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Haneen Reads

Just some book reviews

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

The Invisible Man

by

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Date Read Dec 31, 2016

★★

ISBN 9780141439983

Pages 161

From the very beginning, the invisible man’s character is very unlikeable; he is unapologetically rude and very ill–tempered. He is the main character of the story, but he is also its villain. The invisible man also happens to be an albino, and I’m not sure if the author meant to be prejudice against albinos, or if he just needed to give the main character a compelling reason to want to be invisible.

I don’t believe this novel was really about how scientific experiments can take a wrong turn. Perhaps because the invisible man seemed to be after fame and fortune from his scientific discoveries, rather than actual science that could somehow benefit mankind.

Reading through this novel, I felt it had some undertones of dark comedy here and there. In fact, some parts were actually quite funny, especially Griffin’s conversations with Marvel, and some of the conversations between the village people. Even in the very end, when Marvel decides to keep the invisible man’s three books, even though he cannot decipher them, isn’t that just hilarious?

I found the dialogue difficult to read, mostly because of the accents of the village people. It becomes a little too distracting trying to decipher their accents, and when you do, it sort of sounds like they’re all drunk! There was also some focus on how stupid the people in the village are, perhaps the dialogue was meant to make them sound drunk!

The Invisible Man was written from the perspective of an observer or a narrator, and not from any of the characters. But then in the middle, it sort of shifts to the perspective of Griffin, when he’s telling his story, but that shift felt somehow detached from the original perspective.

Perhaps the only part I disliked was when Griffin was explaining the science behind his invisibility, the way he explained it was quite dull. A lot of pseudoscience was involved as well, and it just felt a little gimmicky. However the general idea was very thought–provoking; how everything only exists in contrast with light, either the object reflects light, refracts light or absorbs it. He also mentions the fourth dimension, something I also noticed in Wells’ other novel, The Time Machine, but the fourth dimension there was “time” not “light” as it is in this novel.

Overall, it was a very interesting read, it was definitely thought–provoking even by today’s standards. However, it did feel predictable in the beginning, but as you reach to the end, it becomes a little more thrilling. Other than that, it was a pretty enjoyable novel.