The Day of the Triffids

 

My book group chose for its next read an old dystopia novel, John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids, 1951. It’s still a great story, evocative of the ‘giant alien’ movies that were popular after WWII, during the period of the Cold War. Although the story is more slow-moving than we are used to now, it is structurally interesting in how current action is interleaved with the backstory on how the crisis came about.

The triffids are huge, nasty plants with a killer instinct. Eventually, humans and triffids vie for survival.

It’s worth hunting the book down in a 2nd-hand bookshop. Alternatively, you can get the movie on DVD. The BBC series, made in the 1980s, is true to the novel. The 1960s one, with Howard Keel, is good for a laugh.