Take a photo of a barcode or cover
prolixity 's review for:
The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells
In the small English village of Iping, a man arrives in the middle of the night. He walks through the blinding snow to an inn and books a room, seldom speaking, and holes himself up there in the dark and quiet. It is hot with the fire at full blaze, and yet he doesn't remove his coat and hat. He is peculiar, no doubt, but even more than the curious villagers suspect; for underneath his bandaged face, his hat, his coat, his gloves, and his tinted spectacles, he is entirely transparent.
And from him and everyone who crosses his path we come to learn the strange and remarkable story of...
The Invisible Man!
"Facial bandages are sooo out of style!"
Okay, dramatic 1940s-radio drama-esque introduction aside, this was quite an interesting little tale. And it is little, 100 pages at the most. There's not much I can tell you in the way of a summary- after all, if you've read the title, you practically know what it's about already.
The most intriguing thing about this story is, in my opinion, how real it seems. Logically, we all know that turning yourself invisible is impossible, but this book will have that tiny voice in the back of your head wondering, "But what if it wasn't...?" Wells obviously pondered quite a bit about what it would be like to become suddenly invisible- how somebody would feel, what they'd do. You can see this in the words of the Invisible Man (real name, Griffin) himself:
It's also remarkable just how much thought Wells put into the actual logic of invisibility: the drawbacks, the details. Griffin recalls how he stumbled onto the street after turning himself transparent, struggling to walk as he couldn't see his feet or legs. How his blood becomes visible as it congeals. Dr. Kemp describes the strangeness of seeing the invisible man smoke- the swirling of the vapour contained in his lungs and throat.
But the one thing that really blew my mind was how Griffin mentions in passing how he has to sleep in the dark with sheets over his face to keep out the light. Because his eyelids are transparent! So he can close his eyes, but he can never actually stop seeing the way a normal person does when they shut their eyes. I'd never thought about that.
So why only two stars? Well, in short, not a lot happens. Most of the time it's just villagers freaking out and fights breaking out randomly. The most interesting part, to me, was when Griffin first speaks with Kemp about the process of becoming invisible and what it was like immediately afterward. But other than that, I didn't feel his character to be super developed; he was pretty much an angry, volatile, short-tempered recluse, just an invisible one. So while this was interesting solely in the conceptual sense, it fell a bit short on execution.
(NOTE: I read this as part of a collection of H.G. Wells' science fiction novellas. This is the link to the collection I read, which in turn contains all my reviews for Wells' other stories.)
And from him and everyone who crosses his path we come to learn the strange and remarkable story of...
The Invisible Man!
"Facial bandages are sooo out of style!"
Okay, dramatic 1940s-radio drama-esque introduction aside, this was quite an interesting little tale. And it is little, 100 pages at the most. There's not much I can tell you in the way of a summary- after all, if you've read the title, you practically know what it's about already.
The most intriguing thing about this story is, in my opinion, how real it seems. Logically, we all know that turning yourself invisible is impossible, but this book will have that tiny voice in the back of your head wondering, "But what if it wasn't...?" Wells obviously pondered quite a bit about what it would be like to become suddenly invisible- how somebody would feel, what they'd do. You can see this in the words of the Invisible Man (real name, Griffin) himself:
"'My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind, I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap men on the back, to fling people's hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage.'"
It's also remarkable just how much thought Wells put into the actual logic of invisibility: the drawbacks, the details. Griffin recalls how he stumbled onto the street after turning himself transparent, struggling to walk as he couldn't see his feet or legs. How his blood becomes visible as it congeals. Dr. Kemp describes the strangeness of seeing the invisible man smoke- the swirling of the vapour contained in his lungs and throat.
But the one thing that really blew my mind was how Griffin mentions in passing how he has to sleep in the dark with sheets over his face to keep out the light. Because his eyelids are transparent! So he can close his eyes, but he can never actually stop seeing the way a normal person does when they shut their eyes. I'd never thought about that.
"'To do such a thing would be to transcend magic. And I beheld, unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man- the mystery, the power, the freedom. Drawbacks I saw none. You have only to think! And I, a shabby, poverty-struck, hemmed-in demonstrator, teaching fools in a provincial college, might suddenly become-
this.'"
So why only two stars? Well, in short, not a lot happens. Most of the time it's just villagers freaking out and fights breaking out randomly. The most interesting part, to me, was when Griffin first speaks with Kemp about the process of becoming invisible and what it was like immediately afterward. But other than that, I didn't feel his character to be super developed; he was pretty much an angry, volatile, short-tempered recluse, just an invisible one. So while this was interesting solely in the conceptual sense, it fell a bit short on execution.
(NOTE: I read this as part of a collection of H.G. Wells' science fiction novellas. This is the link to the collection I read, which in turn contains all my reviews for Wells' other stories.)