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Original Essays | September 23, 2009

Jonathan Lethem: IMG Stops: On Those Things My New Novel Forgot to Be About, Maybe



For me, there's a weird, unfathomable gulf — I almost wrote gulp — between the completion of a novel and its publication. Some days this duration feels interminable, as though the book has... Continue »
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1 Beaverton Science Fiction and Fantasy- Classics

The Day of the Triffids (Modern Library 20th Century Rediscovery)

by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids (Modern Library 20th Century Rediscovery) Cover

ISBN13: 9780812967128
ISBN10: 0812967127
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having “all the reality of a vividly realized nightmare.”

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever.

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, fifty years before their realization, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

Review:

"My son's middle name is Wyndham. Does that tell you how much I respect and revere the late John Wyndham? And The Day of the Triffids is the best of them all. He was a wonderful writer who was able to reinvigorate science fiction with spectacle and true thrills, and do so with a writing voice that created both suspense and elegance. A true master." Ed Gorman

Review:

"A thoroughly English apocalypse, it rivals H. G. Wells in conveying how the everyday invaded by the alien would feel. No wonder Stephen King admires Wyndham so much." Ramsey Campbell

Review:

"John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids is one of my all-time favorite novels. It's absolutely convincing, full of little telling details, and that sweet, warm sensation of horror and mystery." Joe R. Lansdale

Synopsis:

Wyndham chillingly envisions biowarfare and mass destruction in an account that seems even more prescient today than when it first appeared in 1951 at the height of cold war paranoia.

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
patch, November 25, 2007 (view all comments by patch)
I read this knowing that it's on everyone's recommended reading list for great classic sci-fi, knowing I should read it, but I didn't really expect to like it. I got sucked into the plot and spat out again on the other side, looking at my garden in a very suspicious fashion. Some of the science and sociology seems a little naive, but the characterization is absorbing and the burning desire to find out "what happens next??" was more than enough to get me hooked.
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lukas, June 5, 2007 (view all comments by lukas)
An unjustly neglected classic of British sci-fi, "The Day of the Triffids," like the best of its kind, has all the thrills of the genre, as well as a deeper, daker social resonance. After a meteor shower leaves most of the inhabitants of Britain blinded, society crumbles and homicidal plants (seriously) take over. The survivors try to start again, but end up fighting with each other as much as they do the triffids. Wyndham's writing is swift, direct, and restrained; despite the outlandish plot, there is a real sense of dread, a harsh view of human nature, and a firm grasp of the apocalypse. Written during the Cold War, it certainly captures a dark and paranoid mood much better than its mainstream counterparts. In our age of bio-terrorism, failed states, and widespread poverty, the book has lost none of its relevance and power. The opening of "28 Days Later" (hero in hospital, deserted city) owe a lot to this.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780812967128
Introduction:
Morris, Edmund
Publisher:
Modern Library
Introduction:
Morris, Edmund
Author:
Wyndham, John
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Science fiction
Subject:
England
Subject:
Blind
Subject:
Meteorites
Subject:
Plant mutation.
Edition Number:
2003
Edition Description:
2003 Modern Library pbk. ed.
Series:
Modern Library 20th Century Rediscovery
Series Volume:
107-292
Publication Date:
July 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
799x519x57 40

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