Classic doomsday book: gripping; intelligent; literate; human.

You can read other reviews to get the storyline etc. But - although it's brilliantly imagined and carried off - the plot isn't the most important thing about this book. What counts is the vision, the intelligence, the language, and most of all the humanity.

These bring to the book a timelessness usually absent in science fiction. It's astonishing to realize that this book was written in 1951! Not only because Wyndham foresaw orbiting weapons and designer crops, but because there's almost nothing that would need to change if it was rewritten today. The important things don't change even that fast, and this book deals with important things. This is subtly done, since all of the protagonist's concerns are immediate throughout; but his and others' decisions reflect unchanging aspects of human nature and of nature itself.

I first read this around 1960, and enjoyed it but did not really appreciate it then. This time I had the additional advantage of hearing the Chivers audiobook, wonderfully narrated by Samuel West.

Don't miss it!

A good read

Let me preface this by saying that I love fiction of "end of the world" syndrome.If you're a fan of the genre, you'll like this book. The author is an Englishman but his writing style is not hard to read and enjoyable. The plot is your basic "something happens to shake things up and how does the protagonist survive". That being said, the author does a good job of it; gives you plenty of creeps without being gory. I'd recommend it and will see what else is by John Wyndham.

The Day of the Triffids

I loved the opening, and overall thought it was a good book - the descriptions were good, the writing was snappy and engaging - however, by the end, I felt unfullfilled by it. The opening was super, very visual, getting you involved with the main character immediately. However, as the book continued, there were long diversions from the plot development that wound up going nowhere - such as the time Bill Mason (the main charactor and narrator) gets waylaid by a group and he gets separated from his female interest. This, as I said, did not contribute much to the story, as this group kind of just fizzles and now, Bill embarks on a nearly hopeless search for the woman from whom he became separated. This would not be so bad a plot development, but I was never convinced that Bill had that much feeling for her - nothing approaching passion - nothing approaching the kind of devotion that such a hopless search under dire and perilous circumstances would warrant.
Additionally, there were so many details that were unaccounted for - how in heck did all those blind people take care of their sanitation? It might be nitpicking, it might seem low class of me to think of it, but I always look for this in a book. If people in books and movies never go to the bathroom, it detracts from the realism. Let's face it - all men and women on this planet - as well as every other organism, is no more than 2 - 3 hours at most from their next whizz. How did they ever wash? Or get their hair cut? Or get shoes or clothing? They were only trying to get food most of the time - very little else. I love these details - it draws me into a story - makes me almost feel a part of things. Without them, I become detached from a story. As far as sanitation, I guess at the time the book was written (1951) it would have been scandelous to account for it but hell, the Earth was ending. It's ok to kill off millions, but not ok to account for their hygene? Nah, the real end of the Earth would be very very very very much worse than Wyndham had it. P. C. Jersild had it right in After the Flood. The real END would be nearly unbearable, not a mere inconvenience. Then, the triffids themselves were less terrifying than they should have been. They just didn't arrouse the kind of horror that they might have. So - a good book - deserving of its reputation, yet, it falls a bit short.
Just my humble opinion.