November 2014: The Day of the Triffids

[Rach , Moderator]

[Dewlanna]

I have to confess that I almost didn't sign-up for this book. I read the blurb on GoodReads which sounded interesting enough and then I made a huge mistake and went to Google Image to have a look at the various covers... On top of having quite a misleading title, The Day of the Triffids also has some of the worst cover (and Movie poster) you can imagine. Just in case Google Image mercifully doesn't give you the same, here's a selection of what I found: a very "attractive" poster, some gorgeous mushroom shaped triffids and the psychedelic purple book cover.
So I was expecting the story to be either some kind of typical catastrophe story (hero warns everyone the typhoon/fire/volcano/randomDramaticEvent is gonna happen, nobody listen, thing happen everyone except hero is prepared) or some random people being chased by plants.

Well, what a mistake it would have been to pass that book! I just loved it. Despite the title, The Day of the Triffids is a cleverly written survival story. Intead of random plant attack the book analyses how different people react to an end of the world situation and how everything they took for granted, even their ethics must be rethought.
It's hard to believe that the book was written in the 1950s, because the theme of genetic modification is very modern. And anyway, I don't think that our modern society would have been any more prepared to this kind of disaster.
I wasn't sure about the writing style at the beginning, but during the last pages I just didn't want that book to end!
So, a very nice surprise!

[Tom]

My daughter and I are reading The Day of the Triffids this month as a bedtime read.

[Gail]

Although I can't disagree with Dewlanna's assessment, The Day of the Triffids contained lot of man-'splaining. That is, I found the story somewhat dated in terms of social mores, feminism, the disabled.

I did enjoy the literary allusions sprinkled throughout the story.

[Tom]

Gail wrote: "I found the story somewhat dated in terms of social mores, feminism, the disabled. "

I agree. I'm about at 80% and really enjoying it but there is definitely a dated, male dominant feel to it which is a shame because I am really enjoying the situation the survivors, both sighted and blind, have to deal with and the steps they take to resolve their problems.

[Gail]

That Wyndham fully fleshed out a variety of societies, in such a short novel, certainly impressed me. The plague which cut short the unsuccessful / interim organizations was a convenient literary device that worked for this story.

Tom wrote: "My daughter and I are reading The Day of the Triffids this month as a bedtime read."

Tom, what does your daughter think of the book?

[Tom]

Gail wrote: "Tom wrote: "My daughter and I are reading The Day of the Triffids this month as a bedtime read."

Tom, what does your daughter think of the book? "

She's not all that impressed with it.

I, on the other hand, am. With every chapter I see the genesis of scenes from other books and movies that followed it: 28 Days Later, The Walking Dead, even José Saramago's Blindness.

[Tom]

We finished it tonight. One thing that strikes me as interesting. It appears that the groups largely considered the bad guys in every case appears to be doing more to care for the blind survivors. The good guys, on the other hand, were seen driving the blind away from their door esrly in the book and even later never made any great efforts to incorporate them into their society.

[Gail]

Tom wrote: One thing that strikes me as interesting.

I agree. Ayn Rand kept popping into my mind as I began to read the story. Interesting, indeed.