This was a good book. It was pretty interesting, but there were a few parts where the story lagged and I found my mind wandering. This is my third Wells book, and I honestly found it not to be as good as the other two I've read so far (The Time Machine and The First Men in the Moon). ( )

Over the period of a decade beginning with The Time Machine in 1895, H. G. Wells created some of his most popular fictions in the form of scientific romance novels. These books have captured the imagination of readers ever since and are arguably as popular today as they were more than one hundred years ago. Among these perhaps the strangest and best is The Island of Dr. Moreau. Undoubtedly influenced by Robinson Crusoe, but also by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island which was published only thirteen years earlier, this book goes far beyond those deserted island tales and looks forward to the twenty-first century and beyond. In its day it was considered blasphemous, but in the age of cloning its depiction of vivisection takes on new meaning while the blasphemy recedes into the background. Above all this is a good story with suspense that holds even after the first breathless reading that it usually inspires. The story is of such a suspenseful nature that I am reluctant to share any plot details for fear of spoiling the experience for the reader.

As with all great books the levels of meaning and reference in this book are many and the structure, a lost narrative found only after the author's death (reminiscent of Poe among others) is a nod to the era of the unreliable narrator for before his death Edward Pendrick, the narrator, claims to have no memory of the events which it described. Peter Straub, in his "Foreword" to the Modern Library edition, commented:

Given its infusion of the adventure tale with deep, pervasive doubt, Dr. Moreau can be seen as a unique and compelling alliance of Treasure Island and Joseph Conrad. (p. xvi)

I certainly agree with this assessment and believe that Wells, who was a good friend of Conrad as well as Henry James, Stephen Crane and Ford Madox Ford, might also agree with it. Like the best of Conrad reading this book was an exhilarating experience due both to its narrative and its deep meaning. ( )

I picked this up on a whim when Blindness (my then current read) proved to be too bleak for me and I was stuck at work without a book to read on the bus home. Set on the eponymous Island, which is rather well known by now given this book's classic status, the megalomaniacal Doctor Moreau experiments turning animals into humans.

This is a over-the-top gothic horror, with Well's usual blunt-force moralising, and the creepiest scientist-gone-mad-with-power ever to grace fiction.

Enjoy it? Absolutely.

Something about Victorian adventures, they're just awfully good fun. Usually I baulk at the whole mad scientist character (something about having a science background myself, it just makes me feel picked-upon), but I really enjoyed hissing and booing at this particular villain. And this book also had a nice frisson of horror at the end. ( )

H.G. Wells “scientific romances” have remained popular for over 100 years for a very good reason. They are exciting adventures that also give the reader something to think about and The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of the better ones. In some ways it reads like a horror version of Robinson Crusoe with a touch of Gulliver’s Travels thrown in for good measure. In other ways it reveals the effects of the hubris of a scientist who goes beyond even Dr. Frankenstein in his quest to become a god creating his own life forms. This is a ripping good tale in a small volume that provides plenty of suspense and horror in addition to some moral issues to think about. Highly recommended ( )

I found this a rather compelling novella-length story. If you suspend judgments about 19th century biological theories, it's an exciting adventure story with a lot more atmosphere than I expected. There is also a great deal of social commentary. I can't help but wonder how the Victorian readers reacted to the body shots on the effects of a class system, the unflattering parodies of religion, and the warnings about equating pure scientific advances with true progress. The issues he touched upon are, perhaps, even more pertinent today than they were then.

I think this would make a fascinating Book Club read—quick, yet raising questions ranging from colonialism to cloning. ( )