The beginning of the novel deals with mass blindness and its effect on 1951 London. Breaking down of society, social commentary etc. follows. What I realized while reading was that a lot of literature[apocalyptic], both past and current, is in some way based on this book.[Especially Zombie Stuff like The Walking Dead].
A book called Blindness, written by Portugese writer Jose' Saramago was made into a movie in 2008, starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. I'm pretty sure Saramago was in some way or the other inspired by John Wyndham's novel Day of the Triffids.
Sadly, reading the book now gives you a feeling of been there, done that. I'm sure it was all very new and novel when it came out(1950's) but now it feels terribly outdated and hardly has anything new to offer.
Wyndham's ecological apocalypse have Triffids as the ecological equivalent of zombies, plants that walk around and sting unsuspecting humans. They have 3 legs, tripod-like(Wyndham has said that he was influenced by H.G. Wells) and a hive mentality(perhaps Lamarckism?) that makes them smarter then the usual flesh-eating zombie.
So more than 90% of humanity is blind, man-killing plants are loose upon the earth, and the ones who can see are fighting among themselves. Let the party begin!
Wyndham also takes on hybridization and grafting of plants, commenting on humans interfering too much with nature, genetically speaking that is. References to Lysenkoism also. A nice mix up of the horror and sci-fi genre at the time to be sure.
All in all, the characters were never that interesting, the premise was mildly original (The Happening was probably based in some part on this too) but so many core concepts from this book have been used and re0used over the years in pop culture that it hardly seems original at all now. But this is the book that started it all.
Yup. So maybe you should read it just to know that the British are more responsible for zombies than you think.
Rating : 2 out of 5 for being a classic.
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