The Day of the Triffids is a genuinely chilling tale of an ecological apocalypse. First published in 1951, time has done nothing to erode the feeling of panic and slow-dawning realisation that creeps over both the main characters, and the reader, as the full extent of their situation is revealed.
Although John Wyndham was an experienced writer of both short stories and detective novels, this is the first novel he wrote in his own special brand of science fiction, which he called "logical fantasy". It is also his longest book, despite being less than 300 pages in length. The story follows Bill Masen, whose world is ruined, whilst his life is ironically saved, by triffids; deadly, genetically engineered plants which are intensively farmed for their valuable natural oil.
The story opens with Mr Masen in hospital, about to have bandages removed from his eyes following treatment for a triffid sting. The first sign that something is wrong is that "Wednesday sounds like Sunday", i.e. there is none of the usual weekday noise and bustle outside. This is followed by, well, nothing. Nobody comes to give him breakfast, nobody comes to remove his bandages. Nobody comes when he rings the bell. Could it have anything to do with the mysterious 'meteor shower' which he had been frustrated to miss the previous evening...?
In the world of the blind man, the triffid is king. Wyndham skilfully opens our eyes to the problems that reveal themselves in a world that has lost its sight. Although Bill Masen's sight has been saved because of his treatment for a triffid sting, he is one of very few who have woken up to see the next day. From the opening chapter, you feel Masen's isolation as one of the few sighted people left, whilst also understanding the frustration and panic of those struck blind. This is not fiction about science; it is about people. The novel has been categorized in many different ways, and it may belong in none, or all, of those categories - it really doesn't matter. What does matter is the way your mind starts turning over possibilities and fears for the characters involved, the way you feel the constant menace that the presence of the triffids brings. There is a huge range of emotions involved, from confusion as our hero tries to understand what has happened, followed by pity and horror at the plight of the newly blind, to relief and hope at finding other sighted people.
But this is not a straightforward story; in fact, it is almost two stories - the unexplained meteor shower followed by mass blindness, and its byproduct; the reign of terror effected by the previously contained triffids. The characters, having already survived with their eyesight, have to survive the blind who demand to be helped, the unscrupulous sighted men who see opportunity, a mysterious plague sweeping the country, and another species which grasps its chance to flourish. Wyndham writes easily and convincingly, and even those who find classic science fiction hard to stomach should find it easy to suspend disbelief and be entirely absorbed into a world in chaos. If you enjoy books such as 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley, or '1984' by George Orwell, then you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy an atmospheric tale of psychological terror, you'll enjoy this. If you just enjoy a great story written well, then guess what? You'll enjoy this!
Wyndham has a gift for making the very unlikely seem eminently plausible, and without turning it into the 50s B-movie fodder it could have been. In short, this is a twentieth century classic; a book that leaves you thinking long after you've put it down, and a story which you'll remember for the rest of your life.
At the very least, you won't be able to drive past a "Heavy Plant Crossing" sign without imagining an 8ft plant lumbering across the road!
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This is a review that really does justice to the book. I read it at school for a compuslary review-writing competition we had to do twice a year, and this is one of only two books I ever did that for where I was able to actually find the task intellectually stimulating. You're right, this book has a lot to offer.
WelshTigergirl 27.02.2004 17:58
Great review, and one of my favourite sci fi reads too. Scared me silly when I first read it in my early teens!
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