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susug 's review for:
The War of the Worlds
by H.G. Wells
How have I never read this before?
This book is a masterclass in science fiction. Being only 190-odd pages, I managed to read it within a day - I can't remember the last time a book kept me up reading until 2am! It was completely compelling. Even though I've been told how it ends before, I for some reason couldn't remember, so I was gripped right to the end. For its time, this book is so imaginative yet so realistic; you can almost imagine it actually happening because the descriptions and locations are so vivid. Nowadays, it's a pretty standard alien invasion story, but I can imagine how groundbreaking it would have been at the end of the 19th century, particularly as the theme of imperialism and colonialism is so quickly and explicitly brought to the reader's attention on page 3.
I know that subsequent adaptations have added more female characters to compensate for the very clear lack in the book, such as giving the narrator's wife more to do, or adding a wife for the curate. However, I think keeping the wife and the narrator together during the story would take away from the tone of the book. From my perspective, it very much felt like a "one man against the world" sort of vibe, and I think this wouldn't have been as strong if he'd kept his wife with him throughout his journey; as spending most of the book wondering if she had survived or not was a huge pull and engages the reader to keep reading and find out. In terms of the curate, I think he could very easily become a female character in adaptations, perhaps a curate's wife by herself or a nun. Similarly, if setting the adaption in the present day, I think the artilleryman could easily be an artillerywoman without compromising on any themes or plot. These are ways to include women without changing the story in such drastic ways, in my opinion.
I think the fact that I have so many opinions about this book is clearly telling of how much I enjoyed it. I never write long reviews these days, but I think I have finally found a book that makes me have strong opinions that I want to share, which is really refreshing!
5/5 - if you like sci-fi, this book NEEDS to be on your reading list.
This book is a masterclass in science fiction. Being only 190-odd pages, I managed to read it within a day - I can't remember the last time a book kept me up reading until 2am! It was completely compelling. Even though I've been told how it ends before, I for some reason couldn't remember, so I was gripped right to the end. For its time, this book is so imaginative yet so realistic; you can almost imagine it actually happening because the descriptions and locations are so vivid. Nowadays, it's a pretty standard alien invasion story, but I can imagine how groundbreaking it would have been at the end of the 19th century, particularly as the theme of imperialism and colonialism is so quickly and explicitly brought to the reader's attention on page 3.
I know that subsequent adaptations have added more female characters to compensate for the very clear lack in the book, such as giving the narrator's wife more to do, or adding a wife for the curate. However, I think keeping the wife and the narrator together during the story would take away from the tone of the book. From my perspective, it very much felt like a "one man against the world" sort of vibe, and I think this wouldn't have been as strong if he'd kept his wife with him throughout his journey; as spending most of the book wondering if she had survived or not was a huge pull and engages the reader to keep reading and find out. In terms of the curate, I think he could very easily become a female character in adaptations, perhaps a curate's wife by herself or a nun. Similarly, if setting the adaption in the present day, I think the artilleryman could easily be an artillerywoman without compromising on any themes or plot. These are ways to include women without changing the story in such drastic ways, in my opinion.
I think the fact that I have so many opinions about this book is clearly telling of how much I enjoyed it. I never write long reviews these days, but I think I have finally found a book that makes me have strong opinions that I want to share, which is really refreshing!
5/5 - if you like sci-fi, this book NEEDS to be on your reading list.