Overall a good book, Wells’ ability to create a haunting and suspenseful plot doesn’t fail him here. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I’m glad I read the book in the day, because the suspense up to it, was creepy. This isn’t a book to read at night, especially if you aren’t familiar with how the story goes. But, I found that it fell a little short with what I expected, I thought it would be a lot scarier and a little less boring periods or more drawn out in how in-depth they go to show what exactly went on with the experiments. Perhaps Wells intentions were to let our imaginations fill this in for us. It’s not a bad book, but I was expecting something different, the story is mysterious and I enjoyed the characters for the most part, but there was just something extra missing, that would have made this an excellent book, but I don’t know what exactly that is, maybe it’s because the element of surprise isn’t there, so I know what will eventually come, hmm.

It has made me want to watch the 1996 movie again, although memory serves me it was less scary and more humours, I’m a fan of David Thewlis, so I may just give it another shot. Good book overall.

Book Review can also be found at my book review blog
http://juliebooks.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )

I knew the high level concept of this book from allusions in other stories and movies, but I'd never read the original novel. It was a bit different from what I expected.

The writing style is very accessible and fluid while also being jam-packed with very vivid and detailed descriptions as well as some in-depth scientific and moralistic discussions. The first few pages were a little slow, but the rest of the book, except for a paragraph here and there, flew by and kept me very hooked.

The story is presented as a written report from the point of view of a narrator who finds himself stranded on the island for a time after some disasters at sea. The narrator has some scientific background which lends to very analytical and in-depth commentary.

Without adding any real spoilers, the summary is this: Doctor Moreau, after being chased out of London for his practices, is living on an island in the pacific conducting outrageous experiments. Our narrator, Pendrick, finds the island populated with creatures that are neither completely human nor completely bestial...they are aberrations....creatures partially human and partially beasts....the face of a man with almost snout-like nose and lips, pointed hairy ears, elongated torso and shorter than normal legs, etc., etc., etc. The horrors and grotesque nature of the experiments are explored in depth and naturally progress to some rather disturbing conclusions.

I rather enjoyed the story and found myself immersed in the plot and the concepts. My only real complaint by the end of the book was that it all ended too quickly. I would have loved another 50 or 100 pages. Still, it is a tightly woven tale with a lot of meet in it to leave you thinking.

Wells presents a thoughtful narrative addressing some of the social concerns of his day through this science-fiction story. At that point in history (late 1800s), this was all seen as fiction but based on the fears people had of experiments in the medical community. It's even more potent now, since some 30-50 years after the book, the Nazis engaged in similar "scientific" experimentation during the Holocaust (not with the same results, but with a similar type of horror upon society).

I really liked the way the book finished up. In the last few pages, we find our narrator trying to sort through everything he's witnessed and come to terms with it. I really enjoyed the way Wells shows him trying to recognize "humanity" in people and distinguish between the "human" and the "animal."

A great read.

*****
4.5 stars (out of 5) ( )

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

After his ship, the Lady Vain, collides with a derelict, Edward Prendick becomes stranded at sea with two of his shipmates. After his shipmates attack and drown one another, Prendick is entirely alone at the mercy of the ocean. Famished and bleary-eyed, Prendick wakes up to a strange face and aboard a strange ship. He is introduced to Montgomery, a man who seems leery to reveal too much about himself. When the ship approaches land, the ship's owner refuses to keep Prendick aboard, and he is cast back out to a sea in a waterlogged dingey. Upon realizing this, Montgomery, now in the company of an even stranger man, tows Prendick to his island home. It is on this island that Prendick encounters oddly misshapen creatures known as the Beast People.

The man with Montgomery introduces himself as Doctor Moreau. It takes Prendick a while to remember where he heard the name, but only realizes what danger he's in when he does. Prendick finds he is on an island full of Moreau's victims, degraded and mercilessly mutilated. As Prednick becomes acquainted with these victims, his fear of Moreau grows. Prendick must find a way off the island, or perhaps suffer a fate he feels is much worse than death.

I thought this was a great story, though it was difficult for me to read in parts. Some of the wording used seemed redundant to me. I did take notice that the story was told from a first-person point of view, as it would be written in a personal diary. This might excuse the overuse of words like "presently" and "grotesque," and expressions like "silly ass." The book would've been perfect, in my eyes, if Wells had made use of a thesaurus.

Normally, I like to read a book before seeing it acted out on film. This book was an exception to the rule; I saw the movie first. After reading the book, the movie almost seems like another story entirely. I enjoyed both, but thought the book was much more effective. There was an element from the movie, however, that I thought was a vital part of the story, yet it wasn't included in the book. In the movie, when Prendick finally discovers that his blood is being used in Moreau's experiments, it puts a whole new spin on things. I was disappointed to realize that this was not a part of the original story.

Moreau's attitude towards his victims was another major difference I noticed between the book and the movie. In the movie, Moreau treats his victims like his own children, and seems proud to act as a god to the creatures. In the book, Moreau is disgusted with or ashamed of his work, and feels as though each creature reminds him of his failure to achieve perfection. The Beast People see him as a god, yes, but they fear and loathe him.

In the movie, I liked how each of the animals had a different level of respect for Moreau. Most of them trusted Moreau on some level. Hyena was the one to question things after Jaguar's death, and was the one to eventually kill Moreau.

In the book, the Beast People all seemed to have similar personalities. The Hyena-Man was still a hideous and formidable creature, but had a lesser role in the story. A vivisected puma was the creature that eventually killed Moreau.

My favorite character, both in the book and in the movie, was Montgomery, a young and slightly nihilistic biologist who unknowingly got in over his head by joining Moreau in his gruesome experiments.

My favorite part of this book was Chapter 14, in which Moreau explains how he began his experiments, why he does the things he does, and why he believes that pain is a small price to pay for significant advancement in the scientific fields. As a person (and a scientist) who is strongly opposed to vivisection, Moreau's explanation had a few points to challenge my views. His words disturbed me in a rather pleasant way--they made me think. Of course, I'm still opposed to vivisection, but this chapter shed light on a point of view I always had a difficult time understanding, and may help me form a more potent argument to support my own.

The thing I was most surprised with was that Wells didn't have to go into terribly descriptive detail involving the vivisection in order to communicate the degree to which the animals were suffering. I'm not easily shocked, but this story made me cringe. ( )

Anyone even moderately literate should be familiar with the premise of this 19th century "classic" by renowned science fiction author H. G. Wells. Young man is shipwrecked, rescued and finds himself on a South Pacific island, inhabited by prototypical mad scientist Dr. Moreau. Moreau is a vivisectionist who has created a variety of "beasts" through efforts to convert animals to humans. Mayhem ensues.

Wells and contemporary Jules Verne have been hailed as visionaries, men ahead of their times. Of the two, Wells's work has arguably aged more gracefully. While I found this book moderately entertaining, the premise was simply too absurd to draw me in. I could swallow some of the physiological biology, however at the point where animals began speaking as well educated Englishmen, Wells lost me.

Certainly, the underlying theme has resonance today, in an era of increasing bio-medical engineering, and certainly, social commentary was among Wells's strong suits. However, in my opinion, this novella (175 pages) simply doesn't rate the accolades it has garnered. ( )

A very quick read, but highly recommended. Considering this novel was originally published in 1896, the forsight of H.G. Wells is absolutely amazing. The fear that Edward feels when he hears the animal screams coming from behind the locked door, the panick of being lost in the woods, all of it is felt first hand thanks to Wells' magnificent writing. ( )