The day of the triffids – book review (7 April 2017)
Justification
To write this book review was an assignment for my course Practical language. I chose to write about my favourite book I had recently read again (this time in English). We are supposed to use vocabulary from our course book and follow instructions. It will be interesting to see whether it will help me or be more of a nuisance. The length was set to 280-350 words.
Reflection
Writing about my favourite book was quite pleasant. I found the provided instructions and vocabulary helpful but the length was rather limiting. My first draft was much longer than the prescribed 350 words. I had to condense the whole text a lot. While writing I had to search only for a few words, so I was overall satisfied with my performance.
I still haven’t seen corrections of Mrs. Lexová (my teacher) but as soon as I know, I will note them here.
Here is my review:
This post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel was written in 1951 by an English writer John Wyndham. The story is quite well known and had been made into several movies, TV and radio drama series. You might think that a seventy-year-old book has probably nothing to say these days but you couldn’t be more wrong.
The story is set in London where the main character – Bill Masen – one of the lucky few in the world, has not been blinded during a strange meteor shower. As he used to work as a biologist he is the first to realize that blindness is not the worst thing that befell the world. Survivors, blind as well as sighted, are greatly endangered by carnivorous species of plants – the triffids - which can walk and are extremely poisonous. Bill and other lucky survivors have to decide what to do and how to save themselves and possibly others.
Reading this books is definitely thrilling, leaves you in suspense all the time but it is also quite thought-provoking. It paints a realistic picture of what would happen to our society after an apocalypse which leaves people harmed but alive. The novel is therefore not only a science-fiction story about non-existent plants but a great psychological work focusing on the changes a person has to go through when exposed to unexpected circumstances. Moral dilemmas and emotions of the characters are realistic and well-drawn.