life. It doesn't rain but it pours.

The book focuses on Bill Masen, a triffid expert, who survives the blindness from being in hospital with a triffid sting injury to the eyes. It then traces how he initially explores and then comes to terms with the collapse of society up to the 6th year afterwards.

He quickly comes across the few sighted survivors left who embark on differing ways of surviving. This is where some other readers seem to have become confused, a number of social structures are considered and debated between the characters and their pros and cons clearly spelt out. What is considered to be the best post-disaster structure requires the abandoning of certain social norms, most of which the characters are on the whole not in agreement with. But in the world that Wyndham created existing social norms and standards don't and can't exist, mankind is close to extinction and that is clearly highlighted.

The characters also act and think intelligently, in stark contrast to Earth Abides. They identify quickly that allowing the gradual descent back into savagery cannot be allowed to happen and that the emerging communities have to be structured and organised to prevent this happening. This is what I would of expect to be done and makes Earth Abides even more preposterous in its futile apathy.

Surprisingly the triffids themselves do not take centre stage, which in itself makes them more menacing. In many parts of the book they are only mentioned in passing and there aren't that many direct confrontations with them. They are in the background as a continuous and growing threat that will eventually wipe mankind out, but there are more pressing dangers in the short-term. What they also are is one of the best sci-fi monsters ever created, with little other than what the characters can deduce known about them.

So if you have seen the 'adaptation' and are wondering what the book would be like or have simply not got around to reading it, I can highly recommend this and would be very surprised if you didn't thoroughly enjoy it and read it again in the future.

Halo572

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