The Invisible Man

Rating:
Summary: Gothic horror in the Industrial Age
Review: I first read this in the 8th grade & have read countless times since then. The Invisible Man has to kill just to show how powerful he is. Of course, he's desperate to show being invisible is a worthy endeavor, because he can't figure out how to become visible again. Like his contemporary Verne, Wells was a visionary. Too many people were willing to use technology to the disadvantage of others. Maybe there's an "Invisible Man" analogy in the Stealth bomber: just because you can't see it doesn't mean it can't crash. This is Gothic horror after the Industrial Age: here, the character Griffin is Dr. Frankenstein AND the monster! A good, carefully written story.

Rating:
Summary: Is scientific progress always good? Well's warning!
Review: I heard about this 'classic' book a long time ago (who hasn't?) but didn't take the time to read it. Just recently, after having my curiosity aroused by the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, I decided to see what the whole thing was about.

Griffin, a brilliant English scientist, in the course of his work discovers the ability to make things invisible. But before he is able to properly develop and patent his idea and thereby secure eternal fame, he runs into the problem every scientist who isn't working for NASA faces; a shortage of funds. This, along with his imminent eviction, leads him to take the solution that will make him invisible.

The rest of the story deals with his mental descent and we witness genius distorted until it becomes something grotesque. Freed from the restrictions that visibility brings, the Invisible man indulges his fancies at the expense of society. His new powers inflate his ego and cause him to disregard the norms of society; he feels he is beyond them.

Along with all this drama, the book has its funny parts -

"This, this Invisible man, then?" asked the man with the black beard with one hand behind him. "I guess it's about time we saw him." ...p 114.

O.K it may not be laugh out loud funny, but it has its moments. There are many such tragicomic events in the story where you don't know whether to laugh or to feel sympathy toward some of the victims.

I felt that the story had merit and it was not altogether improbable. However because of the story's shortness it was unable to develop Griffin's motivations completely. His lack of humanity throughout the book must have had a cause. Unfortunately Wells was not able to provide a plausible reason for this, as a consequence, the invisible man seemed one dimensional to me since there was no inner conflict; not much agonizing over his actions. You may interpret it differently from me, but this was the impression I got.

Overall an interesting book, I guess you could call it a classic, but I'm not totally convinced. Read it anyway to find out for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Is scientific progress always good? Well's warning!
Review: I heard about this `classic' book a long time ago (who hasn't?) but didn't take the time to read it. Just recently, after having my curiosity aroused by the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, I decided to see what the whole thing was about.

Griffin, a brilliant English scientist, in the course of his work discovers the ability to make things invisible. But before he is able to properly develop and patent his idea and thereby secure eternal fame, he runs into the problem every scientist who isn't working for NASA faces; a shortage of funds. This, along with his imminent eviction, leads him to take the solution that will make him invisible.

The rest of the story deals with his mental descent and we witness genius distorted until it becomes something grotesque. Freed from the restrictions that visibility brings, the Invisible man indulges his fancies at the expense of society. His new powers inflate his ego and cause him to disregard the norms of society; he feels he is beyond them.

Along with all this drama, the book has its funny parts -

"This, this Invisible man, then?" asked the man with the black beard with one hand behind him. "I guess it's about time we saw him." ...p 114.

O.K it may not be laugh out loud funny, but it has its moments. There are many such tragicomic events in the story where you don't know whether to laugh or to feel sympathy toward some of the victims.

I felt that the story had merit and it was not altogether improbable. However because of the story's shortness it was unable to develop Griffin's motivations completely. His lack of humanity throughout the book must have had a cause. Unfortunately Wells was not able to provide a plausible reason for this, as a consequence, the invisible man seemed one dimensional to me since there was no inner conflict; not much agonizing over his actions. You may interpret it differently from me, but this was the impression I got.

Overall an interesting book, I guess you could call it a classic, but I'm not totally convinced. Read it anyway to find out for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Sort of interesting...
Review: I think I expected too much from this book and was therefore disappointed with it. It was an interesting account of Griffin's follies, but it wasn't as eerie as I had thought it would be. If you're into sci-fi you should read it, otherwise...well, it's up to you.

Rating:
Summary: An adventurous, suspenseful story!
Review: I would recommend this book to readers that like adventure books. It talks about exciting events and I would also recommend this book to readers who like suspense. Science experiments and clues are included in the story. I did not know what was going to happen until the end of the story!

Rating:
Summary: A positive summary for a truly excellent sci-fi novel.
Review: Imagine an insane lunatic wandering around your town. Sounds creepy, eh? On top of that, say the man is invisible! That is the basic plot behind The Invisible Man. This story is an excellent piece of science fiction literature by one of the world's most reknown sci-fi authors-H.G. Wells. At the beginning of the story, the invisible man appears (or not!) in a small village in England called Iping. He presents himself wearing bandages around all of his features to hide his invisibility. After an extended stay at a local inn, the man begins to draw suspicion from the citizens of Iping. Soon the man's secret us uncovered by the suspicious townspeople. After a wild getaway sequence, the invisible man must escape the angry people of Iping. In the story, there are many different twists and turns. There are plenty of exciting details that make the magnificent ending even more unpredictable. Another plus for the story is the outstanding web of characters. Some of the characters are people such as Dr. Kemp or Thomas Marvel. Each character has a unique personality. All of the characters strongly influence the outcome of the story. One final element of the story that caught my attention was the theme. The story emphasizes that care should be taken so that valuable information should not be used for evil. I would definetely strongly recommend this book. The Invisible Man is a great sci-fi-mystery-thriller combination. It contains interestin characters and a surprising outcome. If you are a sci-fi nut like myself and seeking a mysterious thriller, you'll be sure to enjoy The Invisible Man.

Rating:
Summary: The Invisible Man By H.G. Wells
Review: In the book called'The Invisible Man'by H.G Wells,He explains why things that you think are someimes good that may be sometimes be bad.This book is mostly about a scientist, named Griffin, who tries the poison formula on him-self,discovers a method in which he can turn nearly anything invisible including himself. At first he thought that at the idea of being invisible, he soon discovers the many negative aspects and must continue his research to accomplish what he is discovering or dream.This book will be a great book for all types of readers.I would recommend that anyone that reads this story or novel,pay much attention on what the author's purpose of writing this story.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for Sci- Fi lovers!
Review: In The invisible man a scientist named Griffin turns himself invisble. But now he can't turn himself visible again. So the invisble man robs a costume shop and gets banges and a coat, he also black gloves. Then he travels to the small village of Iping. Where a extened stay ata local inn leads to suspicion and terror of the invislble man.

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe I read the whole thing
Review: It moves so slow. And I mean slow. It'd take a page for a modern author to write what it took Wells ten to do. It's not so much scary as it is eerie. There's some cool stuff in this book. Being invisible did get freakier than you'd think. And I liked Griffin. Be prepared with a good vocabulary to read this book. It's unnecessarily wordy science fiction stuff.

Rating:
Summary: booooring stuff
Review: Picture it. I was having a BAD day. I drank bad milk. I failed a test. I got struck in the head by a branch falling from a tree. And then I got struck in the head by THIS book. So I figured things couldn't get much worse, and I decided to just lock myself in my closet and read this book. And I did. And I HATED it. It was the most boring thing I'd ever read. Then the book, apparently ashamed of its own boredom, promptly burst into flames, catching my hair on fire. This was not one of my finer days.