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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment
Minor: Blood, Alcohol
I first read this in it Readers Digest condensed form when it came out, so spotting it at a library book sale in its complete form was a compelling opportunity for a revisit. And I have to say the revisit was worth it. Once the book gets into gear - and everything until he becomes invisible is deeply frustrating with flat characters and facile motivations - it is a solid page turner, almost all plot about how our titular character has to navigate invisibility and escape the relentless chase of government agents. The book has a solid pattern of tentative equilibrium, new assault, narrow escape, frantic reassessment, tentative equilibrium, with the net tightening or opening based on who has seized the initiative.
The book also offers some interesting social commentary: first off, what you would expect about how people present themselves when they think they are alone, the little secrets and betrayals and hypocrisies to which out hero becomes inadvertently privy and his musings on those.
Second off watching our Harvard Grad investment analyst hero, member of the University Club (ahem, excuse me, Academy Club), coasting through life on charm, connections, and an awareness of how the stock market works being shoved out of his life of helping rich people get richer while taking a cut having being made invisible opens up interesting commentary that Saint touches on from time to time. Some of the agents chasing our hero hate him because they rightfully identify him as someone who was given enormous advantages and made comparatively little of them, as opposed to their own hardscrabble existences. But even past that, even completely isolated Nick is able to survive because he still has tangential access to those advantages. He knows about the Club, its location, layout, and practices. He knows who he need to follow to get access to insider gossip. He knows the arcana of the financial markets that would be difficult to get sometime. And often he's still an elitist prig when it comes to interacting with people outside his social strata.
Again, these sorts of thrillers and mystery novels are great time capsules of the culture in which they were written, and this is a very good one of the 1980's financial market, perhaps unwittingly critical of those inside it.
One last note: I find it impossible to believe someone tried to make this into a movie. The first big set piece is an invisible man trying to raid invisible tools out of an invisible building to create an invisible way over a fence. Saint does a great job of making invisibility work, but trying to film it takes away all the work he did on it. I mean, I get it: it was clearly going to sell well as a book and at the book's start the central character is a slick, talks his way past people ball of sarcasm who motivated by sex, so tagging Chey Chase to play him post Fletch made sense, but the idea of filming it was just nuts.
The book also offers some interesting social commentary: first off, what you would expect about how people present themselves when they think they are alone, the little secrets and betrayals and hypocrisies to which out hero becomes inadvertently privy and his musings on those.
Second off watching our Harvard Grad investment analyst hero, member of the University Club (ahem, excuse me, Academy Club), coasting through life on charm, connections, and an awareness of how the stock market works being shoved out of his life of helping rich people get richer while taking a cut having being made invisible opens up interesting commentary that Saint touches on from time to time. Some of the agents chasing our hero hate him because they rightfully identify him as someone who was given enormous advantages and made comparatively little of them, as opposed to their own hardscrabble existences. But even past that, even completely isolated Nick is able to survive because he still has tangential access to those advantages. He knows about the Club, its location, layout, and practices. He knows who he need to follow to get access to insider gossip. He knows the arcana of the financial markets that would be difficult to get sometime. And often he's still an elitist prig when it comes to interacting with people outside his social strata.
Again, these sorts of thrillers and mystery novels are great time capsules of the culture in which they were written, and this is a very good one of the 1980's financial market, perhaps unwittingly critical of those inside it.
One last note: I find it impossible to believe someone tried to make this into a movie. The first big set piece is an invisible man trying to raid invisible tools out of an invisible building to create an invisible way over a fence. Saint does a great job of making invisibility work, but trying to film it takes away all the work he did on it. I mean, I get it: it was clearly going to sell well as a book and at the book's start the central character is a slick, talks his way past people ball of sarcasm who motivated by sex, so tagging Chey Chase to play him post Fletch made sense, but the idea of filming it was just nuts.
I liked this book. What happens when you accidentally turn invisible and the government wants to capture you? Read this book to find out how Nick does it.
I'm only giving it 3 stars because besides being invisible, Nick is not an interesting person. There's also some plot holes, but too big of ones.
But for the most part, the book moves along well.
I'm only giving it 3 stars because besides being invisible, Nick is not an interesting person. There's also some plot holes, but too big of ones.
But for the most part, the book moves along well.
The first third of this book was kind of boring and moved remarkably slow. Fortunately it picked up and became quite enjoyable.
A great read! Complete page turner. It does drag a bit here and there around the idea of money and how to earn it, but otherwise this was much more entertaining than I expected. Easy 5 stars
This is a re-make, as it were, of H.G. Wells' classic which I haven't read (at least I don't recall having read it, which may or may not be the same thing). I enjoyed it very much, even though I found some of his descriptions a little pedantic. These, however, fitted with the style and with the character so they didn't detract at all.
Saint does the emotional aspect really well - the loneliness must be debilitating when you're invisible to others. I know from personal experience of being cold-shouldered how unpleasant that is, but to live permanently in such a state would be truly awful.
My bookcover is on a paperback and had a picture of Chevy Chase and
Darryl Hannah - "Now made into a movie!". What a misleading picture. One imagines that there is a lot of the female character, whereas she is only a minor part. I suppose it was altered rather a lot for the movie, and I'm glad I never saw it. The book is great.
Saint does the emotional aspect really well - the loneliness must be debilitating when you're invisible to others. I know from personal experience of being cold-shouldered how unpleasant that is, but to live permanently in such a state would be truly awful.
My bookcover is on a paperback and had a picture of Chevy Chase and
Darryl Hannah - "Now made into a movie!". What a misleading picture. One imagines that there is a lot of the female character, whereas she is only a minor part. I suppose it was altered rather a lot for the movie, and I'm glad I never saw it. The book is great.
Thankfully I’m a persistent/stubborn reader. I struggled through the beginning of the book; it dragged and wasn’t all that interesting, but once the accident happens I was so eager to keep reading.
The attention to detail was phenomenal. The author truly thought about every little thing that would become challenging to an invisible man rather than glossing them over as many movies tend to. The book was fun and went in a direction that I was not expecting.
The attention to detail was phenomenal. The author truly thought about every little thing that would become challenging to an invisible man rather than glossing them over as many movies tend to. The book was fun and went in a direction that I was not expecting.