Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham)

Day of the Triffids had been on my must read list for an exceptionally long time because I remembered watching the film as a child and being utterly terrified (keep in mind that I was one of the only children not to freak out at The Dark Crystal). When I found out that it was based on a book I just had to read it- so when I discovered it at the second hand bookstore a few weeks ago I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
I think to anyone who has read anything that I have written, especially about the subjects of books, should know that I have a thing for post apocalyptic novels written in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and on the rare occasion the 80’s. I always thought that it was just because of my obsession with the end of the world, the desolation of humanity and my fear that even though at present we are the dominant species we will one day become obsolete. And in part it may be that- but following on the heels of The World in Winter it has become clear to me that the thing that I like about these stories is that they are character driven. It isn’t about the story, it isn’t about how the world ends. It is about how people survive and act when all governing bodies are removed and people are left to their own devices. Whether they sink or swim. Whether they become savages or try and remain civilized. It is about how the author thinks people will cope when the only people they have to rely on is themselves.
I fully understand how the triffids terrified me so much- they are barbarous plants- but they are merely plot devices and secondary to the characters.
Wyndham makes some fabulous points about science (especially about satellites, which I have always found a little creepy and invasive) and the human condition. I especially liked his attack on people thinking that the US was going to come and save the day- fifty years later people are still holding onto that same ineffectual thread.
When I got to the end I wanted to read me, I wanted Elspeth’s History of the Colony to be a sequel.
Of course parts of it are outmoded, such as gender perceptions (though Coker’s soliloquy about feminism was pretty close on the mark) but Wyndham manages to squeak through cleanly by pointing out the stupidity in such modesty or habits and foreseeing much of what would happen to certain movements.
And his references to a specific war could have been more general to allow people to relate better to it later on, allowing for a change in the enemy of future generations.
Still, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The World in Winter (John Christopher)

I don’t know where to start with this novel- it is exactly the sort of thing that I thoroughly enjoy reading. The basic premise is to due to natural solar fluctuations a new ice age has dawned on the northern hemisphere (keep in mind this was released in 1962, many, many, many years prior to the conception of that piece of tripe that you are comparing it to). This isn’t so much about the disaster that it wreaks on the world, but more about the people and how they react to it and one another. This is the sort of book that I would have loved to have studied when I was at university (and even now if I could think of a viable reason other than desire). It is rich in meaning, exploring gender roles, racism, politics, colonization, loyalty, customs, social status and a variety of other themes.
I should think that I would ceased to be amazed at the generational gap that is clear and present in novels of this era and the ones that precede it, but I cannot help it. When confronted with a man who is distant and little more than fond of his children I can’t help but be amazed at how far feminism has progressed (and I say feminism because allowing men to tap into their emotions is part of my egalitarian ideals). But it is so common that it becomes less of a problem the more you encounter it.
It is well written and frustrating, the characters acting in ways that makes you want to beat them over the head with the book itself, which itself means that they are fleshed out enough to make them believable, even if a little old fashioned (well, I was born eighteen years after this was written).
Though racism towards Blacks (I am not sure what is politically correct) is not as pronounced these days (I acknowledge that it still exists) it was interesting to see the way in which Christopher portrayed the reversal of fortunes. Racism did present itself but not to the extent in which it perpetuated through the ranks of the Whites.
It wasn’t even the fact that it was a post-apocalyptic novel that made this enjoyable- it was his portrayal of the world from a liberal point of view way back when. I will be tracking down more of his books.


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Monster Island (David Wellington)

I ordered a copy of Monster Island based on two factors: this review and the fact that I love zombie movies and fiction.
The thing about this novel is that it drew me in right away, the narrators wit prevalent from the get go and at one point it even made me tear up!
The story is mainly a first person narrative by Dekalb (a UN Weapons Inspector) and his search through Manhattan for the AIDS medication needed by the warlord who has his daughter at that very moment in Somalia. He is accompanied by a group of young Somali girls who are heavily armed to Manhattan to retrieve the only available stash of drugs that combat HIV where he encounters not only the usual hoard of zombie but also Gary, who found a way to become one of the living dead but keep his faculties intact.
The first person narration made it easier to understand, the character voicing all the things you are wondering, from why the dead don't just eat themselves to why they were walking down a dark tunnel in a city full of the undead, an element of hilarity in the tone that he uses. However I didn't feel much empathy (or sympathy) for Dekalb and his plight, he wasn't a very likeable character.
Gary, the smartest dead man, however, is one of the vilest characters that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Its biggest failing, in my eyes, is that it wasn't one of those books that I just had to sit up until three in the morning to finish. This could have something to do with the fact that I know it is the first part of a trilogy and I can'’t get the second installmentnt until September (unless I read it online, which I don'’t want to do) Or it could be that parts of it seemed disturbingly reminiscent of Stephen King'’s latest, Cell. I am not sure which came first, Monster Island or Cell (I think it was Monster Island, published in blog format), nor do I expect them to be completely independent of each other because zombie ideas can only go so far, but much of it felt too similar to one another. If I did have to say which was the better of the two, Monster Island wins hands down.
I did feel a little cheated by the ending, but when you think about it, it makes. I can't wait to get my hands on Monster Nation.


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Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut)

"And people still laugh about as much as they ever did, despite their shrunken brains. If a bunch of them are lying around on a beach, and one of them farts, everybody else around laughs and laughs, just as people would have done a million years ago."

Galapagos was the very first Kurt Vonnegut book that I ever read- serendipity saw me come across it at the school library when I was thirteen years old. Thirteen years later I don't think a more glorious introduction could have been made.
You know what is going to happen right from the beginning, the ghost of Leon Trout (son of fictitious sci-fi author Kilgore Trout) has no qualms about informing you of how, a million years in the future (well, 999,980 if you consider that most of the events were meant to have taken place in 1986), the Laws of Natural Section have seen human beings evolve, their Big Brains shrinking and their bodies adapting to a life of fishing and copulation on the Galapagos Archipelago. The tale that follows then is the story of how 'modern' humans came to be, the chronicle of the few passengers who stole away from a dying planet on the Bahia de Darwin and found themselves stranded on a volcanic rock for the remainder of their lives and thus making them the Adam and Eves of a new world where children are furry and have flippers.
It isn't just about Natural Selection, but an array of other subjects that are too far reaching to go into now, but would make it an enjoyable book to study further. He does make it clear that we don't fit into this world and we are destroying it, that our big brains cause most of the problems in the world and it would be much easier if we evolved to the same level as the animals that surround us.
I have very little knowledge about the life that Vonnegut has lead which makes me uncomfortable trying to establish what he was trying to say about incestuous relationships but what I do know now after rereading it is that this was one of those dark, poignant books that has had an obvious impact on my thought processes. He makes some brilliant points about war, money, fame, religion, sex, politics and the meaning of life. Which he succeeds in not giving an answer to.
Darkly comic, a little sad and thought provoking- I'd read it again, in another thirteen years.
Not to mention that every time for the past thirteen years when someone farts in public I can't but think of the passage quoted above.


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