Isle of Wight - [alternative] The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

[chesilbeach]

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

 

Synopsis:

When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor shower. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffids - huge, venomous, large-rooted plants able to 'walk', feeding on human flesh - can have their day.

 

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Edited November 22, 2013 by chesilbeach

[poppyshake]

My review written in 2011. I'll just add that, reading the book, won't put you in mind of the Isle of Wight ... but it will confirm any ideas you may have had (and I have plenty on the subject) that the Isle of Wight is the place to go to when all else fails .. a place of refuge. I have a great fondness for the place (we go every year .. sometimes twice .. whenever possible) and would love to live there one day so I'd happily hot foot it (well .. you can't actually .. you have to take the ferry ) across to the island at the first sign of trouble. Because I love the place, I'll also be looking at the other books associated with the county.

 

Review: I'm not one for science fiction, anything written in code gives me the horrors, but I am liking the classic sci-fi books very much and this one was no exception. The plotline was familiar, I think it's probably given birth to hundreds of disaster movies/TV dramas since, but this is the original and one of the best.
The concept of reducing the (almost) entire human race to little more than helpless, sightless, babies, staggering around and falling prey to a legion of carrion eating plants is a terrifying one, the real stuff of nightmares. Also terrifying was how quickly the people left acquired a 'dog eat dog' mentality, you can imagine that happening.

My mind did have little niggling doubts (it's amazing how the mind can find the notion of walking plants perfectly rational but have trouble with the details.) I thought, for a start, the likelihood was that there would have been a lot more sighted people - more children for instance, unconscious people, rock stars who always manage to lose a week every month and the inhabitants of Swindon sleeping off a three day bender - also I didn't think that people would have become suicidal so quickly .. is it likely that a doctor would throw himself out of a window just because he had gone blind? Human nature fights for survival usually and it's not as if he didn't know that there were still sighted people left .. and why would they ever allow the triffids to establish?, ok at first they were a curiosity and in typical greedy style we found a way to profit by them but to let them start walking around ... that's unwise .. get the DDT out (I'm not advocating this in general .. I've very much with Joni on this point but desperate times call for desperate measures.) plus wouldn't they have been tripping over dead bodies eventually?, there was only ever a handful of people outside but then, science fiction always calls for a huge amount of suspended disbelief, and I can do that when the story is as good as this one.

 

I liked the love story, it seemed convincing and natural in the circumstances. Though feisty, Josella wasn't the sort of of kick ass, kung fu type of heroine that sets my teeth on edge (the sort of woman.. not to be too indelicate .. that does cartwheels and climbs ladders in white trousers when Auntie Flo is visiting .. and doesn't sit in a corner hunched in a ball of misery with a knife clenched between her teeth like normal people.) She was a nice mix of capable and vulnerable.

 

The ending was a surprise because it was ambiguous. I was expecting a clear cut ending and actually had something in mind which I thought was going to sort the little wretches out, possibly I got this from a film version or something. It didn't spoil it for me though, if anything I preferred it, I liked the uncertainty of it all.

 

Of course it does make you eye everything in your garden with suspicion, and I'm definitely more wary of going out into it (bother .. why do I have to have hedges .. perfect camouflage for the blighters) ... the crash helmet is probably unnecessary but I can't afford to take chances.

Highly enjoyable in a shivery, hide behind your pillow, sort of way (I must just add here that I am quite capable of being scared by my own shadow .. allowances have to be made for me being a bit of a custard .. I have never ever watched any of the Nightmare on Elm Street/Scream sort of films .... If I did sleep would be a thing of the past.) The Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids are also on my TBR's and if there anything like as good as this I'm in for a treat. 9/10

 

[Raven]

How about The Night of the Triffids, by Simon Clark as an alternative suggestion?   It has the advantage of actually being set on the Isle of Wight! (it's not that great, though).

[poppyshake]

How about The Night of the Triffids, by Simon Clark as an alternative suggestion?   It has the advantage of actually being set on the Isle of Wight! (it's not that great, though).

