Synopsis: Ranked
among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for
several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in
1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and
blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of
science shown in his first book, The Time Machine, not its potential
for misuse and terror. In The Island of Dr. Moreau, a
shipwrecked gentleman named Edward Prendick, stranded on a Pacific island
lorded over by the notorious Dr. Moreau, confronts dark secrets, strange
creatures, and a reason to run for his life.While this riveting tale was intended to be a commentary on evolution, divine creation, and the tension between human nature and culture, modern readers familiar with genetic engineering will marvel at Wells’s prediction of the ethical issues raised by producing “smarter” human beings or bringing back extinct species. These levels of interpretation add a richness to Prendick’s adventures on Dr. Moreau’s island of lost souls without distracting from what is still a rip-roaring good read.
My thoughts: This
is the first time I’ve ever read anything related to the author and I got to
say that I really enjoyed it. Wells is one of the authors that started the
science fiction stories in England, around the half of 1800. He, among other
writers, brought this genre to life. Both the books I’m going to talk about
have the idea of the mad scientist, someone who has no scruples in order to
achieve what they want.
Because they are both classics, I can’t talk very much
about it. I liked the way the author writes, is very clear, dynamic and
appealing. I decided to read this novel because I read The
Madman's Daughter, from Meghan Shepherd, which is a book set in the Island of Moreau and fell in love with it. So I made it my goal to read the original, and finally found it (after more than a year of search) and bought it.
Descriptions and dialogues are balanced perfectly, making it a very
pleasant reading. It’s well developed, all the chapters are flowing and veeery
creative; I had a little trouble imagining a scenario where an animal was
turned into a kind of person, suffering through the whole process, its nature
been shifted to something unnatural. In the island of Moreau, is about a man
trying to play God, really.
What was very hard for me, in both the novels, was the
vocabulary; since it’s about science and theories and such thing, Wells used a
lot of specific terms that made it rather difficult sometimes.
Synopsis:
This masterpiece of science
fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a serum to
render himself invisible, and his descent into madness that follows.
My thoughts: Still
based in sci-fi theories, this one is about a scientist who decides to find a
serum that would make him invisible, and he succeeds in making it. It’s almost
everybody’s dream, to become invisible However, everything goes wrong: although
he is invisible, his clothes are not, so he has to wear bandages and glasses
around his face in order to hide his experiment.
Because it’s the same author, the writing method
repeats: very clear, very dynamic story. This one, however, had a few mistakes
due to the fact that Wells usually forgot what he wrote, so the editor was very
thoughtful to alert the reader when it was wrong.
I really enjoyed the adventures of the Invisible Man,
and could understand his frustration when no one helped him. But, at the same
time, his goals to install a kingdom of Terror and killing those who didn’t
agree with him weren’t the best idea, so not receiving help is kind of expected
as well.
Overall, looking for both books, I had a great time:
it was entertaining, challenging, dynamic and very interesting to experience a
new genre of books!
Rate: (This rate is for both books)
