The end of the world as seen from the 1950's

I fondly remembered reading John Christopher's Tripod Trilogy as a child so when I came across this I leapt at the chance to listen to one of his books for adults. I was not disappointed.

The publisher's summary offers a useful guide to the plot and the comparisons with Day of the Triffids are obvious. What was more striking (as the book progressed) were the echoes of Lord of the Flies (published two years earlier); the difference being that Golding chose to examine the impact upon children of their removal from civilization whereas Christopher describes the possible impact upon adults of a breakdown in civil society.

The result is fascinating and sometimes illuminating even if it ultimately remains a book of its time and William Gaminara does an inspired job of animating the relatively large cast of characters.

If you do choose to download then one last piece of advice. The recording includes an introduction by Robert Macfarlane. This is interesting but includes a number of significant spoilers. I therefore rather think that it would have been better included as an afterword. The novel proper begins with a "prodrome" at 19mins 40 secs and I would therefore recommend that you speed forward to that and listen to the introduction at the end.

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76 people found this helpful

One of my favourite books of all time

This is an incredible book and it is really well read. I would really recommend reading or listening to this one- probably one of my all time favourites.

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7 people found this helpful

The Dearth Of Laughs

Dour British post-Apocalyptic yarn originally written in 1956 by Tripods author John Christopher. Similar to his contemporary John Wyndham, Christopher's characters and attitudes are based in a parochial post-war middle-class sensibility and, like Wyndham's, are soured by a profoundly bleak view of humanity. Essentially, unpleasant people doing horrible things with unseemly haste, this novel is like a parody of castaways descending into cannibalism ten minutes after being washed ashore. Whilst his grim assessment may not necessarily be wrong, it, like the novel, leaves a bitter taste.
William Gaminara does his usual professional job on the narration.

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4 people found this helpful

Great idea especially timely

I love a cosy catastrophe book, this is not that!
I found myself annoyed at how quickly people started raping and pillaging after like a day of the.'catastrophe' get a grip!

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4 people found this helpful

Overall a good read

The writing style is showing its age, this book lacks any science and its very old fashioned, however I quite liked the book overall.

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3 people found this helpful

Odd plot but OK

You have to you suspend disbelief to accept the plot on this one. If you can do that then it is actually an okay story. Nothing more though.

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3 people found this helpful

Shame about the sexism

This novel could have been considered a classic if only the female characters had featured more in action and conversation and planning. It was hard to tell them apart or even recall that they were actually in the novel. The only defining characteristic of each female character was by her relationship to others - mother or daughter or assault victim or orphan. The men were always busy pontificating and planning. They have ideas of women being irrational which is fine as a trait in a character but the lack of involvement of the female characters in the novel suggests that the author shares the views of his characters. On the other hand the novel could well be prescient in that a small thing can topple a civilization or a species - in this case it's the demise of grass which has repercussions throughout the world; in reality we have a vast decline in the number of flying insects that we need to pollinate crops and there could be a similar novel written in the future, called. "The Death of Bees"... if only there weren't so many other environmental challenges that life on earth faces.

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2 people found this helpful

Marmite well passed its sell buy date

Any additional comments?

Despite it being loved my many. This one, for me has not aged well. I usually enjoy dystopian fiction but this I really disliked. The story was dull, dull, dull the characters very wooden,unlikable and totally unbelievable. Did not think it credible that practically overnight, faced with a food shortage that the majority of the male characters would leave their morals behind and at the drop of a bowler hat, turn into cold blooded killers. Was disturbed by the racism,classism and misogyny, not because I'm easily offended, but worried that may of been how a percentage of 50's Britain thought, Hmm I hope not!. There are some events in the book I found very distasteful.Not so much by the event itself but the attitudes of the characters. I Rolled my eyes at some of the crappy dialogue, and shook my head in disbelief at the books, views on woman, race, and class. A sci-fi classic for most,for me a steaming pile of poo. I made it all the way to the end but It left a nasty taste in my mouth ! If I ever see a paper copy I might buy it just to burn it.

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2 people found this helpful

A satisfying Post-Apocalyptic Offering

Would you listen to The Death of Grass again? Why?

This sort of book is not one I would listen to again, though I enjoyed it once. A lot revolves around the plot, but I now know what happens next.

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2 people found this helpful

How humans change!

A simple premise - the death of grass leads to world-wide famine and the ensuring chaos. Often chosen as a secondary school text for study due to the character dimensions that change rapidly as a result of the situation. When faced with survival - how would you change? What would you do? What wouldn't you do? A fantastic story, quite grim too.

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2 people found this helpful