Scan barcode
A review by noonjinx
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is my second John Wyndham and I’m afraid I’m still don’t understand why everyone raves about him. The ideas are great, and this one is better than the Midwich Cuckoos, but…
Some of the writing is horribly clunky. Chapter two is just one big info dump about the history of triffids.
Inconvenient family members are simply killed off early on so the main characters are free to swan off with no consequences and there is very little emotion in the story.
There’s a lot of philosophising and most of the time the characters are simply empty mouthpieces for Wyndham’s speculations. Again, I’d much rather see that come out of the story than have it dumped on us.
The triffids themselves are not nearly as frightening as I expected. When Torrance arrives it seems as if we’re going to find out that the real enemy is other people, but even that chance is squandered with an easy escape
Some of the writing is horribly clunky. Chapter two is just one big info dump about the history of triffids.
Inconvenient family members are simply killed off early on so the main characters are free to swan off with no consequences and there is very little emotion in the story.
There’s a lot of philosophising and most of the time the characters are simply empty mouthpieces for Wyndham’s speculations. Again, I’d much rather see that come out of the story than have it dumped on us.
The triffids themselves are not nearly as frightening as I expected. When Torrance arrives it seems as if we’re going to find out that the real enemy is other people, but even that chance is squandered with an easy escape