The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham)

Just watched the 80s TV adaption again... there weren't that many triffids in it either.

A classic and rightly so. I found Wyndham's writing quite stilted, and difficult to get into. The plot however saves it from 2 stars, with an interesting look at the destruction of civilisation. Like Graham, I thought the triffids would be more key to the book, but really they are there as a plot device, rather than a key plot element.

This was a great wee bit of escapism!

Danny Boyle stole most of the screenplay for 28 days later from this and the first part feels like your reading a novelization of the movie.It pick's up though and turns into a great read, just the right length.

Probably not one for the feminists though.

I admit this does feel somewhat dated today (it was written in 1951) but it's still a cracking yarn. The triffids play a slightly lesser part than I remember but that's probably my memories of the excelent BBC drama production of it from the early 80s skewing my view somewhat.