The Day of the Triffids

Today I finished the Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham.

I read this because I loved the Chrysalids. I must say that I probably enjoyed the Chrysalids more, but the Day and the Triffids was still very interesting.

I have a thing for dystopia and end of the world books. It's my minor foray into the world of science fiction. I love the idea of human nature and society, and what happens to humans when you take away the rules and the control.

I also loved the idea of the world ending, basically, with very few survivors, in the Day of the Triffids. This being, mostly, because I'm still in the process of writing the part about Deucalion and Pyrrha in the Metamorphoses. And I was interested in what others thought it might feel like to be one of the last people on earth.

Lonely, I think, is the consensus.

The Day of the Triffids was an interesting book. A little dull, in parts. It's not my favourite style of writing - it's written as if the main character, Bill, is giving you his history. Things are told, they don't really happen. Which I find works in two different ways. For one, you don't really get pulled into events in the plot. But secondly, you do get more insight into the ideas and theories behind it. Because it's written from perspective. So Bill can tell you, "This is how I felt now, and six years later I realized that..." Which makes it more of an interesting study in human nature and ideology rather than an actual story.

I did really like the book, however. It definitely made me think.

The best line, in my opinion:

"And we danced, on the brink of an unknown future, to an echo from a vanished past."

The Day of the Triffids was much ore interesting in terms of theory than plot, but it made me think and I enjoyed it. Plus, it's a classic, right?