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A review by theaurochs
The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
2.0
A rather 'old-school' sci-fi horror. The pacing leaves a lot to be desired, with many pages devoted to detailed descriptions of incredibly mundane details, and overly-explanatory, lecture-like dialogue.
The cental conceit has the potential to be upsetting but at best reaches sort-of-eerie. To my mind, much creepier is the main character sneaking into a bedroom to watch the lady he fancies sleeping! Which brings me to my main gripe, the fact that the novel is suffused with the sexism of the era. It makes the humans of the 50s seem more alien, reading this now, than the aliens (and I'd love to believe that was intentional).
You could certainly draw parallels to gaslighting, with the idea of a whole town conspiring to convince someone that they are mad; but the novel does not dwell so heavily on the psychological ramifications of the events, so neither really will I.
The ending is entirely unsatisying and somewhat beyond belief- that the invasion would be abandoned so readily, damning the spores to countless aeons of sleep before they find another planet; which they may never do- space is big. A fact, along with other scientific points, the author does not seem to have grasped. The whole explanation for the alien invasion, in addition to distinctly reducing the mystery and therefore fear the body-snatchers previously had, is ultimately unconvincing.
That said, I can see why this has been made into several films and why it might have captured the audiences of America at the time. (Give me Wyndham any day!) Plus, at just over 200 pages, it does not overstay its welcome.
The cental conceit has the potential to be upsetting but at best reaches sort-of-eerie. To my mind, much creepier is the main character sneaking into a bedroom to watch the lady he fancies sleeping! Which brings me to my main gripe, the fact that the novel is suffused with the sexism of the era. It makes the humans of the 50s seem more alien, reading this now, than the aliens (and I'd love to believe that was intentional).
You could certainly draw parallels to gaslighting, with the idea of a whole town conspiring to convince someone that they are mad; but the novel does not dwell so heavily on the psychological ramifications of the events, so neither really will I.
The ending is entirely unsatisying and somewhat beyond belief- that the invasion would be abandoned so readily, damning the spores to countless aeons of sleep before they find another planet; which they may never do- space is big. A fact, along with other scientific points, the author does not seem to have grasped. The whole explanation for the alien invasion, in addition to distinctly reducing the mystery and therefore fear the body-snatchers previously had, is ultimately unconvincing.
That said, I can see why this has been made into several films and why it might have captured the audiences of America at the time. (Give me Wyndham any day!) Plus, at just over 200 pages, it does not overstay its welcome.