John Wyndham – Day of the Triffids

Bill Masen wakes up after a week of being blindfolded in hospital, only to find that seemingly the whole of London has been blinded by a meteor shower. As he sets off to look for others who have retained their sight, Bill encounters Triffids. These are genetically-modified stinging plants, originally developed for the nutritional value of their oil. Why are they scary? Oh, no reason except the fact that they have somehow developed intelligence and can walk. They have also decided that humans are their new favourite snack.

However, the book isn’t actually about the Triffids, who spend most of the plot just lurking menacingly in the background. It’s more about the precariousness of the human race’s domination of the world, and how wrong our perception of our own safety is. It is also thought-provoking on the subject of how we might survive the collapse of society as we know it. In this way, The Day of the Triffids captures the paranoid atmosphere of the Cold War. It also seems surprisingly contemporary. It turns out that the survivors’ biggest enemy is not, in fact, the Triffids, but human beings themselves.

This book is more of a post-apocalyptic novel about the rebuilding of society than a horror story about sentient plants. The plot can move quite slowly at times, and I had to try not to lose interest at some points. My personal favourite aspect of the book is the dialogue. It’s set in ‘50s London so people use words like ‘spizzard’ and say things like ‘I should probably by now be lying maudlin and sozzled in some bar’. I also quite liked the heroine, Josella, who wrote a book called Sex Is My Adventure (!), and spends most of the story coping perfectly well on her own.

Overall, I think that The Day of the Triffids is interesting and sometimes chilling. By far its strongest section is the claustrophobic first chapter where Bill is exploring London- clearly an influence for 28 Days Later (which I need to stop mentioning in my reviews). After this, the narrative becomes slightly less engaging and I nearly lost interest. I’m glad I didn’t though because the book overall has a lot to say, and will leave you thinking about it for days afterwards.

Editor’s Note: If you tried to watch the fairly recent BBC adaptation of this novel and didn’t like it, make sure you still give the book a chance. The TV adaptation was nothing like the novel. Apart from the title and the stinging plants.