On the one hand  but on the other hand

I think I might look into it all the same though .. thanks for the suggestion Raven

[Raven]

Looking at Amazon it seems as though it will be re-printed later this year.  Otherwise you should be able to pick up a second hand copy easily enough.

[willoyd]

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham *****(*)
 
I'm not sure how I got through my youth without reading John Wyndham, especially with such enjoyment of science fiction at the time, but I did, and so forty years or so later I come upon him for the first time.  Blame the English Counties Challenge for the fact that I ever landed up reading any of Wyndham's books, as I certainly had no intention otherwise.
 
Which would have been very much my loss, because this has proved one of the best surprises for years.  The Day of the Triffids is told in a very straightforward way, by the main protagonist, Bill, a Triffid biologist.  The human race has suffered a catastrophic and almost universal total loss of sight after a celestial event, conditions that leave the way free for triffids, a plant mutation that can walk and attack humans, to thrive.  Sounds highly unlikely told like that, but it is frighteningly and grippingly plausible in John Wyndham's hands.  Some humans, Bill (our hero) included, have been fortunate to escape blindness.  But can they survive?

 

In many respects, The Day of the Triffids is somewhat old-fashioned, not least in the virtual invisibility of technology.  Its style is somewhat dated too, not surprising given it was written in the fifties.  However, the issues it raises, the questions asked across a whole range of issues are all too topical and challenging, not least in the fragility of our position on this planet, which could so easily be change by events beyond our control, and what might happen if that position was every challenged.  And whilst it might feel a little on the older side as a story, it has lost none of its ability to keep the reader enthralled and on their toes. I particularly enjoyed the relationship with and character of Josella - a love interest with genuine strength; whilst the book may have given away its age in some respects (and none the worse for that), Josella smacked very much of the twenty-first century - or, at least, what one like the twenty-first century to be like.

 

Overall then, The Day of the Triffids proved itself to be an outstanding book, one of the best in recent months.  The one big question that does raise its head though, Is how on earth is this the book in the English Counties Challenge as the Isle of Wight novel?  Certainly, the island is mentioned, but not a single complete page of the book is actually set on the island.  It's a complete mystery!
 

[Raven]

Josella smacked very much of the twenty-first century - or, at least, what one like the twenty-first century to be like.

 

Josella is one of Wyndham's stronger female characters, but I still think she oscillates from pragmatic and independent to hopeless and teary quite regularly. 

 

Overall then, The Day of the Triffids proved itself to be an outstanding book, one of the best in recent months.  The one big question that does raise its head though, Is how on earth is this the book in the English Counties Challenge as the Isle of Wight novel?  Certainly, the island is mentioned, but not a single complete page of the book is actually set on the island.  It's a complete mystery! 

 

Glad you enjoyed it! (and see above for an actual Isle of Wight suggestion).

 

If you like Triffids I can recommend Wyndham's other books, but in particular The Midwich Cuckoos and The Kraken Wakes. As with Triffids, they are both bad things happening to the English Middle classes!

[Raven]

There was a group reading of Triffids a few years ago.

[willoyd]

Josella is one of Wyndham's stronger female characters, but I still think she oscillates from pragmatic and independent to hopeless and teary quite regularly.

I wouldn't have put it as strongly as that - but she's certainly human.

 

 

Glad you enjoyed it! (and see above for an actual Isle of Wight suggestion).

Thanks. Does seem to be a bit of a desert setting-wise.

 

If you like Triffids I can recommend Wyndham's other books, but in particular The Midwich Cuckoos and The Kraken Wakes. As with Triffids, they are both bad things happening to the English Middle classes!

I've got Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids on my shelf as a part of the three-book Folio Society set with TDOTT, bought cheaply in a recent sale. Looking forward to them a lot now!

[Chrissy]

There was a group reading of Triffids a few years ago.

 

I was stunned to see that it was 5 years ago that we read this in Reading Circle. 

[Kell]

Triffids is one of my favourite sci-fi novels. <3