Author: David Evans

an easy-to-read post-apocalyptic road trip, love story, and reverie on political organization (and biological engineering): excellent!

One night a spectacular meteor shower fills the sky, and everyone who has seen it awakes blind the next morning. For the most part, this science fiction classic follows Bill Masen (who was in bandages during the shower) as he finds his way in this post-apocalyptic world. Add to this a special plant, the triffid, which can walk and attack. But the triffids are no more a concern than the rival governments being established by Bill’s few sighted peers and the blind forced to rely on them.

I read this on my last work trip and could barely put down. According to the critical introductory essay by Edmund Morris,* in the British Commonwealth “it has the reputation of being the one science fiction book you must read, even if you don’t read science fiction.” I agree.

1. This is a great read. It takes no time at all to get moving, with this excellent opening line: “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.”

2. The book is an interesting mix of post-apocalyptic (think The Road but less dark despite the carnivorous plants) and dystopian (as we observe the new orders being established).

3. Many of these British survivors are obsessed with Americans. I remember seeing this in the film Independence Day (with Will Smith), when the Americans develop a plan and the British say, “It’s about time” or some such. As Bill and his friends seek other survivors, they found that most other small groups “waited for the arrival of the Americans, who were bound to find a way. … The Americans, they assured us, would never have allowed such a thing to happen in their country” (163). This appears several times.

4. Wyndham captures the oppressive loneliness of wandering through this post-apocalyptic world: “Until then I had always thought of loneliness as something negative – an absence of company, and, of course, something temporary. … That day I had learned that it was much more. It was something which could press and oppress, could distort the ordinary and play tricks with the mind. Something which lurked inimically all around, stretching the nerves and twanging them with alarms, never letting one forget that there was no one to help, no one to care.” (169-170)

I highly recommend this book. I intend to seek out more Wyndham.

* This essay is included in the Modern Library: 20th Century Rediscovery edition. I recommend reading the essay after reading the novel.

Here’s the full list.

a very dark, very twisted villain, in a suspense-filled page turner

Joe is this psychologist who gets called by the police to talk a woman down from a bridge. She jumps instead, but she is apparently influenced by someone she was talking to on her cell phone. So Joe gets involved in tracking down a misogynist psycho killer. The book was a very fast read; I read it in two days (and would have in one were it not for professional obligations). The plotting is excellent, the protagonist is sympathetic and friendly and three-dimensional. The psycho is a really really bad dude.

If I were to go back in time, I wouldn’t read it again because of the extensive explicit content (see below). But I let myself get drawn in, and I credit Robotham for spinning a compelling tale that leaves me interested in seeing Joe in action again. AND the book has two funny jokes, which I reproduce here:

1. “Ever heard the joke about the nursery-school teacher who stands up in front of the class and says, ‘If anyone feels stupid, I want you to stand up.’ Well this little boy, Jimmy, gets to his feet and the teacher says, ‘Do you really feel stupid, Jimmy?’ And Jimmy says, ‘No, miss, I just didn’t want you standing up there all alone.’” (397)
2. A woman gets on a bus with her baby and the bus driver says, ‘That’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.’ The woman is furious but pays the fare and sits down. Another passenger says, ‘You can’t let him get away with saying that. You go back and tell him off. Here, I’ll hold the monkey for you.’” (278)

Note on content: If you even care about the note on content, then you probably shouldn’t read this book. The villain uses lots of graphic language, including sexually explicit language. There are several murders and attempted murders, and we observe at least a couple.