Male, 32, I'm really handsome but only when nobody's looking.
Male, 32, I'm really handsome but only when nobody's looking.
Member since:18.08.2003
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As far as openings go you can’t get much bigger than the end of civilisation! Bill Masen awakes in his hospital bed on the morning he is due to have bandages removed from his eyes following an operation, only to find the world all but silent and nobody responding to his calls for assistance. The reason for this soon becomes clear – most of the population has suddenly become blind overnight.
The cause is a spectacular meteor shower light show on the previous evening that most people couldn’t help but watch. Somehow these lights in the sky radiated something that has destroyed the optic nerves resulting in mass blindness. Obviously, having his eyes bandaged our hero saw none of this and has managed to retain his sight.
With some slow investigations upon leaving the hospital Masen slowly realises what has happened. The streets are full of the wandering blind seeking help and food. Ironically he comes across a man who was blind before the event who is going about his daily business in the same fashion. The book has several thought provoking little incidences like this, and this is one of it’s strengths.
Naturally with almost all of the population suddenly blinded things start falling apart very quickly. The few sighted people that are discovered are normally press-ganged into providing for the others by force. And as if all this wasn’t disastrous enough, we also have the Triffids. I’ll leave it to the book to explain how they most likely came about (a fascinating second chapter) but basically they are plants that stand taller than a man, can move about on their root systems and have long, poisonous stings that they lash out to kill their victims before devouring them. These were being grown all over the world under controlled conditions for the oils and other valuable by-products they can be turned into. With no one to tend them they have broken free and are avidly descending upon their new food source – the newly blind mankind.
Once all this has been established the Triffids themselves become almost a background character. Whilst they provide an ever present threat to the survivors (sighted as well as blind) what drives this piece is the humanity. Upon his travels Masen encounters various pockets of survivors who, over time, have structured themselves in different ways. Some have fallen into a violence; others have created a more military structure; one group are trying to re-populate by selective breeding of their women; others still are returning to a rural, farming community. It’s interesting to see what Masen (and presumably the author) thinks of these differing systems, which might work and which are clearly doomed to failure.
Between communities Masen ponders his new world. Was the meteor shower a natural phenomenon after all? Are the Triffids communicating with each other? They make tapping noises with their stems and seem to react to noise, but are they actually intelligent?
To go on would be to give too much away so there you have it. If you do elect to read it bear in mind it was written in 1951 and some of the descriptions, and indeed some of the dialogue, seems a little bit dated. That said, this is one of those books that as a sci-fi fan I have been meaning to read for years but only just got around to. I’m very glad I made the time to read it at last.
Ironically, having just finished the book I watched 28 Days Later on DVD for the first time last night. No one in it is blind but substitute the Triffids for the infected and you essentially have the same story – I think Wyndham’s novel may have had more than a passing influence on the film makers there!
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Liked your title for the review. Informative and well set out.
Anabel 28.10.2003 00:43
This is one of my favourite books!
babajane32 07.09.2003 12:01
It6 is certainly a classic.I first read this when I was 14 and it had a p[owerful impact on me.Having read it twice since,I find it just as good. I haven't seen that film,but I think I may have a watch and see how similar the story is,
cheers
jane xx
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