The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

First published in 1951

For a very long time I avoided reading The Day of the Triffids because I thought the notion of flesh-eating plants gobbling up the newly-blind population of England would be the literary equivalent of The Little Shop of Horrors ("Feeeed Meeeeee") -- so awful that it might be funny, but not to be taken seriously. My bad. I finally read it and I wish I had done so years ago so that I could enjoy rereading it now. The Day of the Triffids is a masterpiece.

This is a novel that challenges the intellect. As the story progresses, characters intelligently debate a variety of topics: the nature of leadership, the role of women in a survivalist society (from a 1951 perspective), whether spirituality conflicts with practicality in extreme situations. The book poses moral questions to which there are no easy answers: Should the sighted form their own society, separate from the blind (who arguably would contribute little and drain their resources), to assure humanity's survival? Or should the sighted help the blind survive, knowing that the overwhelming task is mostly futile, that they would merely be postponing the day when triffids will devour the blind, and knowing that they might risk humanity's survival by diverting their attention from efforts to preserve the fittest? When most of humanity is destined to die, should sighted men impregnate as many women as possible to assure that the human race continues, or should monogamy remain the norm? Wyndham provides no easy answers; he raises the questions and leaves it to the reader to decide. Some will dislike that kind of moral ambiguity but the preponderance of five star reviews indicates that most readers enjoy having their minds stimulated by this fascinating novel. I certainly did.

The Day of the Triffids works on many levels: as a science fiction adventure, a love story, a morality play, an allegory about the breakdown of societal structures, and one of the strangest visions of the apocalypse ever imagined. It works so well because Wyndham wrote in a convincing voice, using understated prose, giving believable dialog to credible characters. Some are arrogant, some are decent, some are just lost. He wrote about the fundamental emotions of fear, hope, despair, loneliness, and love. The Day of the Triffids has joined A Canticle for Leibowitz and Alas, Babylon as my favorite post-apocalyptic novels.

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Chocky by John Wyndham

First published in 1968

Eleven-year-old Matthew Gore appears to have an inquisitive imaginary friend of uncertain gender named Chocky. Matthew's adoptive parents become concerned when Matthew's teacher reports that Matthew has started doing math in base two instead of base ten. Their concern increases when his art teacher notices a sudden improvement in Matthew's drawing ability. Matthew attributes those newfound skills to Chocky. The question soon becomes whether Chocky is imaginary or whether Matthew is communicating with an internal consciousness separate from his own. Chocky's impact on Matthew's life quickly turns the Gore family's life into a circus. The last portion of the novel resembles a mystery and the conclusion is quite satisfactory.

Chocky is a relatively short novel that lacks the scope and drama of Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, but it is nonetheless an enjoyable read. Matthew's reaction to Chocky and his parents' reaction to Matthew create a believable family dynamic -- particularly with the addition of Matthew's little sister Polly, who adds a note of comic relief. Chocky is a clever and surprisingly credible version of a first contact story, one that nicely balances the ideas that make science fiction worthwhile with the carefully constructed characters that define good literature.

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