Monday, 8 February 2010

Review of 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham.

I had a lot of preconceptions about Day of the Triffids before I read it, many of which I think stemmed from what I'd heard about the B-movie. For a start I thought that the Triffids were aliens. In fact, in the book, they are genetically engineered plants, created and farmed for their many useful properties, while their more dangerous aspects such as locomotion and a dangerous sting are overlooked.

The story of the book, however, mostly focuses on the result of a solar storm, which creates a fantastic light show across the globe. Most of the population are watching... and the following morning, it appears that everyone who was watching has gone blind. A few sighted people are left to try and forge a new life from the fall of civilisation. In the midst of this, the Triffids start to stir, perhaps realising that they have the advantage over a blind human.

Day of the Triffids has a relatively simple plot, following Bill Masen as he tries to make some sense of the world that has been left behind. He is forced to make a number of choices along the way, about whether to abandon the people left blinded, or to try and do what he could to help them. Along the way, he meets Josella Playton, another left sighted after the meteor shower. The charm of the book is partly in this simplistic plot; it is just the story of how people cope with adversity, and the kinds of things that they would have to start thinking about.

The characterisation is, on the whole, excellent, if a little dated by today's standards. However, in many respects I think that Day of the Triffids will age better than many similar science fiction stories, because it doesn't try to pretend that people are anything other than people. In the story, people deal with the crisis in a variety of different ways. Some panic, others get depressed, some remain rational against all odds and start trying to think of a way through it. This is dealt with spectacularly throughout the book, and was one of the most impressive things about it.

By far the best thing about the book, though, is the world-building. John Wyndham starts from two basic premises. First, accept the Triffids as reality. Second, accept the meteor storm that leaves most of the population blind. After those two points, everything that happens follows logically and naturally. John Wyndham creates a world that works, and stands up to enough scrutiny that for the whole length of the book, I didn't notice a single thing that stood out as being wrong or ridiculous. This is not to say that they were not there, but the book was written well enough, and clever enough, that it stood up to casual reading. And what more can you ask of a book that you are reading casually?

Finally, I cared about what happened. I was pulled through the story, interested in each plot turn and event that changed how things worked. I like books that make me care, and I like ripping yarn stories, so this book was definitely a winner.

This book is well-deserving of its place in the minds of the public, and is another on my list of highly recommended reads.

No comments: