Currently Reading: The Day of the Triffids

As a continuation of my classics reading spree, I have been making my way through the oddity of a book that is The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham.  Like with many sci-fi books, this story is a strange one, but unlike many I’ve read, the circumstances in this book are something I’ve never come across before.

This story follows a man by the name of William Masen, a man living in mid-century England.  After an eye surgery due to an occupational accident, he wakes up the next morning to find the hospital at an inexplicable standstill.  Once he rids himself of the bandages, he discovers everyone else left blinded after the spectacle of strange green lights that had blazed across the sky the night before, lights that at the time he was sorry to miss in his state of recovery.  Without the wrappings that had ironically protected him from the fate of the rest, he soon ventures out onto the streets where he only finds more in a similar sightless state, helpless, and at the mercy of the wild.

To throw another wrench in the mix, we come to find out that unusual plants that have come to be known as triffids have been quietly infesting the earth for some time.  However, these are unlike any other plants before them.  As they mature, these plants form the ability to release a whip-like stinger that possesses enough venom to kill or seriously maim a man, though that is only the beginning of their unusual nature.  The strangest part?  These plants can pull up their roots and walk.

In a world full of mobile, carnivorous plants, a population of blind people are left as sitting ducks for such monstrous weeds.  As William finds his way through the chaos and confusion, he must weigh the odds and survive in a world turned on its head and left to fend for itself.  With law and order out the window, he must decide how to live as human nature is rubbed raw and nature reveals the true extent of its power.

When the blind are leading the blind, a sighted man must arise on behalf of mankind.

-Naomi