Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Island of Doctor Moreau

This book did not age well at all. Some of the attitudes presented are appalling by today’s standards. It’s also brutal and very dark. If you are very attached to animals you may have a very hard time with this.

Content Warnings

kstericker's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bookish_bry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was an interesting short read. It has a plot that keeps you engaged, but at the same time that plot isn't really the point of the story. This book is really just one big metaphor reflecting on humanity and what being human means. It's about what separates us from animals and what doesn't. I think the end where

Prendick starts to see the animal traits in real humans

really drives this home.

There's a lot of interesting things this book calls into question. I find myself thinking of the humanity of Doctor Moreau and Montgomery verses the

beast people and wonder which actually express more humanity. I think on that island everyone slipped back to their natural beastly ways at least a bit even the humans and especially Moreau with his horrible cruelty. Montgomery as well seemed to show this with the way he just laid down and accepted Moreau's actions, seeming to slip a bit into obedience. You could even compare the way he bent to Moreau to the way his companion M'Ling bent to him.

Overall, I'd probably give the story about a 3 star rating, but if you view it as an extended metaphor, I'd give it a more than 4 star rating.

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jbabbm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This book was better than I expected, and it's an easy to read classic. Wells decided to use the Island and its Beast Folk as a literary device to tackle various moral topics. I truly consider this a must read.

Also, this is classified as a children's book apparently but I honestly wouldn't read it to children below the age of 10 at least. It's not scary or gory, but I do think that it deals with complicated subjects that may prove too heavy/upsetting for a kid.

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anastasiamakes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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