Die Triffids (1951)

Right so there are some issues of 1950s attitudes to women and a rather creepy theme of Dr Strangelove meets the Handmaids Tale. But is it fair to judge a book written over 70 years ago by today's opinions on such matters. Personally i don't think so though some reviews have gone down that route.

We're very familiar with the post apocalyptic scenario now but this was witten only a short time after Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the Cold War getting going and the realisation that we could destroy mankind, as we still can. There is another more modern theme of man's tenuous control of nature.

This was well written and covered a lot of ground in a fairly short time. It's hard to say how things would have worked in practice but the plot idea is brilliant - it's a shame that it has now become so familiar. And it it is a work of fiction of course.

The creeping realisation of what the triffids are capable of is well done and is a key feature of the story. And I love the last line of the book. There's nothing forced or boring about the writing style. Apart from the 1950s attitudes described above at no point did I ever feel this wasn't a book worth reading - quite the opposite.

I actually have this as a typically nice Folio edition with distinctive illustrations ( )

This book was quite fun to read. It's hard to believe that it was written so long ago as it felt quite modern and relevant. Definitely a favorite. ( )

The second SciFi of John Wyndham that I have recently re-read.
I seem to recall someone saying that scifi books tell you more about the society of the writer than the society of the imagined future of the book. That is certainly the case here. While the author has come up with an interesting proposition for a distopian future for post-war England, I found the book was more successful at painting the post-war mood of the UK.
Having said that, the book is pure sci-fi and very plot driven. The characters lack complexity and development.
Fun to read, but no classic. ( )

Interesting but somehow cold. Two storylines appear to be in play here, and for much of the time, it’s not clear where or if they overlap. The unemotional writing style means that characters are named and described more than they are filled out as individuals, so the reader may remain detached, despite the succession of what should be fateful and dramatic dystopian scenes. Perhaps the filmed versions inject that excitement - I have a distant but clear recollection from childhood of seeing a much more stirring, and satisfying, ending to a movie version of the book (This was clearly the 1962 film, as I can identify from a quick search now). ( )

I've read this book many, many times over the years but it's my first time listening to an audiobook version. Narration was excellent! ( )